[Father Gino]

I've got a 2000 Z3 with a manual top. When it's hot, I have to give the front of the top a good whack from inside to separate it from the top of the windshield frame. My guess is that the seals at the front are sticking together. Is there something I could use to lubricate the seals that might make them less sticky?

Or maybe there's another theory for what's causing this.

 

[vintage42]

You have a powered top with the hydraulics turned off, maybe because fluid leaked out, or the motor or pump failed.
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-make-auto-top-manual&p=29228343#post29228343

The rubber gasket around the windshield does not get sticky, but the two hooks on each side of the top may not be retracting enough. Look into adjusting them.

 

[Father Gino]

It's definitely a manual top unless someone went to a whole lot of trouble to disguise it.

I could believe the later though it only happens when it's really hot.

 

[vintage42]

Why do you think it is definitely a manual top? Is there no switch for the top on the console, and no motor and pump behind the carpet on the left side of the trunk? My Z3 has a manual top because it was built in 10/96, but the manual top was changed to automatic late in the 1997 model year.
RealOEM shows the automatic top for your 2000 Z3:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=CH93-USA-04-2000-Z3-BMW-Z3_25&diagId=54_0201

 

[Father Gino]

No button on the console, no pump in the trunk.

Seems to be the driver's side pin that goes into the windshield frame. Maybe it's bent a bit or maybe the top expands slightly when hot and pushes the pin forward.

 

[vintage42]

No button on the console, no pump in the trunk....

And I see that on page 41 of your 2000 Owners Manual, the top operation is entirely manual:
"4 Continue to raise the top at the front
and push it toward the rear into the
convertible top well.
In the process, make sure the rear
window is laid down evenly and free
of creases."

I wonder why RealOEM shows an automatic top for your 2000 car.
Here is the automatic top for a late 1997 Z3 1.9, made a year later than my 10/96 manual top.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=CH73-USA-10-1997-Z3-BMW-Z3_19&diagId=54_0201
Hard to figure why they were still making manual tops in your 2000 model year.

 

[ZZZING]

Hard to figure why they were still making manual tops in your 2000 model year.

It was still an option available to have the manual top.

 

[vintage42]

So it was a delete option, like moonroof delete was for coupes.

 

[Allan Parsons]

2001 here with manual top

 

[teejerdude]

Father Gino, getting back to your original question: "When it's hot, I have to give the front of the top a good whack from inside to separate it from the top of the windshield frame. My guess is that the seals at the front are sticking together. Is there something I could use to lubricate the seals that might make them less sticky?"

My electric top does the exact same thing where the front header seal on the convertible top sticks tightly to the top of the windshield frame and I also have to give the top a few good whacks from the inside to separate the front of the top from the windshield frame; once the top is separated, it can then be closed normally (electrically in my case and manually in your case). I can 100% confirm it's not the two metal hooks catching on the edges on my top. Has anyone out there found a way to prevent this top sticking issue from happening?

 

[vintage42]

I use Gummi Phlege to keep my seals soft and alive. Maybe that's why they have never stuck together. Maybe dry seals are what stick together.
https://www.amazon.com/nextzett-914...8&qid=1468192979&sr=1-1&keywords=gummi+pflege

 

[Father Gino]

I'm still trying to figure out what's going on. It may be the rubber sticking but the other day the driver's side didn't want to release while the passenger side was totally separated from the windshield frame. The latches are definitely released but it seemed that the pin didn't want to come out of the hole in the windshield frame. I pulled backward on the latch handles from the inside (not that hard) and the top opened right up. Never seems to be a problem in cooler weather though I've only had the car a year.