Aston DBS/DB9 convertible issues - beep & wont latch - FIX
Discussion
Hi all, I spent HOURS researching and now I will catalogue events and share with you what I did and put it all in one place.
This was a 2010 Aston DBS Volante but shares most of its components with the DB9. These same repairs work for a DB9.
After a hard power wash (wasn’t me) my convertible top did not cooperate. This started with two concurrent symptoms.
1. When opening, the tonneau would not fully latch, leaving the “rove movement paused” or similar error and beeping incessantly. I noticed that sometimes a restart, and/or hitting and holding T1/T2 button then restarting, or doing the window reset or some mix of those things would occasionally give me the ability to drive it without the constant chime/beep until I was able to fix the car.
2. When trying to close the top, it would stop before fully latching in front. If I hit the button again, it would complete just fine. #1 was obviously the most irritating!
I read every thread on every forum with relevant info. I was sure it was water related due to timing of when this happened. We found water in the fuse box on the left side of the trunk or boot (depending on which side of the pond you’re on). We pulled the drain plug and water drained out. It was probably a few inches deep. No good.
After reading though, it seemed that it was very common for water to leak down the tonneau latch cables and in to the “sealed housing” below. This thread below was most helpful to me:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
The latch motor housings were the most common culprit, and sometimes the bushings needed cleaned out. So, my buddy and I (he is a GREAT body guy) took apart the entire rear interior of the car, certain this was the issue. This is because 75% of those with my exact issue found this to be the fix.
After ripping it apart and reading various comments on various threads, I found this gem: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/attachment.php... I wish I had used this first, as it’s fantastic and would have saved us a lot of time.
Removing the window was a bit tricky, but it can be done!
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
My housings for the latch pumps were bone dry. No evidence of water. At the bottom of the housings, we poked a hole just in case to allow drainage should this happen in the future, because in reading this was something recalled on some and a common way it was to be “properly” repaired— including by Aston Martin.
Since that was ineffective, we directed our attention back to the fuse area. I searched and searched and searched for the location of any relays for the convertible top. I replaced all related fuses. I found nothing. It was odd that this started when I located all of this water in the fuse area. We decided to pull the fuse box in the trunk. When we pulled it out we found there were TWO relays mounted underneath. Each was corroded and smelled fried. This MUST be the issue.
They’re Ford 5 prong relays. I brought them to Napa auto parts and they gave me two new ones. I cleaned the connections with a wire brush, sprayed electric cleaner, and used dialectic grease. However when I tried it, I had the same problem; this did not work. I was devastated. Upon further inspection, it appeared that I had yanked a wire out of one of the harnesses in the region while doing all of this. My friend decided to elicit the help of his best electrician friend locally (car electrician).
Weeks later and many lost hours of sleep later, he came. We were sure the wire was the remaining problem. He cleaned all connections and fixed the wire. No go, still did not work. At this point I fear this is going to get VERY expensive.
Next we turned our attention to the hydraulic fluid. If anyone is curious, the pump is on the left (drivers side in US). It’s accessed by leaving the top half up and wedging something under it so it doesn’t suddenly collapse on you. The pump “sounded low” he thought. It’s in what I would describe as a dark gray “bag” tucked in towards the exterior of the car. Upon inspection, it did look a bit low. So we added fluid. Still, after several attempts (assumedly bleeding out any air in the lines) — it did not work.
After another hour or two of effort and further diagnostics with all of his amazing tools— he decided to check the relays we had installed. As it turns out, one of them was wrong. He happened to have a spare (common Ford relay). He installed it, and SUCCESS! It worked!
So... I paid my friends for their time, very minimal. Several local shops refused to touch it. I feared I would have to take it to Aston Martin in Chicago. All along it was the relays that almost no one seems to know how to find and the manual itself doesn’t seem to mention.
It works like a charm, and I am breathing easy again! I thought some of you would want to have a write up with more information in ONE place. Here are some other things I used for figuring all of this out:
These diagrams (knowing what things are called is key) make this SO much easier:
https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...
Though it wasn’t the culprit here, the CRM failure causes other issues. Here is info on that:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/3...
I hope this has helped! By the way - I still love this car. It shouldn’t have been power washed so hard to begin with!
This was a 2010 Aston DBS Volante but shares most of its components with the DB9. These same repairs work for a DB9.
After a hard power wash (wasn’t me) my convertible top did not cooperate. This started with two concurrent symptoms.
1. When opening, the tonneau would not fully latch, leaving the “rove movement paused” or similar error and beeping incessantly. I noticed that sometimes a restart, and/or hitting and holding T1/T2 button then restarting, or doing the window reset or some mix of those things would occasionally give me the ability to drive it without the constant chime/beep until I was able to fix the car.
2. When trying to close the top, it would stop before fully latching in front. If I hit the button again, it would complete just fine. #1 was obviously the most irritating!
