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Working (and learning) about my wife's 2008 Boxster as I go and thanks to this great forum, was able to resolve a fairly major calamity this morning. It rained pretty heavily overnight and we woke up to the sound of her alarm going off. I came out and found the windows opening/closing on their own and the dashboard going quite mad. During this poltergeist session, the rear clamshell lifted on its own with a loud bang, which sounded like some stuck metal releasing.
I immediately disconnected the battery and following some previous threads' advice, removed the ECM from underneath the driver's side seat and found that water had reached it. Looks like it may have recently been infiltrated with water as I saw some blue bubbles on it and a tiny bit of rust but it wasn't too bad. I cleaned this with alcohol and Q-tips, then placed it in minute rice for the day. I also dried out the carpeting beneath the passenger seat thoroughly. I also sucked out the drain tubes behind the doors, both of which were clogged with debris (the source of the problem).
To get the driver's side seat in place, we had to reconnect the battery and manually fold the roof down (the clamshell was stuck in the service position). We started it up and its running like a dream! Remote keys work great and no dashboard alerts. So we lowered the clamshell and there was another loud BAM!
The cloth roof is down. The clamshell is fully closed on the passenger side and stuck about 1" above closed on the driver's side. There is no noise when the roof switch is flipped. The dashboard reports "Convertible top is not in limit". I've checked fuses B6 and D3 - both are fine. I've connected a Foxwell diagnostic meter and there are no codes indicated. I suspect some kind of mechanical problem in the rear.
I'm hoping to avoid a costly trip to the dealer and would appreciate any advice! Thank you.
That bang you heard, and the resulting clamshell misalignment from side to side, is indicative of one of the plastic ball-sockets popping off (or breaking) the linkage from the lift-motor to the top's frame.
The little plastic socket is pretty inexpensive, but you will need to discover what caused the misalignment stress that broke it and then address that.
At first glance, the whole convertible top system is daunting and intimidating. But after spending the effort to discover all its pieces and mechanical design, it becomes less scary. YouTube, various exploded view diagrams, and using your own eyes (with lots of light) to pry into all the corners and recesses, will finally begin to make sense if you are at least mechanically inclined.
Below is a picture of aftermarket replacement parts for the part I believe you heard "pop".
Note that the oem part is probably white, rather than black.
Agreed. My right snap-piece broke with a bang as well. Had to align the mechanism properly to get the linkages in the proper spot so the new piece could be attached and then snapped onto the mating link.
Thank you for the advice. This is exactly the problem. The passenger side plastic ball joint has snapped in half while the driver side ball joint has come off of the tie rod (and I assume the threads are stripped). I've ordered new ones.
However... there's something else going on which is preventing me from even lifting the clamshell. The driver side tie rod is facing the rear of the car (remember that it is disconnected from the ball joint) while the passenger side one is facing the front of the car. Here's a photo of the passenger side:
The driver side clamshell has some give and feels like I can lift it but the passenger side is shut hard. Maybe the tie rod is pinched down, preventing me from manually opening it.
How would I go about opening up the clamshell and putting the tie rods in the correct position so I can reinstall new ball joints?
Although it is difficult to tell from just the picture, compare the rotation-clocking of the 2 different "motors" on each side. Technically there is only one motor (in the middle) and a cable extending from the motor to the gearbox on each side. Perhaps the two gearboxes are out of sync (clocked different), which would indicate one of the cables is the culprit, or one of the gearboxes is. I think I have seen Ebay replacement gears for the gearbox, and they are metal instead of plastic. Which indicates that the aftermarket is involved in a common issue?
Oh, and the rod with the threaded ball end is attached to the gearbox by a single torx 25(?) bolt. In fact that bolt goes through a slot in the rod, thus being a second method of length adjustment in addition to the the threaded ball end.
I'm not at the place where adjusting the length of the cables or tie rods is going to do anything. Nothing is working (not even the motor), both white ball joints are broken and the clamshell is being held down with a tremendous amount of resistance. I need to get the roof out of there so I can fully assess the damage.
The owner's manual states that the black ball joints can be popped off to enable the convertible cover to be manually lifted but they don't want to budge.
Ok, I made a little progress. I ripped apart the brass spring clips holding the upper end of the piston to the clamshell and forced the connecting rods from the holes using a long screwdriver (basically a prybar) to get some leverage. That took all morning to figure out.
Clamshell is now up and I can see clearly that the driver side pivot arm connecting the control lever to the cloth roof has been twisted 180 degrees out of position (the passenger side is correctly oriented forward, though just as broken).
Retracted the cloth roof and was able to rotate the driver side pivot arm back into its proper orientation (towards the front).
I tapped the roof switch and nothing happens - no spinning or sound whatsoever. The dashboard reads "opening convertible roof" but nothing is happening. It would seem that the switch is ok.
Given that the motor isn't moving at all, I suspect either the relays or the motor itself has failed.
Update: I am measuring no voltage to the convertible top motor when the car is turned on and the roof switch is toggled.
Update 2: When unlatching the top, the windows no longer lower.
What next???
Last edited by ot1138; 05-27-2021 at 09:23 PM.
Reason: Add'l information
1. What is the best way to direct connect the roof motor with 12V for testing? Is there a nearby positive connection I could tap into? Could I use a portable battery jumper?
2. Can I use the "microswitch troubleshooting sequence" document with a 2008 boxster?
3. How do I access the relays? Looks like I have to pull the carpet surrounding the fusebox and the big plastic piece below the steering wheel, then drop them down. That's from the workshop manual but I'm hoping to confirm.
This is for a 986, but I suspect that there is more in common than there are differences. Especially when considering the overall design intent and the work flow concerning switches, micros witches, relays, fuses, etc.
Ok, don't laugh. Does your spoiler go up and down? The reason I ask is that the convertible top control (as well as the spoiler) goes through the Rear Body Control Module which lives under the driver seat. It could be kaput which would prevent power going to your top motor.
05-26-2021, 08:02 PM
2008 Boxster / Clamshell + roof no longer moving
