Is it possible to reset the electric roof operating system on my Renault Megane Cabriolet.

My wife was driving it the other day and switched off the ignition while my son was putting the roof back on. It obviously stopped, but when the ignition was put back on the roof would not work with the switch.

They finally managed to get the roof back open, following my instructions over the phone from the manual, and when they got home, I closed the roof using the manual method described in the book, but now it won't open electrically with the switch.

As soon as the roof is unlocked, the bleep occurs as it should, but the electrics don't kick in and open the hood cover to let the procedure continue!

The manual suggests taking it to the Renault dealer!

Is there anything I can do to save the large repair fee, which I am sure it will be?

Also, the release strap hanging in the "ski hole" is only connected at one end. Is this normal?

Cheers

David, July 2006

Thanks to all on here for their instructions. I managed to get it going again without having to remove anything, thankfully. Be patient and keep trying, it will work again in the end, promise.

Tino, August 2022

I had same problems but my boot opened then nothing leaving me with an undriveable car, watched a you tube video in French and all I had to do was put all windows down first then roof carried on operating

Jayne, May 2022

Hi. i am having the same problem and unable to locate the roof strap within the boot to release the roof. Can anyone put a photo of what this is here or send it to my email chris11121 (at) hotmail.co.uk. Also, does anyone have an owners manual? I have the 51 plate renault megane convertible with the IDE engine.

Chris, September 2018

Hi,just read all the reviews to reset the megane roof.
I also switched off ignition midway through opening and as said earlier a complete no/no.
My solution was to locate hydraulic valve behind left side fabric cover in boot.
Open valve to release hydraulic pressure and shut hood manually.I did not pull any manual release levers just decided once the hood was down to try operating the roof again via the switch which worked. So I assume pushing the hood to the down position allowed the car to know it was in the beginning of a cycle and therefore operated as normal .

Peter, April 2017

The strap i take it must be reset in the configuration as I operated my y reg hood the other day not realising my vehicle was still in gear the hand break was on I accidentally lifted my foot off the clutch causing the car too stall hence I am hear writing this so I take it there are no photos showing a before and after as I have searched the planet for this Renault must deliberately take all off the web so we are forced too go too there scam merchants so I am asking does the other side refit back into the mechanism I know I must take it off too reset perhaps a photo demo is too be produced as looking and seeing is better than reading and trying too visualise

mr wilson, August 2015

can anyone tell me what has happened with my roof have tried everything if if anyone would help can you please email me at xtreme-chat at hotmail.co.uk

angelo-snr, February 2015

Cleggy - Thank you!!! Had my little Megane for 2 days, then I screwed up by half opening the roof to clean the back plastic screen and swiching off the ignition, big big no no!! The result, followed the manual (owners comic) to get the roof all the way down. Took the poorly motor to Renault to get the roof re-set. Their reaction "you never switched it off half open? (hand to forehead), oh dear sir. You should Never do that, it won't work after you do that. There isn't a re-set button, it'll be a complete stripdown i expect, but we'll do a diagnostic report first" No S*** Sherlock!! So the result was, 48hrs at Renault, £60 Diagnostics (Plug it in, sit down and have a brew) fee and a worried looking Tech bloke telling me i need a new roof motor and hydraulic unit. Total cost with fitting -- are you sitting down? --- £1200!!!!!! - and he smiled and added the word Only!! TWELVE HUNDRED QUID?? The car cost me £900 (51 plate Dynamique plus 1.6) I felt like knocking him out!!.

So paid the £60 - Went home, had a fiddle, went onto t'interweb, tried U(seless)tube, useless, tried a renault site, wanted £80 to answer a question, went on here by accident and read Cleggys answer. Got out the socket set, roped in the daughter (who was not happy), pressed a couple of switches, so did she, pushed a pin back in and hey presto jacks yer aunties gardner - it works!!! Took us (well me really, but she did push a button bless her) 10 minutes. Basically, when you pull the cord in the boot it pulls the locator pin out of place. So you need to re-locate that pin and as long as you're patient and not to hamfisted, it virtually relocates itself. One piece of advice would be Step Away From The Pliers.

