2001 Boxster, drivers window contacting convertible top frame

[rwo]

Anyone out there have a fix for this? Quite recently my drivers window has started contacting the surrounding convertible top frame, at the rearward side. This causes the window to not seal, leaving a 1/8 inch gap at the top/front. When standing outside the car you can see the window try to "lift" the top itself. It's almost as if the entire top has shifted to the passenger side of the car.

I recently had the car in the body shop to have paint damage repaired. There should have been no reason to mess with the top...and I've only noticed this since picking up the car.

Thanks

Rich

[1schoir]

Anyone out there have a fix for this? Quite recently my drivers window has started contacting the surrounding convertible top frame, at the rearward side. This causes the window to not seal, leaving a 1/8 inch gap at the top/front. When standing outside the car you can see the window try to "lift" the top itself. It's almost as if the entire top has shifted to the passenger side of the car.

I recently had the car in the body shop to have paint damage repaired. There should have been no reason to mess with the top...and I've only noticed this since picking up the car.

Thanks

Rich

Rich:

There are adjustments that can be made both to get the window to up a little further (or a little less) and to get the window to end up a little further forward to have its front edge end up closer to the front of the car or a little further back to have its rear edge end up closer to the rear of the car when the window is closed.

The up down adjustment is relatively uninvolved and the forward to back adjustment is more involved and requires removal of the inner door panel.

A few questions:

How severe was the damage repaired by the body shop, and did it involve handling/removing/adjusting the convertible top?

What position does the window end up in when it is completely raised with the door completely closed in terms of centimeters or fractions of an inch at the forwardmost top edge of the window, and at the rearmost top edge of the window?

Is the space even all the way across the top edge of the window, where it meets the rubber of the convertible top frame?

Has the passenger's side window been affected at all, or is it even and snug all around on the passenger's side?

Also, is your Boxster a 2001 (986) or a 987?

Post answers to these questions, or pics and we will go through the proper adjustments, step by step.

Regards, Maurice.

[rwo]

Anyone out there have a fix for this? Quite recently my drivers window has started contacting the surrounding convertible top frame, at the rearward side. This causes the window to not seal, leaving a 1/8 inch gap at the top/front. When standing outside the car you can see the window try to "lift" the top itself. It's almost as if the entire top has shifted to the passenger side of the car.

I recently had the car in the body shop to have paint damage repaired. There should have been no reason to mess with the top...and I've only noticed this since picking up the car.

Thanks

Rich

Rich:

There are adjustments that can be made both to get the window to up a little further (or a little less) and to get the window to end up a little further forward to have its front edge end up closer to the front of the car or a little further back to have its rear edge end up closer to the rear of the car when the window is closed.

The up down adjustment is relatively uninvolved and the forward to back adjustment is more involved and requires removal of the inner door panel.

A few questions:

How severe was the damage repaired by the body shop, and did it involve handling/removing/adjusting the convertible top?

What position does the window end up in when it is completely raised with the door completely closed in terms of centimeters or fractions of an inch at the forwardmost top edge of the window, and at the rearmost top edge of the window?

Is the space even all the way across the top edge of the window, where it meets the rubber of the convertible top frame?

Has the passenger's side window been affected at all, or is it even and snug all around on the passenger's side?

Also, is your Boxster a 2001 (986) or a 987?

Post answers to these questions, or pics and we will go through the proper adjustments, step by step.

Regards, Maurice.

Maurice, I apologize for the delay in responding, spending time with my daughter. It's a 986 and the damage was purely cosmetic, the result of a sandstorm and other than having to feather the new paint into the doors there was no reason to get near the top. I purchased the car used 14 months ago.

The space is not even, the window is actually contacting the hard drip edge of the convertible top at the rear of the drivers door and being restrained from further movement. The passenger window seals fine.

The drivers window is chipped along the rear edge, and has been since I purchased the vehicle. I often wondered how that damage might have occurred but now with this present problem I'm thinking this might have happened before. The window catching on the hard drip surface?

I'll get some pics posted, just need to grab my digital from my estranged spouse. I'm of the opinion the top has somehow shifted.....

[1schoir]

Anyone out there have a fix for this? Quite recently my drivers window has started contacting the surrounding convertible top frame, at the rearward side. This causes the window to not seal, leaving a 1/8 inch gap at the top/front. When standing outside the car you can see the window try to "lift" the top itself. It's almost as if the entire top has shifted to the passenger side of the car.

