AustinL

Yesterday afternoon, I attempted to lower my convertible top. My car is a '95 993 C2 Cabriolet. The top went about half way down and then stopped. I tried pressing the button to lower the top again, but it would not do anything. It made a constant noise (motorized?), but there was no movement of the top. I was able to follow the instruction in the manual for lowering the top manually. I drove it home immediately (5 min. drive), and then raised the top manually. I was able to lock the top down by pressing the top lowering/closing button. I think this helps narrow down what the problem might be. When I raised the top and closed it manually (except for locking it down, which still works with the motors), it looked like it was properly aligned. Does anyone know what the problem might be and how much I can expect to pay in repairs with an authorized Porsche service center? Also, is this something that eventually happens?

For further information, I would say that I put my convertible top down nearly every day. I plan to take the car to Autobahn Porsche in Fort Worth first thing in the morning.

Thanks for the help.
Austin.

okindao

My top on my 97 cab would not lock in the down position , found out it was the micro switches which are by the motors, they needed to be adjusted and lubed, total cost of $ 35.

If you have got an honest dealer like Beechmont Porsche in Cincinnati, you may be pleasantly surprised, good luck !!!!!!

hn

Austin,

If it does make noise and nothing move, your motors seem to work. Your transmissions gears may be off somewhere. If you don't mind the tedious work, open them up and check. It may be just a simple fix.

AustinL

I apologize about taking so long to reply, but this week has been incredibly busy for me.

I took my car in for service to Park Place Porsche in Dallas. It is a busy time of year for them, but they have worked on this car since it was originally purchased there in late '95. Because of this, the shop foreman stayed late that night to figure out what the problem was.

I got a call early the following morning and was informed that there was a problem with one of the rear cables in the top. They went ahead and replaced it and upon their recommendation, I had them replace the other rear cable.

Another problem then popped up and they found that the top was not adjusting properly and it was out of alignment. To fix this they replaced the top lift lever assembly and re-aligned the top.

After going through this, I am glad that they were able to fix it and that there were no other problems. I am especially glad that all of the motors were still operational. Now I can get back to enjoying my car...

Ken Wise

Wondering what the cost of the repair was and the breakdown as I just experienced the same thing I think. I went to put the top down but it only moved about twelve inches then stopped. The motors seem okay, the top simply froze in place. Any help is appreciated. Btw, I manually put the top down and have been driving it as is.

hn

The cost of one shaft is $211 retail which come with the housing and the small size gear (From what i understand Porsche used to sell just the shaft for $69 but now they add the small gear ,which usually doesn't break, and jacked up the price). I got mine for $137 and changed it (just the shaft) myself.

Normaly, If something prevents the top from going up/down while the motors are still trying to run, the motors will twist and mess up the shafts's ends where they directly connected to the motors. Once the ends are messed up and are no longer a squary shape, the motors will be running freely without turning any gear. From what i observed, this shaft's end is the weakest link of the whole system and when something like this happen it's will be ruined before anything else get damaged.

AustinL

Ok, here is the breakdown from the service sheet.

558 diagnose, replaced cables, retimed top transmissions and secured cables to body of the car.

Replaced parts:
Cabrio shaft w/ Gear
Cabrio shaft w/Gears
Line Clamp
Cabrio top lever
Cabrio top lever

The top was not adjusting correctly and was out of alignment. Replaced the CAB top lift lever assembly and readjusted the top.

Parts: 1099.12
Labor: 790.50

If anyone has any more questions related to this please let me know.

Ken Wise

Thanks for the info so far but it does not really seem that there has been much discussion on this and we are talking about some pretty expensive repairs. I have taken off all of the covers exposing the motor(s) and trans etc.. When you speak about the 'trx' are you referring to the transmissions on each side? do the cables run from the motors to the transmissions and how easy is to disassemble all of this? Someone wrote about taking apart the trans and realigning the gears- how difficult is that? Also, a neighbor has a 98 cab that has had similar problems and every time he has taken it in the problem has been the microswithches. Is there a way to test these? Any help is greatly appreciated. It does not seem like the top assembly is all that complicated and I would like to exhaust all possibilities before breaking down and taking it to my dealer- it also is alot more enjoyable to try and figure these things out on ones own. Thanks again.

hn

Ken,

The repair cost of the top is usually expensive and i don't doubt that the dealers replace more than what needed because most of these parts are hidden and most people are too nervous to open them up to inspect.