I read every thread on every forum with relevant info. I was sure it was water related due to timing of when this happened. We found water in the fuse box on the left side of the trunk or boot (depending on which side of the pond you’re on). We pulled the drain plug and water drained out. It was probably a few inches deep. No good.
After reading though, it seemed that it was very common for water to leak down the tonneau latch cables and in to the “sealed housing” below. This thread below was most helpful to me:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=11...
The latch motor housings were the most common culprit, and sometimes the bushings needed cleaned out. So, my buddy and I (he is a GREAT body guy) took apart the entire rear interior of the car, certain this was the issue. This is because 75% of those with my exact issue found this to be the fix.
After ripping it apart and reading various comments on various threads, I found this gem: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/attachment.php... I wish I had used this first, as it’s fantastic and would have saved us a lot of time.
Removing the window was a bit tricky, but it can be done!
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
My housings for the latch pumps were bone dry. No evidence of water. At the bottom of the housings, we poked a hole just in case to allow drainage should this happen in the future, because in reading this was something recalled on some and a common way it was to be “properly” repaired— including by Aston Martin.
Since that was ineffective, we directed our attention back to the fuse area. I searched and searched and searched for the location of any relays for the convertible top. I replaced all related fuses. I found nothing. It was odd that this started when I located all of this water in the fuse area. We decided to pull the fuse box in the trunk. When we pulled it out we found there were TWO relays mounted underneath. Each was corroded and smelled fried. This MUST be the issue.
They’re Ford 5 prong relays. I brought them to Napa auto parts and they gave me two new ones. I cleaned the connections with a wire brush, sprayed electric cleaner, and used dialectic grease. However when I tried it, I had the same problem; this did not work. I was devastated. Upon further inspection, it appeared that I had yanked a wire out of one of the harnesses in the region while doing all of this. My friend decided to elicit the help of his best electrician friend locally (car electrician).
Weeks later and many lost hours of sleep later, he came. We were sure the wire was the remaining problem. He cleaned all connections and fixed the wire. No go, still did not work. At this point I fear this is going to get VERY expensive.
Next we turned our attention to the hydraulic fluid. If anyone is curious, the pump is on the left (drivers side in US). It’s accessed by leaving the top half up and wedging something under it so it doesn’t suddenly collapse on you. The pump “sounded low” he thought. It’s in what I would describe as a dark gray “bag” tucked in towards the exterior of the car. Upon inspection, it did look a bit low. So we added fluid. Still, after several attempts (assumedly bleeding out any air in the lines) — it did not work.
After another hour or two of effort and further diagnostics with all of his amazing tools— he decided to check the relays we had installed. As it turns out, one of them was wrong. He happened to have a spare (common Ford relay). He installed it, and SUCCESS! It worked!
So... I paid my friends for their time, very minimal. Several local shops refused to touch it. I feared I would have to take it to Aston Martin in Chicago. All along it was the relays that almost no one seems to know how to find and the manual itself doesn’t seem to mention.
It works like a charm, and I am breathing easy again! I thought some of you would want to have a write up with more information in ONE place. Here are some other things I used for figuring all of this out:
These diagrams (knowing what things are called is key) make this SO much easier:
https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part-finder/aston...
Though it wasn’t the culprit here, the CRM failure causes other issues. Here is info on that:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/3...
I hope this has helped! By the way - I still love this car. It shouldn’t have been power washed so hard to begin with!
I have a similar problem. The tonneau cover seems to want to lift up but it seems one of the catches is not releasing. I have looked at all the fuses in the boot and they seem fine. I have just ordered 2 x Tonneau relays and wait for them to be delivered. Meanwhile I will undo the boot fusebox and check underneath a see if there are any relays.
I have a 2009 DB9 Volante and would like to replace the HEADLINER . I have contacted several manufacturers that make the convertible tops, but none of them make a replacement for the interior headliner. Mine is sagging at the rear corners ...not sure if a cable is broken , or the material has lost its elasticity , etc. Has anyone been successful in dealing with this issue ? Can a new headliner be made using the old one as a template ? I see that new ones can be purchased for around $3200 but that is a little beyond me at this point. Any isights would be greatley appreciated . Tom
tfo15 said:
I have a 2009 DB9 Volante and would like to replace the HEADLINER . I have contacted several manufacturers that make the convertible tops, but none of them make a replacement for the interior headliner. Mine is sagging at the rear corners ...not sure if a cable is broken , or the material has lost its elasticity , etc. Has anyone been successful in dealing with this issue ? Can a new headliner be made using the old one as a template ? I see that new ones can be purchased for around $3200 but that is a little beyond me at this point. Any isights would be greatley appreciated . Tom
Check first if one of the elastic cords is broken. Had that on my DBS Volante, and that was a rahter easy fix (new elastic cord can be easily found, route it through the small, round openings (look at other side where it is still ok for an example) and glue it together). Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff