Reminder for Cab owners

[Kim]

I've been doing several days of spring cleaning (leather, carpets, etc) in my garage, and unwittingly let the battery run down via open doors, etc. When I attempted to raise the top to get to the back window, the process proceeded only a few inches before the battery gave up altogether.

So, pop the engine cover and connect a trickle charger to revive my battery. Later, disconnect the charger and start the car. All is great until I attempt to finish raising the top. I can hear the relay clicking (its quiet in my garage), but the top will move neither up nor down.

After a few minutes of increasing panic and head scratching (did I melt a top relay or something similarly horrible?) .... I remember the pointers I've picked up here at RennTech. Did I fully close the engine cover? A quick push, a reassuring click, and my top was running again.

Just something for you Cab drivers to file away for when it happens to you.

[chitowndad]

Kim,

You need to get something more powerful than a trickle charger... Your battery doesn't have enough umph to power the top up / down. Get a stronger charger and put it on for a few hours. Whe my Boxster sits for the winter I have to fully charger the battery every 3-4 weeks. I get the same experience, some things work that require a lower amperage and the bigger things like starting the car and the power top won't work. The trickle charge is just that, it tickels (not trickles) the battery. Make sense?

-Steve

I've been doing several days of spring cleaning (leather, carpets, etc) in my garage, and unwittingly let the battery run down via open doors, etc. When I attempted to raise the top to get to the back window, the process proceeded only a few inches before the battery gave up altogether.

So, pop the engine cover and connect a trickle charger to revive my battery. Later, disconnect the charger and start the car. All is great until I attempt to finish raising the top. I can hear the relay clicking (its quiet in my garage), but the top will move neither up nor down.

After a few minutes of increasing panic and head scratching (did I melt a top relay or something similarly horrible?) .... I remember the pointers I've picked up here at RennTech. Did I fully close the engine cover? A quick push, a reassuring click, and my top was running again.

Just something for you Cab drivers to file away for when it happens to you.

[Kim]

Kim,

You need to get something more powerful than a trickle charger... Your battery doesn't have enough umph to power the top up / down. Get a stronger charger and put it on for a few hours. Whe my Boxster sits for the winter I have to fully charger the battery every 3-4 weeks. I get the same experience, some things work that require a lower amperage and the bigger things like starting the car and the power top won't work. The trickle charge is just that, it tickels (not trickles) the battery. Make sense?

Steve,

Maybe I wasn't clear. My car did not sit for the winter .... it never sits except for the occasional week's vacation.

Battery was at normal full charge until I left interior lights on, radio, etc, for a couple of days while cleaning / working. Attempting to raise the top on the weakened battery took the battery just to the point where it would not quite start the car. So .... 30 minutes on my charger at the trickle setting .... and all was good to go.

(The battery being over 4 years old very likely also had something to do with how quickly it lost its charge while was was working on the car. I'll have to keep an eye on it.)

Kim

[Loren]

A 4 year battery is waiting to strand you somewhere - soon. IMHO it's time to replace it anyway.

[Max405]

I've been doing several days of spring cleaning (leather, carpets, etc) in my garage, and unwittingly let the battery run down via open doors, etc. When I attempted to raise the top to get to the back window, the process proceeded only a few inches before the battery gave up altogether.

So, pop the engine cover and connect a trickle charger to revive my battery. Later, disconnect the charger and start the car. All is great until I attempt to finish raising the top. I can hear the relay clicking (its quiet in my garage), but the top will move neither up nor down.

After a few minutes of increasing panic and head scratching (did I melt a top relay or something similarly horrible?) .... I remember the pointers I've picked up here at RennTech. Did I fully close the engine cover? A quick push, a reassuring click, and my top was running again.

Just something for you Cab drivers to file away for when it happens to you.

Kim,

Great post. The same thing happened to me the other night. I heard the relay clicks and something told me to check the engine cover. It was open. Funny thing is, I think it opens on its own. I think if I travel on a bumpy road the jarring opens the latch. Weird.

Thanks, Joe D.

[whs]

I've been doing several days of spring cleaning (leather, carpets, etc) in my garage, and unwittingly let the battery run down via open doors, etc. When I attempted to raise the top to get to the back window, the process proceeded only a few inches before the battery gave up altogether.

So, pop the engine cover and connect a trickle charger to revive my battery. Later, disconnect the charger and start the car. All is great until I attempt to finish raising the top. I can hear the relay clicking (its quiet in my garage), but the top will move neither up nor down.

After a few minutes of increasing panic and head scratching (did I melt a top relay or something similarly horrible?) .... I remember the pointers I've picked up here at RennTech. Did I fully close the engine cover? A quick push, a reassuring click, and my top was running again.

Just something for you Cab drivers to file away for when it happens to you.

Kim,

Great post. The same thing happened to me the other night. I heard the relay clicks and something told me to check the engine cover. It was open. Funny thing is, I think it opens on its own. I think if I travel on a bumpy road the jarring opens the latch. Weird.

Thanks, Joe D.

+1 for me. The other day I went to lower the top for the first time this year and nothing happened. Came in and pulled up Renntech and found the threads regarding the engine lid. Went outside, opened and closed the lid and top went right down. This site has saved me sooooo much money!!!! Thanks.

Will

[Dharn55]

Reminds me of when I put in my Smart Top module. Had it installed and it worked. then some how it seemed to stop working, top would not fully closed, went to about 1" from closing. I could not figure out what was wrong, thought maybe I had really screwed something up. I was on my way to my mechanics shop, holding the top down with my hand so it would not blow open. About 1 mile from my home I thought, maybe I should check the engine cover. Low and behold, once closed properly the top worked fine. Felt really stupid. Thank goodness I found it before I got to the shop and appeared really stupid!!!!!!!