I've never had problem with alignment or the micro switch so i can't tell you much about these problems but i would assume that if you still hear the motors running then it's not the micro switch.

Based on my 95, Yes i was talking about the tranx, one on each side under the speaker panels. Remove the 3 bolts that hold the trx down and push the whole tranx back (with the black tube housing of the shaft still attached) to behind around the roof lever to free the tranx away from it(black round metal case). Attached to this case is another smaller housing where one end of the shaft that has teeth (the shaft has one end with teeth) meet the gear of the tranx. I don't remember if you have to open the big round case to open this small housing or not. Once you open the small housing, remove the shaft's teeth away from middle gear (that turns the big gear in the round metal case) and pull the shaft out. It's about less than 2 feet. You'll see the other end of the shaft that suppose to have a squary shape. This end is attached and turned by the motor which in turn put the whole tranx into operation of raising and lowering the top. If this end is grinded and no longer a squary shape, the motor won't turn it and hence disable the whole tranx. This is one reason why you hear the motors are still running and the top is not moving at all. If only one shaft is bad, you will see one side of the top is moving up/down and the other is not.

Before going throuh all this trouble, make sure none of your gears on both side is out of place first. If this is the case, just put them back and save all the trouble and time. You may have to realign the biggest gear (inside the round metal cases).

This is assuming that your both motors are still functioning.

I might still have the picture of the parts, let me know if i can fax it to you.

Good luck.

Ken Wise

Thanks for the fax hn. Tonight I thought i would take a look at the parking brake or at least engage/disengage it a couple of times to see what happens. When I did it and then hit my top switch I got some movement, maybe a couple of inches and then the motor starting humming( I think from 96 on there is only one motor as the 2 two motor setup had problems. Let me know if I am incorrect) . I thought that when i tightened the frame to the trans maybe i had things off so i began to mess with it and was able to get the top to move again a little more before the motors stated humming again. I then loosened the trans and brought the top to the windshield to see if that was operational and everything was fine, it locked and unlocked fine and even went down about a quarter of the way befor stopping again. It is very frustrating because I do not have clue what the culprit is here, any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

hn

Ken,

Your locking motor(s)on the top area definitely work and your switch has contact . It's very tough to diagnose the problem without openning up the components. To make it a little easier, have someone push the button while you put your ear close to each tranx to hear any unusual grinding noise or no noise at all. The one with the unusual noise/no noise is the one you should open fisrt. It sounded like something is loose within the tranxs and the gears are not being secured and come off after some movements.

If i didn't talk to the dealer i would have thought mine has 1 motor too because the way they line up end to end like one unit (the other ends attached to the shafts). If I am not wrong, JHB said the same about his 97 (Can you confirm JHB?. Where is he anyway, he's more of an expert on this ). But if someone from the dealer told you yours have 1 motor then i am pretty sure it does and my info may not apply to your case 100%.

Ken Wise

hn,
I don't think i am hearing any noise out of the trans, only the motor

hn

It's time to open them up. You can't do more harm. If you lucky, it may be just the gear not engaged. In your case, it probably happened on both sides. If you have to bring it to dealer after that, at least you know which part is broken so the dealer can't sell you more than you need.

Good luck

AustinL

That is the only problem with me not being a very mechanical person. When something goes wrong, there is no way for me to figure out what the problem is on my own. So if a dealer tells me that a part needs to be fixed or replaced, I almost have to take their word for it.

However, I do have a very good service manager, and it is the one who has always overseen the maintenance of this car, even since its original owner. But like anything, I think you will always pay a premium in Dallas.

hn

Austin,

Let me confess, this is the only area i know about our car (though not completely). I had the info from JHB's post and decided to play around to see if i could fix the problem and the worst case would be taking it to the dealer later. Once i opened up the trans. it came very clear how the top was designed to work and immediately i realized this was something i could do. Without JHB's post, i wouldn't know where to start. It's not hard at all, just tidious with lots of small screws, nuts and bolts. For how much the repair cost i think it's worth the effort.