dsmyth

For some unknown reason my cab top last night would not raise on one side. It was on even ground. I continued home with it down . When I went out today to examine it of coarse it went up on both sides but had to be manually pulled to the drivers side 1/2 inch to lock down. I have spent hours reading search articles and expect I have pulled the cables out of allignment when trying to open it and need to go through the procedure explained in the p-car article. I dont know why it would not have worked in the first place. Any ideas or thoughts before I take my first trip into the top workings? Are there other links that might show the adjustment process with pictures? Thanks Doug

vjd3

One of the cables has probably shortened and it's out of alignment. Be careful, if it jams again on you at the wrong time you can twist the top frame or snap one of the arms ... could be an expensive mishap.

Probably best to replace both drive cables, realign them, check that none of the welded-on nuts on the transmissions have broken off the inside of the frame (not uncommon), and that those bolts are tight. Make sure the transmissions are moving freely and probably wouldn't hurt to put some grease on them. See that the microswitches are adjusted properly, as well, that can make the top stop before it's fully up (or down), and also give you that alarming "slam" down on the windshield frame, which will probably cause latch problems down the road.

Then cross your fingers and hit the switch ... or just loosen the big bolts to convert the top to a manual top (leaving the latches powered) and sleep easy at night.

sdcabrio

Sorry, can't help you with fixing your problem. Obviously the motors are out of synch.

I am sure others will chime in with me in saying to go manual at this point.

Loosen the two bolts behind the black plastic caps in the rear speaker areas. Manually raise and lower the top,....just use the console switch to electrically latch/unlatch the top at the windshield header.

I think you're lucky you didn't break a top bow or bend the frame in anyway.

hn

It happened to me once and I remember raising the top up midway such that it points vertically up in the air. Go behind your car to check if it's level. If not, leave it up that way and go adjust the faulty side until the raised top is level again. I forgot the detail how to adjust the alignment but basically you have to undo one nut to unlock it first before you can adjust anything.

Unless you have bent the frame but it's not that easy to bend it. One side of mine stopped working during the first few months I bought the car. Didn't know any better, I kept pushing it. The frame was never bent or damage.

If your original problem was caused by the shortened cable, don't bother to buy another one. It will happen again within a few years. Just trim its jacket so cable will reach the transmission. The cable is just getting too short relatively to its jacket, not to get to the transmission.

cpdjfd107

Guys, forget all that adjusting stuff and do yourself a favor and just go manual. Trust what Brian, Vic and I am saying it will save you money and aggravation. It is actually faster to do manually then automatic, plus you still have to get out and put the top boot on before you drive away so it is not even an extra step. You also get the added benefit to make sure the rear window folds nice and flat with no odd bends in it.

dsmyth

Thanks guys for the feedback. This is new to mr .My 85 is manual so I think I will revert to that until I get this figured out. When its away this winter I will get myself familiarized with the mechanics of it. For now its way too hot to even look. Its darn hot in Ottawa. thanks Doug