Renault, you are a bunch of criminals who WILL be getting a letter from my brief, who is more expensive than a paris hilton sex tape. Cleggy, you my son are a chuffin hero. Thankyou!!!!!! The End

The Shad, September 2014

I've had exactly the same problem as everyone else on here for the last 2 weeks I've been tinkering with the roof with no joy and the weather has glorious whilst it wasnt working. However this evening, as it started raining slightly I thought I'd have another go at repairing it, after pulling the roof release in the boot of the car I thought I'd see if the roof went up and down. But no, the rear window went up and then it beeped five or so times and stopped, it wouldn't go back down neither, so after getting a little bit wet I thought sod it and turned off the engine and then all the hydrolics reverted back to close down, then, I pulled everything back down to lock down and secured the car. After 5 seconds I started the car back up, and the roof works fine now.
Ubique

MetSgt, August 2014

Our roof didn't work for 2 years and after spending a lot of money for Renault and other mechanics looking to find the problem ( with no luck ). I took the car apart and found that under the passenger seat that the wires for the roof to work was all corroded and 2 of the pins had snapped. We got an auto electrician to bypass this and solder the 2 wires together and now the roof works fine. Hope this helps people who have got or similar problems

D Tyrer, June 2014

I had similar thing happen. Unhooked battery left for a bit reconnected,sorted

bill, April 2014

Just had the same problem with my son pressing closed the roof while my wife switched off the ignition on our trusty 52 plate Megane.

Thank you for the post as this gave me the confidence to investigate further and I found the process very easy.

1. I found and undid the valve on the hydraulic fluid within the boot. This was hidden behind the left hand side carpeting.

2. Pulled on the roof strap within the boot to release the roof.

3. Manually closed the roof leaving the rear window in the air and pushed the mechanism closed that was attached to the strap (in 2 above) and closed the hydraulic valve in the boot, then

4. Turned on the ignition and the roof started to operate normally again.

Took me 10 minutes!

Steve P, July 2013

My daughter recently to try and get the hood on her 51 Renault Megane reset.

She had turned off the ignition on the car while operating the hood and this had caused the hood system to get extremely confused. Following the directions in the drivers handbook we released the hydraulics (for hood cover) by using a small tap in the boot and then as directed pulled the release strap found in the small compartment in the luggage area.

What we didn’t know is this is a no return situation and the mechanism (similar to a bonnet release catch) will disengage and there is no way of getting it easily back into place.

The Renault garage mechanic charged 1 hours labour to diagnose that the complete release mechanism needs replacing - £405 including VAT.

SO...This morning I removed the mechanism and quickly re-seated the release catch and then reassembled the mechanism. The hood now operates completely fine. There was absolutely no reason to change the mechanism.

The whole job took me just under an hour – bearing in mind I am a computer engineer and not a car mechanic and know nothing about Renaults at all..

To prevent this happening to others I have included a very quick guide of what to do if this happens again. I realise this will not fix all Renault hood problems but should at least be tried first and 1 hour labour should do it…

1) Release hydraulics on hood cover by undoing the small tap located in the boot (under left hand carpet in boot)
2) Pull manual release for boot cover – located in the boot area rear seat compartment (Step 1 and Step 2 better documented in the owners manual)
3) With the Hood nearly closed (but with the back window in the air !) and the hood cover opened – by hand, remove the 2 nuts that hold the rear seat onto the rear bulkhead.
4) Now use a star / torque drive to remove the 4 screws that hold the hood release mechanism onto the rear bulkhead.
5) There is no need to disconnect any cables just remove from the cable clips.
6) The release mechanism can now be viewed easily. Look to re-engage the cam that the emergency release cable is attached to into the metal arm that is driven from the worm gear on the motor.
7) May need to engage small micro switches on the mechanism to get the worm gear to operate (do this very carefully and by holding the switches on while operating the hood from inside the cab. (need 2 people for this) Operate the hood only for short 1-second bursts until the worm gear allows the cam to drop easily back into place.
8) All above sounds complicated but actually when you have the mechanism laying in front of you in the hood storage space area its very straight forward and should take 30 – 40 minutes maximum for someone who has seen it once before.

thanks to others on this forum - I tried and succeeded in saving over £400 in repair bills. I have now asked the Renault gave to refund the £40 charged for wrong diagnosis - they obviously dont have access to this website :)
Martin

Cleggy, June 2007

Follow up to question

Spent about half an hour with the roof open, and the cover up (open) fiddling about with the mechanism.

I discovered that when the strap is pulled to release the cover, it pulls a small bar out of a slot. The trick is to get the bar back in the slot by going through the motions of closing the roof on auto, and when it alarms out, pulling the cover open by hand, and then pushing the bar back into the slot.

My roof now works correctly again!

Thanks for looking anyway!

David, July 2006