This morning I followed the same procedure as usual to put down the top of my 987.2 Boxster, except I didn't make sure the little hook in the front was disengaged enough. This has happened before and when it still grabs the only consequence is that the top will struggle a bit to go back, and one can pull it all the way out and continue opening.

Today, there was a loud snapping sound and now the tonneau cover will go up and down, but the cloth top doesn't move.

Any thoughts on what to look for?

 

There are little sockets on the pushrod arms that either popped off or broke. You can find them as a replacement on ebay, but I'm pretty sure that you have to buy the whole pushrod from Porsche.
It's really similar on a 987 to the 986 in this video.

 

Look to see if one of these little "cups" is broken. They are sacrificial items by design. Can replace the "cup" instead of the pushrod with these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-Box...-/191595585977

Ask me how I know. ;-)

It's just an age / wear thing in cars that are now 10+ years old.

Good luck!

 

I bought the cups from that ebay link and had them installed. Both of the originals had snapped. Everything is working well again
Thanks!

 

 

Is part of the top outside of the door frame? The elastic that pulls it in will eventually fail if not already. YouTube DIY.

 

Yeah that's starting to happen too once in a while but it seems unrelated. The DIY seems simple enough.

 

Sadly I had these installed and they broke after a few months with nothing providing resistance (such as the roof hook still being partially engaged). Beautiful weekend too... can the top be put down by hand without damage in some way when these are broken?

 

There is an "emergency" procedure that can be used to manually raise/lower the top. There is even a special tool in the tool kit just for this purpose. You can find the details in your owners manual.

 

That sucks. Something else may be binding or the position / length of the arms may be incorrect?

 

Update: Since the replacement ball joints snapped I just took off the pushrods for the convertible top with a torx wrench. The convertible top cover still operates with the console switch so I can just take it to the most open position, operate the top manually, and then finish the process with the switch. Good enough for now!