Soft top won't open

[wzf18r]

I have my soft top on for a number of days, and I never have any issue on open and close the top on my car.

Today when I try to open the top, it just don't works

When I drop the lever on top of the windshield with hand brake on and door closed, both windows drop couple of inches and I verrify the hand brake light in ON

When I press the open top button, I can hear a short motor noise and that is it, nothing happen

I checked the B6 fuse, it is good

currently the soft top is closed normally do I have to open it up manually to investigate the problem?

any idea?

thanks

Edited September 25, 2009 by Thomas Ching

[Beelzy]

A short noise means something is amiss in the motor are.

Yes, you will have to put the top into "service" mode manually to see what's up.

Good Luck!

[manud]

I have my soft top on for a number of days, and I never have any issue on open and close the top on my car.

Today when I try to open the top, it just don't works

When I drop the lever on top of the windshield with hand brake on and door closed, both windows drop couple of inches and I verrify the hand brake light in ON

When I press the open top button, I can hear a short motor noise and that is it, nothing happen

I checked the B6 fuse, it is good

currently the soft top is closed normally do I have to open it up manually to investigate the problem?

any idea?

thanks

I had a similar issue. However, the hand brake light was not on although I pulled the lever. The system was therefore not detecting that my handbrakes were applied. I just had to clean the switch triggered by the handbrake lever and everything went back to normal.

Your case indicates that the handbrake switch is normal. i can only assume that there is a mechanical resistance. However, in such cases the motor would require more amps and your fuse would blow. The fact that the fuse didn't blow tells me that there is a security system that would prevent the motor to force should it encounter a mechanical resistance. However I have never read about that nor do I know it for sure.

Perhaps the thread at http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=14953 would help?

Please let us know about the outcome.

[mckinlay]

This sounds exactly like the problem I had with the top on my 2000 Boxster. It turned out that a drive gear had broken in one of the transmissions which raise and lower the top. This caused the drive cable to bind and the motor tried to turn but could not. It did not blow the fuse. I would refer you to my previous post in this forum titled "Top Won't Open " from May 17, 2009. It includes detailed instructions on how to get your top open (courtesy of Maurice) and figure out what is wrong. You might not have the exact same problem I had but your description is exactly how mine was not working.

[rodsnhawgs]

I have my soft top on for a number of days, and I never have any issue on open and close the top on my car.

Today when I try to open the top, it just don't works

When I drop the lever on top of the windshield with hand brake on and door closed, both windows drop couple of inches and I verrify the hand brake light in ON

When I press the open top button, I can hear a short motor noise and that is it, nothing happen

I checked the B6 fuse, it is good

currently the soft top is closed normally do I have to open it up manually to investigate the problem?

any idea?

thanks

Sounds like my problem with one major exception - I hear NO noise at all. No unusual noises on previous (last) up/down cycle either. Top simply won't respond in any way.

Any ideas? Beelzy mentioned "service mode"... what is that? do I need it?

Thanks

Edited October 19, 2009 by rodsnhawgs

[1schoir]

I have my soft top on for a number of days, and I never have any issue on open and close the top on my car.

Today when I try to open the top, it just don't works

When I drop the lever on top of the windshield with hand brake on and door closed, both windows drop couple of inches and I verrify the hand brake light in ON

When I press the open top button, I can hear a short motor noise and that is it, nothing happen

I checked the B6 fuse, it is good

currently the soft top is closed normally do I have to open it up manually to investigate the problem?

any idea?

thanks

Thomas and Rod:

Here is what Mckinlay was referring to:

The least painful way to get the top down enough manually so that you can access everything is to reach over/under through the rollbar and to then unhook the plastic bar that holds the black vinyl apron onto the rear firewall. That apron is held up by two small brackets, and you have to pull down and rotate the bar slightly (rear of bar rotates downwards and towards you as you access it with your arm through the roll bar).

Once you have the apron unhooked, you can get a good look at the two black vinyl outer cables that enter the electric motor on each side of the motor.

