Leanit

Hi gang.

I love my '96 Targa (bought in March). Its only issue is a strange one.

When the car has been sitting, at least overnight, the top operation is slow or sometimes fails outright. The deflector will deploy slowly but the roof will not move. After 10+ minutes of driving, it works normally: quick and smooth. It almost acts like a low-battery condition, but nothing else on the car exhibits any symptoms. Engine cranking is prompt and vigorous.

Is this familiar to anybody?

Thanks,
- Matt

fullbooker

Matt,
I've had the same issues with my Targa but it always has gone away within minutes. No answers, But at least I don't panic anymore!
Phil

Adrienne

I've never had that one. Only once did it act slowly, and that was a very cold night in December when I got it over 5 years ago.

My weird Targa roof quirk is that the wind deflector whistles only when a passenger is in the car, and only on the passenger side.

Enjoy your Targa!

Pan58

that Atavar is hot

Mike J

I have seen this as well...it really looks like a low battery. Once it happened and I put a charger on...it worked fine after that. I suspect its voltage related but I have no proof.

Cheers,

Mike

TargaTango

I never had this issue in my 2 years of 1996 Targa ownership.

Amfab

whatever you do dont lube it

Shaun Leahy

Matt

never had this problem ....yet.

Let us know what happens when the battery is charged up, to help identify the quirk.



Chris...Agree yes one hot avatar, oh wait, are you talking about the old bike as I can't decide which.

friar93

wait, why cant you lube the targa top? I think my mechanic uses a spray lube once a year just to keep in working smoothly and keep tension off the cables.

Amfab

If it is a dry lube you will be OK, but anything wet or greasy will attract dirt and crud, which can eventually cause problems with the drive mechanism.

The things that drive the top really aren't cables; they are actually long springs that wrap around a core that looks like a pipe cleaner. The gears in the drive motors drive the spring as if it were a rack gear. The pipe cleaner core keeps the drive tracks clean.

Getting a wet lubricant in there can cause the pipe cleaner core to actually attract dirt and can create a little dirty greasy goo that can attract more dirt and can also get into the interlocking gate mechanisms and interfere with the operation of the top.

There are parts in the wind deflector mechanism that Porsche/Webasto recommend silicone spray for, and it is occasionally recommended to lubricate the seals here and there with Vaseline to prevent squeaks, but the only thing that grease, or a greasy lube spray should be used on that I can think of is the guide bushing for the rear axle plate. But that would be done during assembly. I suppose you can get some in there with a q-tip later on.

But as for the drive mechanism Porsche specifically states:

"Note! The guide rail, cables and front and rear mount should not be greased."

After tearing apart and reassembling the top mechanism I must say I can agree.

If it’s a little spritz here and there you are probably OK. Still, I would just stay away from anything but a dry lube. The drive mechanism was designed to not really need it–maybe a little cleaning and some dry lube every 5 years. . . maybe.

If you are interested I did a write up on how the top mechanism works here:

Targa Mechanism

Texas993

I occasionally had the same issue in my former Targa. Seems to be normal. But it is weird.

H2NO

The targa roof should only be engaged on level ground when the engine is at normal operating temperature. It takes awhile for the oil to work its way up there.

I love driving such a quirky car. I almost believe what I just said.

Leanit

I'll experiment with a charger and multi-meter and see if there's some threshold voltage that makes these motors happy. More later.

- Matt

Leanit

Still no clear answer to the issue of the slow-moving/no-moving targa roof.

Posting the question here made the issue go away for a long time. Saturday, the roof was reluctant to close after a long day on the road. Hooked up the charger and the battery responded as though it was fully charged, which the multimeter confirmed. Left the charger attached and the roof still barely moved.

I'll sort this out, but it's odd. I hate intermittent stuff.

- Matt

Flav9xx

Hi Leanit,

I had the same problem with my 993 targa 3 years ago.

Sometimes the deflector opening operation was very slow. And sometimes everything was ok.
No other problems, event for starting the engine.

I changed the battery for a new one => no change.

The person in charge of mechanics on my car took a look at the electrical system of the car. It turned out that there was a 50% cut wire UNDER the fuse box. He fixed it. From this day => never had that problem again.

I suggest that you check connections in the fuse box area. This means probably unmount the box.

Hope this helps.

Flavien