I recently had the car in the body shop to have paint damage repaired. There should have been no reason to mess with the top...and I've only noticed this since picking up the car.

Thanks

Rich

Rich:

There are adjustments that can be made both to get the window to up a little further (or a little less) and to get the window to end up a little further forward to have its front edge end up closer to the front of the car or a little further back to have its rear edge end up closer to the rear of the car when the window is closed.

The up down adjustment is relatively uninvolved and the forward to back adjustment is more involved and requires removal of the inner door panel.

A few questions:

How severe was the damage repaired by the body shop, and did it involve handling/removing/adjusting the convertible top?

What position does the window end up in when it is completely raised with the door completely closed in terms of centimeters or fractions of an inch at the forwardmost top edge of the window, and at the rearmost top edge of the window?

Is the space even all the way across the top edge of the window, where it meets the rubber of the convertible top frame?

Has the passenger's side window been affected at all, or is it even and snug all around on the passenger's side?

Also, is your Boxster a 2001 (986) or a 987?

Post answers to these questions, or pics and we will go through the proper adjustments, step by step.

Regards, Maurice.

Maurice, I apologize for the delay in responding, spending time with my daughter. It's a 986 and the damage was purely cosmetic, the result of a sandstorm and other than having to feather the new paint into the doors there was no reason to get near the top. I purchased the car used 14 months ago.

The space is not even, the window is actually contacting the hard drip edge of the convertible top at the rear of the drivers door and being restrained from further movement. The passenger window seals fine.

The drivers window is chipped along the rear edge, and has been since I purchased the vehicle. I often wondered how that damage might have occurred but now with this present problem I'm thinking this might have happened before. The window catching on the hard drip surface?

I'll get some pics posted, just need to grab my digital from my estranged spouse. I'm of the opinion the top has somehow shifted.....

Rich:

No problem. Spending quality time with your daughter should never be put off. The car can always get fixed later.

Pics would definitely be helpful, but in the meantime, some thoughts.

Since there was no major bodywork, and since the passenger's side seals fine, it is very unlikely that the top has somehow shifted. If it had shifted, there would likely be some effect showing up on the passenger's side, in the form of some different gap, etc.

First, take a look from the inside of the canvas top (should be easy if your Boxster is an early enough year to not have a liner [pre-2000 or 2001, I think]) and look at the two joints (one left and one right) that are on the bow almost directly above the roll bar. The joints are located just before the bow section starts to slope/angle downwards from the horizontal. If the joints aren't tight, you should see some white/beige powdered adhesive residue, as opposed to a tight joint that will be just black and snug. Aside from that, the entire convertible top frame cannot shift unless the three bolts on each side that hold the frame to the top are loose or missing.

Rather than looking for those bolts, take a look at how the top lines up side to side by inspecting it at two specific spots:

Measure (or eyeball) the distance between where the outside of the base of the B-pillar part of the convertible top and the inside edge of the small parrallelogram-shaped piece of the body meet (just forward of the each forward point of the clamshell, body paint colored with a flat black piece of trim on its innermost edge). Do that on each side and see if the space is the same on the driver's side as on the passenger's side. The B-pillar part of the convertible top that I am referring to is the (flat black) part that ends up mating up with the rear edge of the window when the window is fully raised. At its widest part, near the body of the car is where you measure.

Then, look where the front edge of the convertible top meets the windshield frame and measure (or eyeball) how the "drip edge" (flat black) on each side of the convertible top canvas meets up with the slanted (not quite vertical) rubber gasket that runs up from each side of the base of the windshield frame to the top of the windshield frame. If those two pieces (the drip edge and the rubber gasket) are lined up (i.e., on the same plane along the side of the window) AND the passenger's side and driver's side have the same spacing, then your top has again not likely shifted.

It is more likely that the glass part of the window may have shifted in the two clamping pieces of the window regulator that hold the glass in place.

Do you know if the window regulator has ever been replaced in the driver's side door? How much mileage on the car?

The reason I ask is because you mentioned the window is chipped along the rear edge. That may have happened if someone replaced the window regulator (which requires removal of the glass from the clamping pieces of the old regulator) and did not insure that the glass was exactly relocated on the new regulator's clamping pieces.

Take a look at the six spots mentioned above (joint on bow above the roll bar, space at base of B-pillar, alignment where the side of the canvas top meets the windshield frame

), and report back.

If you get pics, it will be easy to determine where the adjustments have to be made.

Again, from what you describe, it's likely fixable without too much difficulty.

Regards, Maurice.