[cruzned]

:eek Much to my surprise, a really wonderful engineer responded to my querry about why I keep having roof cycle time outs, even after the dealership supposedly fixed the problem. Here is the info.

Re: roof cycle time outs

If something is impeding the roof motion you could also get time outs. This would be need to be fixed. Having your wife operate the top while you observe the action could spot any anomalies in the top action. Low hydraulic fluid can also cause timeouts. Your observations could help the dealer do a proper fix. I am sure you have watched the roof operate many more times than the dealer. The dealer also has access to a Technical Assistance Center for this vehicle to deal with issues they cannot handle themselves.

and then this:

Most of the timeouts are caused by cold hydraulic fluid in the top system. Hitting the top button again will continue the cycle. Repeatedly hitting the button till the roof is either up or down should warm the oil and subsequent cycles should not have a problem. This problem, caused by the cold, should only be happening in frigid weather. This is not something that needs to be fixed. The timeout function was intended to prevent roof damage if something interfered with roof motion.

I sure do appreciate this person giving me the info. and I hope you are not offended by my sharing it with the other SSR owners out there. Considering the frigid state of the east coast right now, this is of great interest to us psycho madmen who insist on putting the top down in the cold! Thanks!

 

[WOW_FCTR]

Cold time outs

Ed,

I don't want to rain on your parade of knowledge, but during the coldest days here less, than 10 degrees, I have put the roof down on a couple of occasions and I have not had a time out. You should keep looking for a physical obstruction......or every SSR is different and you just got an unlucky cold one

John


PS. I did have a screeching power steering fluid problem which goes away after 5-10mins of 'warming up'.

 

[wildcat66]

I just started having cycle time outs on my roof and it can't be the cold it was almost 100 degrees today here in Texas. Dealer tomorrow I hope they have some ideas but we will look at it ourselves first.

 

[tomcurtis]

roof cycle timeout too

I too have been getting the roof cycle time out errors and this is after my SSr was in to fix the problem, they even put in the new hinges and it still fails on the first try, but usualy will work on the second or third try. i 'm gonna bring it back wheen the dealer gets the seat trim part on order.

 

[Guest]

Roof Time Out Cycle

I have been having trouble with the top time out cycle for several weeks now. I bought my SSR in April. The dealer is clueless as to a fix. There has been a pattern as to when this happens. I drive by SSR daily and it is parked in the Glendora, CA sun. When leaving work I get the time out cycle, this seems to happen several times a week. This does not happen on the week-ends when my truck is parked in the garage. Of course when I take it to the dealers they can not get it to malfunction, and they are trying to tell me no one else has this problem. My temper is wearing very thin. I pick my truck up today, without it being fixed. Writing GM to see if they have any solutions. Yeah Right!!
Any suggestions anyone.

Sue T
Red Line Red
Glendora, CA

 

[cruzned]

As Freezer told me in an earlier post, the roof cycle timout function was designed to stop the roof from opening because of something impeding with the operation of the top. You need to have someone watch it open as you keep your finger on the top down button. They should look to see if something is catching on the roof wires, hydraulics, etc. I was able to bypass the roof cycle time out by holding down the top down button and just before it sent me the message, I released the button completely. I then pressed the top down button again and it worked and I was able to see what was catching on it. Good luck prob. solving it. I think this little bug may haunt many of us for a good while, but it is well worth it with this amazing truck!

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help. Hope I can get more help from the dealers. I do love this truck!!

Sue T

 

[shiftz33]

My SSR (#602) was experiencing the "Roof Cycle Timeout" when putting the top down a lot during the first couple of weeks after I purchased it in June 04. I then found the one thread on this site that mentioned about placing the pastic tie around the plastic wire casing on the passenger side near the hinge. Since I put on that plastic tie to hold that cable out of the way of the hinges, I've not seen another "Roof Cycle Timeout" since then. I've "dropped my top" several times with the roof cool (in the garage) and after sitting in the 100 degree sun (Sacramento, CA).

I followed the info that cruzned posted here.

 

[cruzned]

Thank you, but I am just the messenger. Lookin4anSSR suggested that fix and it worked great. I have other probs now with the bolts on the flipper door making contact with the top causing the nicks in the roof itself and going right through the paint into the metal. Minor nicks for sure, but cutting into the metal hurts. My personal opinion is the bolts for the flipper door are too long and need to be filed down or be a tad bit shorter to avoid this. Freezer, any thoughts on this one bud?

 

[freezer]

I have actually had the bolt issue with my personal SSR. That is an indication that the top is not fully retracting. Check to see if you can push the top down further manually prior to the tonneau closing. There might be something in the well restricting the full down position. I once had a hat fall in there and cause this problem. There are down capture latches that keep the top from bouncing around when retracted. Those could be mispositioned or their bolts could have loosened allowing them to move up slightly. Another option is to grind off the tip of the offending bolts. Make sure you prevent steel particles from falling into the well. Good Luck!

 

[cruzned]

Thanks a million Freeze! You're the best.

 

[ssr17of25]

New brackets from Chevy.

