2002 996 convertible top problems

[Aurelio Elio]

My convertible top will not open. I have opened manually and have heard it need to be re set or something is that true?

Here is the story how it happened. My top was working just fine till I took my car to replace windshield. They called me saying they could not replace windshield without opening the top and that it did not work.

I do not know what they touched but it was not working when I got there so I opened it manually. In inspecting the car I saw that the hand break light was not on so I reconnected the switch near the hand break and now the windows go down but the top does not open. The dash light warning says top not closed all the way. When I open it manually the locking mecanism does work. Any suggestions? Thank You very much.

[JFP in PA]

My convertible top will not open. I have opened manually and have heard it need to be re set or something is that true?

Here is the story how it happened. My top was working just fine till I took my car to replace windshield. They called me saying they could not replace windshield without opening the top and that it did not work.

I do not know what they touched but it was not working when I got there so I opened it manually. In inspecting the car I saw that the hand break light was not on so I reconnected the switch near the hand break and now the windows go down but the top does not open. The dash light warning says top not closed all the way. When I open it manually the locking mecanism does work. Any suggestions? Thank You very much.

There is a micro switch in the top latch in the center of the windshield that tells the system when the top is up and closed all the way, I would bet they did something to it when trying to do the windshield. If that switch is manually depressed, the top will not operate There is also a top calibration procedure that may now need to be done as well.

[Aurelio Elio]

I opened it manually and when I go to close it the the latch does work to lock into place but it does not release it to open it. Thank you to responding to my post

[JFP in PA]

I opened it manually and when I go to close it the the latch does work to lock into place but it does not release it to open it. Thank you to responding to my post

It is sounding more a more like the latch needs to be looked at and checked both mechanically and electrically.

[Aurelio Elio]

If I unhook the latch open should the rear motor retract the top when I hit the switch? It is not doing it.

[JFP in PA]

If I unhook the latch open should the rear motor retract the top when I hit the switch? It is not doing it.

Correct, but there is a micro switch inside the latch mechanism that has to "open" in order for the top motor to start the retraction. It is a safety device to prevent the top motor from running while the top is still latched. I think that switch is either stuck or broken.

[dgjks6]

I can actually add some relevant advice for one. Same thing happened to me, sort of. Anyway, once you open it manually it gets out of sync. You need to go to a dealer and they should be able to resync it for a couple hours labor at most. When mine was out of sync some of the motors would work and some would not. I thnk you can also resync it yourself if you have a durametric thing.

[JasonStern]

My convertible top knowledge came from owning an early Boxster, so this might not be exactly the same as a later 996, but...

If the microswitch is the JFP mentioned is the culprit, then you should be able to use a metal screwdriver to jump/depress the microswitch to determine whether or not that part is the part that is failing.

If that does not work, there should be a several terminal relay by the fuse box. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find a copy of the pinout, but hopefully someone else can provide it. If they do, use a multimeter to ensure that the switch is functioning. If the microswitch is not the problem, the next simple thing to check would be to make sure that the window repair guys didn't impact the convertible top switch. If both of those switches are working, verify the parking brake switch is working. If all of the switches are working, then in my experience it was the relay itself. However, I never opened the top manually so I have no experience or knowledge about the ECU getting out of sync.