Coldstartcars

Hello all, new to posting but have been reading the forums for a while. I have a recently acquired 2000 996 Cabriolet in my Porsche collection. I got the car with the top completely inoperable off of a very interesting character for very little money.

So far I have filled the pump several times which got the system to work. I fixed the clam shell mechanism so that is also working after repairing a broken hinge.

Now when I tell the top to go down, the clam shell arms move back, top unlatches and goes down. When the top is down it seems to keep pulling itself down after the top is already open. The motor continues to make noise for several moments after the top is down. The clam shell then does not close. I have attempted to do a calibration with my durametric and the same result. With the top down it will then go back up and the clam shell with shut. I am getting a "5" error code for timing out. If I attempt to Calibrate with the top down, the top goes up, latches fine and clam shell shuts. The top then goes down and the end result is the same (top down clam shell open, nothing else happens).

Some notes on the system, it is running a pump with a 997 part number. IT does seem to operate fine. The source of the low fluid is a small leak on the driver side ram. The top material does seem to be further back then I would think it should be as it flaps slightly over onto the body where the clam shell meets the rear deck of the car. I am not terribly concerned with the top as the window is cracked and the the top appears to be slightly shrunk just above the back corner of the passenger window. I have a new top to go on the car once I sort out the opening and closing. I also currently have all my window switches removed to repaint the panel they are installed in but the windows are all in the down position.

I am at a loss as to why the top will close and go back up but will not complete the cycle of closing the clam shell once down / stop itself from going down at the appropriate time. What switch sense the top is all the way down? Maybe that has failed?

Anyways thank you all in advance, I have several Porsches and do all my own work but this is a new to me issue. Sorry for the longish post, I just wanted to make sure I put as much info as I see in there incase something that seems insignificant is actually meaningful.

Coldstartcars

In short: Top goes down, clam shell stays open and system times out. If I tell the top to go back up it will. Suspecting whatever senses that the top is down is faulty. What sensor could cause this?

quaylon

DBF

Mine is doing the same thing. I was going to wait until warmer weather to tackle it. If someone sends you a pm with the solution, please let me know what it is. Thanks!

dcdrechsel

There is a potentiometer on the pump drive shaft that controls the clamshell .It probably needs to be retimed All it takes is the shop manual and a ohm meter . .Suggest you post a request for a copy of the shop manual .It's a big download and a few folks are set up to send .

Coldstartcars

A copy of the shop manual would be great. I have a Bentley Manual but it does not cover this process. For now I will try looking up that process. Thanks for the tip will report back tomorrow after I try it.

Coldstartcars

Okay Update! I pulled the side panel off, I push the micro switch on the driver side slightly when the top is down, the clam shell will close. I think now I need to run a calibration because after that the side flaps do not deploy. Moving along!!

frisbee91

The durametric can't do a proper calibration of the top sequence. You may be chasing one out-of-sequence issue after another. I'd recommend getting it properly recalibrated by someone with a proper PIWIS or whatever system Porsche uses.