wht993cabrio

I love my cab, but the roof is giving me a hard time. Last night it got stuck while I was putting it up...realized the battery died. Thanks to the Rennlisters I replaced it today with an Optima Red Top. Anyways, now the roof is stuck just before the little hooks come out to lock it down. When I press the button, it clicks once and that's it. I loosened the roof and manually retracted it all the way, tightened back the bolts and tried again and nothing happens. I hear the motor trying, but the roof isn't raising. Microswitches? Cable slipped off? What should I check? I read the instructions on re-aligning the top from "p-car", but not sure if it applies.

Any ideas out there?

H20NOO

Chris,

Check the fuse box. I've had a similar problem when the top was interrupted midway. I don't have the specific fuse number but it's marked on the inside lid of the fuse box. I've burned 3 of them in the last 18 months. My top does not like to be stopped midway for any reason.

I think the locking motors run on a different circuit so don't be fooled by the sound of things. You may still have burned the primary fuse.

MC

okindao

my cab top would not move. Porsche dealer said there was dust or other crap near and around the micro switches, they only charged me 35 dollars not had a problem since. In my case I heard the clicking but the top would not move

Lots of past threads on this area seems the problem can be all over the place. Good luck keep us posted

jhb

If, as you say, you unbolted the top from the tranny, lowered it, and retightened, the gear in the tranny may have fallen off the drive gear when you raised the top again. Did it move on its own to that posititon and now just sts there? The gear in the tranny is not a complete circle, but more of a 3/4 moon shape. If the motors are driving and no action in the top, i would bet that was it. You will need to realign the gearing. Not hard, and you should be able to do it without taking anything apart.

wht993cabrio

Thanks jhb. Before I saw your post, I took off the side carpeting to get a closer look at the gears and it had indeed fallen off the drive gear. More importantly, I now understand how it works so I can troubleshoot more effectively in the future. Your speculation was 100% correct.

I could not have taken it apart without the DIY posting contributed by Bill Noble at <a href="http://p-car.com/diy/cabtop/." target="_blank">http://p-car.com/diy/cabtop/.</a> His posted instructions are EXCELLENT. If you're out there, thanks Bill. Before I attempted it, I had also stopped by the local Porsche dealer. When told it could be a 4hr job ($$$) if I needed new cables, etc to correct the problem, I became VERY motivated to take the DIY approach. Bill's posting really saved me some $$$$.

BTW, in the last few days I also installed a factory windstop and Kinesis Supercups with S02s (courtesy Wheel Enhancements). Didn't realize the windstop stays in and folds to the top of the roof when you close the roof. Quite an improvement in the overall profile of the car with the Supercups and windstop. Very nice.

stringswami

I wanted to add this to the knowledge base. My ‘98 cab top was working erratically. Thanks to rdellvale and I was able to repair and replace the ecu. I had of course disconnected my battery to do this. After connecting it back up, the cab top retracted once and then everything in the cab top mechanism quit working. No troubles with the dash light, parking brake worked and ebrake light came on, fuse 13 was ok and all ecu connectors were secure.
I tested my battery and it was charged.
i almost gave up and thought I would convert to manual.
i then realized that I had my trickle charger in place in the frunk and the frunk was open.
Well, I figured this was the one thing I had not done, close the frunk.
And lo behold! The cab top sprang to life, it closed and the latching motors worked and all is well!

systemsc

The cab top ECU doesn't care whether the frunk is open.

flyweight

Agree with @systemsc . Frunk has nothing to do with the cab ECU operations.

Assuming your ECU is new (how new?) and all the solder points still good, you may want to check if your top's upper limit micro switch is triggered in the down position. It's not supposed to trigger during normal operations. But if it does, your top won't respond to the toggle switch clicks (up or down) at all, or randomly if the switch just barely touches. See my experience in this comment thread. Readjusting that micro switch would be an easy fix.

stringswami

Thanks flyweight and systemsc. I did not tinker with the mechanicals yet and I will look at that.