My convertable motor went out

[Charliedana]

on my 97 328ic fully automatic top the one all the way in the back
History = first the top would go up on its own then the up/down button was blinking and before I could get to the dealer the rear lid and the top crashed in to each other and blew the transmission or motor or whatever its called

Anyway took it to the dealer he says oh the motor is shot I asked him to diagnose why he came back with oh the motor is shot at least 500 for the new part 160 to put it in and then maybe it might need straps ( I dont think so though that rear window went up really fast.

So I can see a grand to fix this and I dont have it Do you guys know if I can use the top like a manual top or would the rear deck tend to fly open
If so maybe some tips on what to do

My second thought was Buy a hard top to put on it, If I could find a used one or even new that would be cool. So again iny tips where to get a hard top

Sorry for the long post Im just bummed a little about the whole deal
Thanks

[agtur2001]

Hello, My motor went out last year. So now I raise and lower my top manually... check out the video below. If you need more help... let me know.

Alex

bmw e36 convertible problems - Google Video

[agtur2001]

Here's the doc I used. Eventually I will replace the motor and linkage as well. But for now... the manual process works fine.

http://bmwpages.co.uk/archive/e36_co...ble_adjust.pdf