If I'm not mistaken, Chevy has new brackets that hav been heat treated 2 prevent the "sticking", "scratching" problems on the tops. Chk'm out b4 doin any filing/grindin. :eek



:cool

 

[ndelregno]

I have been having trouble with the top time out cycle for several weeks now. I bought my SSR in April. The dealer is clueless as to a fix. There has been a pattern as to when this happens. I drive by SSR daily and it is parked in the Glendora, CA sun. When leaving work I get the time out cycle, this seems to happen several times a week. This does not happen on the week-ends when my truck is parked in the garage. Of course when I take it to the dealers they can not get it to malfunction, and they are trying to tell me no one else has this problem. My temper is wearing very thin. I pick my truck up today, without it being fixed. Writing GM to see if they have any solutions. Yeah Right!!
Any suggestions anyone.

Sue T
Red Line Red
Glendora, CA

I have seen this problem as well. I have had my SSR for a little over a week now and am experiencing the "Roof Ajar" DIC message when the top is up and I see the "Roof Cycle Timeout" message on hot Dallas days.

The first time I saw this problem was the first day I drove my SSR to work and it sat in direct sun, with the cab windows open about two inches. Upon starting the SSR and lowering the top, the roof tonneau opens, the roof unlatches, retracts about two inches and then stops, yielding the "Roof Cycle Timeout". If I continue to repeatedly press the retract button, it moves a couple inches and then times out. If I hold down the button, the roof silently retracts all the way down, but then the roof tonneau won't close. At this point, I can push the roof close button, and the roof closes without incident. However, if the cab is still hot and I try to retract the roof again, the failure occurs again.

The second day I drove my SSR to work, I parked under some large trees. When I headed home, the roof opened without incident.

Over the weekend, it errored again in my driveway, again in direct sun. So, I opened the windows all the way and let the cab air out. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, the roof opened without incident.

Today, my wife attempted to retract the roof, and encountered the dreaded "Roof Cycle Timeout" problem. Again, after she let it air out a bit, and therfore cool down, the roof retracted and stowed properly.

There is clearly a temperature issue involved, and not a "too cold" issue as others have seen. Fortunately, my SSR is going to the dealer tomorrow for paint issues (chips, factory overspray) and hopefully the "Roof Ajar" and the "Roof Cycle Timeout" issues will be resolved.

Any SSR-knowledgeable dealerships in the Dallas area anyone can recommend?

Nick

 

[lloger]

Thank you, but I am just the messenger. Lookin4anSSR suggested that fix and it worked great. I have other probs now with the bolts on the flipper door making contact with the top causing the nicks in the roof itself and going right through the paint into the metal. Minor nicks for sure, but cutting into the metal hurts. My personal opinion is the bolts for the flipper door are too long and need to be filed down or be a tad bit shorter to avoid this. Freezer, any thoughts on this one bud?

I was having the bolt problem, so I took a couple towels and covered the truck in that area and used a 4" grinder to grind the ends of the bolts down. No more problem.

 

[wildcat66]

I have had the roof cycle timeout for a while now, it will eventually open after 2 - 3 tries.
But something I noticed the other day was, if I put the windows down by pushing the Roof button and stop when they are down then hit the Roof down button again it will open on the first try!

If I put the windows down using the windows button then push the Roof button it will take 2 -3 tries! Anyone have an idea about that!
they checked the fluid and it wasn't low! No computer messages either!

 

[drtaz]

roof time out

I seem to get a roof time out cycle when the truck sits out in the sun for an extended period of time. After one or two tries it will then open. Seems to be some sort of overheating problem, maybe with the fluid? Anyone else have this problem. Haven't seen a problem in the cold because I don't usually lower the roof in the winter. Maybe I should try.

 

[Ricochet]

FYI, You also need to keep the roof/rear cover hinges and pivot points well lubricated. Dirt will get into these areas and impede roof operation. You also need to lubricate the roof header electric latches. I use a SnapOn product or WD40 will work fine too. Don't expect this roof to run forever without lubing and cleaning the pivot and latching points. When was the last time you checked or added hydraulic fluid to your system? Mine was low and needed about 2 oz of fluid. I'm sure this could also cause a time out message.

 

[drtaz]

fluid

Stupid question but how did you know that the fluid was low?

 

[cruzned]

drtaz: If you open the flipper door (the metal part that opens to retract the top) and put the roof down all the way but leave it open enough to see the plastic vial in the storage area for the top you can actually see the fluid level. The fluid level should be right about half way on this little bugger (the plastic vial at the bottom of the roof storage area). Why lower the top? Because if it is up and you are looking in there, even with a flashlight, you can't really see the fluid level at all. If you fill over this half way amount you may cause damage to the fluid container or rupture it. There is a small brass fitting on top of the vial that you can open GENTLY with an open end wrench. Snug it, don't make it real tight. good luck!

Ed:flag

 

[JOHN317]

I have been having trouble with the top time out cycle for several weeks now. I bought my SSR in April. The dealer is clueless as to a fix. There has been a pattern as to when this happens. I drive by SSR daily and it is parked in the Glendora, CA sun. When leaving work I get the time out cycle, this seems to happen several times a week. This does not happen on the week-ends when my truck is parked in the garage. Of course when I take it to the dealers they can not get it to malfunction, and they are trying to tell me no one else has this problem. My temper is wearing very thin. I pick my truck up today, without it being fixed. Writing GM to see if they have any solutions. Yeah Right!!
Any suggestions anyone.

Sue T
Red Line Red
Glendora, CA

Maybe you should tell the dealer to leave the truck parked out in the sun all day like you do, then try the top. Just a thought.