roof top problems

[Lcv]

Guys,

Had to try and realign the transmissions on roof as the pull rod snapped. anyway something really strange happening now. When I press up the roof goes down and vice versa, could the relay be shagged? Any ideas? Also can anyone help with the timings on the transmissions. Whats the best way to ensure that I have these aligned correctly with the roof so that it does all the right actions.

Cheers

[Lcv]

Does nobody here know how to solve this problem? or even check the timings on the transmisions? Any help appreciated

[Loren]

There are three pages of Boxster top issues here and I am sure that this has already been covered. Have you looked through the other posted solutions?

[Tool Pants]

This is a new one for me.

What is the model year for your car, not the registration year.

Do you know if you have the new or old style top transmissions. Did you remove what we call the V levers that are bolted to the transmissions.

What parts did you replace and why did you need to replace what was replaced.

Does the roof go up and down and work properly otherwise.

Now for my silly question. The switch is oval. There is a raised part of the oval button and a recessed part. Which end of the switch do you press when you want the roof to go up.

[Lcv]

This is a new one for me.

What is the model year for your car, not the registration year.

Do you know if you have the new or old style top transmissions.  Did you remove what we call the V levers that are bolted to the transmissions.

What parts did you replace and why did you need to replace what was replaced.

Does the roof go up and down and work properly otherwise.

Now for my silly question.  The switch is oval.  There is a raised part of the oval button and a recessed part.  Which end of the switch do you press when you want the roof to go up.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Toolpants,

The car is a late 96 early 97 model. It has the old style transmissions, with the half moon cogs. Yes I did remove the V-levers because when one of the pull rods with the plastic joints snapped, I didn´t realise what was going on so stupidly tried moving the top with the motor. One of the v-levers snapped and so I have a new pull rod and a new v lever, now I can´t be sure that I have put the v-lvers back on with the transmissions being where they are meant to be (cog wise) so what I want to know is how do i make sure that when i reconnected the v-levers that i did it with the transmissions in the right place. After all I did fiddle with the transmissions using the motors to see if they still worked. By the way I have the old style transmission cables which I have cut the housing on as it was too long.

As for the button, the raised part with the picture of the roof raised is now dropping the roof and vice versa.

Cheers

[Lcv]

OK SOME PICS TO HELP

The first picture is when the roof is fully up and locked, as you can see the TOP of the v lever is pointing backwards (towards the exhaust) and the second picture is after i open the roof top just enough to get into the space under the clamshell maybe 2 seconds of holding the button. as you can see the TOP of the v-lever is pointing up so it is the same as a normal v at this point.

PICTURE 1 BACK OF THE CAR > <--v lever

PICTURE 2 v <-- v lever

[Tool Pants]

Does the roof go up and down and work properly otherwise. Does the top warning light go on and off when you operate the top.

[Lcv]

not really as when I am lowering the roof it gets to the point where I have to stop as otherwise the pistons try to push the clamshell further back than it can physically go, hence why I think the v-levers are not timed properly. I have currently disconnected the pull rods(plastic joint bits) to avoid breaking these until I know the v-leveres are on properly.

[Tool Pants]

Mark is the timing expert so I hope he sees your message. I recently tried to time my transmissions and the clamshell locked down in the down position and would not move when I pressed either side of the switch. So I was off on the timing. I contacted Mark for help but he moved a little bit out of the area so I went to my dealer and took the following 3 pictures so that I would know the position of the V levers in case I would give it a second try before I could get together with Mark. I have not had the "time" to try a second "time." :P

I have never seen a top run in reverse, so this is a guess.

The V lever has a male ball joint screwed into one end of the lever for the push rod that operates the clamshell. The other end of the V lever has a bolt for the push rod with the plastic end for the roof. So there are 2 push rods attached to the V lever. Do you have these push rods reversed? Or, was your V levers bolted to the transmissions so that they are 180 degrees off?

These are the 3 pictures I took at my dealer of a Boxster if I was going to give a second shot by myself. You can see the position of the roof, the clamshell, and that the V levers are pointing down. From what you said your roof is in about the same position in my pic but your pic shows the V lever facing up.

My guess is that you are 180 degrees off with something. Either the V levers were bolted on so that they are 180 degrees off. Or the the push rods were put on the wrong ends of the V lever which would also make you 180 degrees off. Or you have both situations. At least this is my best guess.

[Lcv]

ok yep looks to me like mine are 180 off so I will reverse them and try again, thx toolpants will let u know how i get on. Pics deffo make things easier ;)

[Lcv]

ok spun the v-levers round and also attached the pull joints to the other sides, and it´s seems to work fine for most of the procedure. When putting roof down there is no problem everything works ok and light goes out. When putting the roof back up there is a loud noise when the clamshell closes as if it´s skipping gears or something then hood reopens and tries to close again. It does this several times and does not turn off the hood light. Is it time to change the tansmisssion motors? Is there a switch which the roof should be pressing to turn the motors off etc? Any ideas would be great. thanks

[mark in sunnyvale]

Hehe, glad to see you figured out it was upside down. I did the same thing the first time I did it.

This is how I synch the transmission. The Factory workshop way did not work for me since I screwed up mine really badly.

1) With one side connected and, have someone press the down button. Note the direction of motion (CW or CCW).

2) Keep pressing until the gear jumps off the half moon cog.

3) Now spin the gear by hand opposite to what it was doing when you were pressing the down button. Press the UP button to get the gear to re-engaged with the cog.

4) Repeat on other side. Now your gears are in a known position.

5)Put the hood and clamshell in the down position.

6) With only one side connected at a time, have someone press the up button a second at a time until the ball joint for the clamshell aligns with the arm.

You should be able to put the top up and down now.

-Mark

Edited June 13, 2005 by mark in sunnyvale

[Lcv]

think i got it sorted, need to replace one of the v-levers which snapped when i was playing around with the timings, but the hood works with one up and down and the lights are going out when it goes up and down so will confirm when i have the second lever on. cheers toolpants and mark.

[Lcv]

right new v-lever in and AT FIRST a few probs but all sorted now and working perfectly at 1/6 of the cost thanks to MSSRS TOOLPANTS AND MARK. THANKS GUYS APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP. One last thing now I´ll have a quick look through the forum see if I can track it down but one side of the roof sticks out of the side trim when I close it. Any ideas?