You can then feel and reach the point at which each cable is inserted and you must then pull up the upside-down U-shaped brass-colored clip and remove it. Once you have removed each one of the clips (one from the left, one from the right side of the motor) then you can pull each cable housing outboard.

Now insert the end of the inner (speedometer type) cable on one side into a cordless drill (on the LOWEST torque setting) and spin that inner cable until you see the clamshell BEGIN TO move up. Then switch the drill over to the other cable and repeat until that side begins to move up and go a little past where the level of the other side of the clamshell stopped. Repeat as necessary and finish off at whatever level you want by making both sides even and level.

There is a good possibility that this will allow your top to operate with the button at this point.

If not, you will have access to anything that you might have to work on.

There are a couple of other methods to get the top to move manually once it's stuck in the completely open position, but this one works well if you are not really BIG and TALL. If you are, or if you want to try the other methods, do a search here and you'll find the details.

If you need photos to illustrate any of the above steps, let me know and I'll dig some up.

(BTW, Thomas, you should also check fuse D3 (IIRC) as there are two fuses that affect the top: one for the convertible top relay, and the other for the electric motor..)

Regards, Maurice.

Edited October 20, 2009 by 1schoir

[rodsnhawgs]

update and new problem:

tried diconnecting battery for a couple of days thinking computer may need to reset itself...tried top again after recon and top worked. However, after moving about 1/2 down, I stopped it to do the karate chop thing to the back window...top would not continue. Discon again for about an hour; recon - no luck...top is stopped at 1/2 open/closed. :o

Second problem has now reared its head - and my guess is they are related:

Ignition felt "soft", even "spongy" when turning key to off and even past off postiton. Pulled key and got a message stating "ignition key not removed"...even got the key not removed chimes audible alarm... hmmm... key back in and restarted engine... off again w/ the "soft" feel... this time when I removed the key, it made a louder than normal disconnect. Upon trying to reinsert the key, the ignition will not allow the key to enter the slot.

So...now I'm locked out of the ignition and the top is stuck 1/2 open! Any insights??

Edited October 30, 2009 by rodsnhawgs

[rodsnhawgs]

Update: Finally got the key to re-insert. Repeated attempts only made ignition switch get "softer" and more "spongy." Top remained partially open. So, I (thought) I was committed to repairing the problem myself now convinced the electrical issues are all ignition switch related. But wait...I bought an extended warranty after replacing the RMS!! Ignition switch is ~$200; warranty deductable: $200; no-brainer here right?...wrong...

Car in trailer to dealership for repairs. Dealer called Warranty Direct for authorization per the contract. Authorization granted. Warranty Direct will only cover ~$120 of the $165 (genuine Porsche parts) ignition switch b/c they want to use aftermarket parts...OK, I'll go the difference and tell the dealer to proceed using Porsche parts.

BTW, the top also needed a relay. $35 diff in price and 1 hour labor.

Repairs complete, I'm expecting to pay the $200 deductable + $45 difference for the switch + another $35 for the relay...right?....wrong....

Warranty Direct apparently uses a different "flat rate" than most repair shop's typical Mitchell books. They won't say what they use, only "a national hourly rate chart." Dx + repairs via Mitchell calls for 5 hours labor; WD pays < 2.5 hours and apparently does not allow for diagnosis. Additionally, they didn't match my Porsche dealer's hourly rate of $100/hour but paid a lesser $90/hour.

Bottom line: I had to pay $650 out of pocket for a job I could have done for ~$300.

This is NOT what I bought a warranty for!! Calls to Warranty Direct were met with "we are not going to consider changing the price" and a supervisor will not come to the phone to discuss this. Appeals need to be handled via www.adr.org which will cost me ~$750 for them to hear my case... I think I just got ripped off...

Long story short - be very careful with Warranty Direct. Make sure you know what you are buying and what to expect. My WD contract states they will pay for "reasonable costs to repair or replace any Failure." The definition of "reasonable" is not clear and is left to interpretation by Warranty Direct. I cannot recommend them.