frisbee91

The rear windows do not operate with the top down by design. If you simply must put them up, put your finger in the latch switch above the rear view mirror (where the latch engages) to fool the system into thinking the top is up. Then operate the rear windows.

There we many possible causes for the top general malfunction. Give some more details.

glf911996

Thanks for the info! I'm still having trouble putting the top back on though, it's been acting up for two weeks now. Although the "convertible" light on the dashboard comes on, nothing happens - the top will not come back up. It seems to me that the only way the convertible top will come back up is by turning off the engine, taking out the key, letting the car rest for a half hour, then trying again. Could it be that something is out of sync or misaligned and gets reset when turning the car off then back on? How could this be corrected?

frisbee91

There are several switches that must be engaged before the top will move. The first two I would check out are the at the e-brake handle (you did pull up the e-brake, right?) and the engine lid compartment.
The emergency brake must be engaged, and the engine lid must be closed.

scorchpa

Resurrecting an old thread....

When I purchased my 2002 Cab last year, I already knew that cab top would only close within 4-6" of windshield, after which I had to give a manual tug. If I keep holding the button without the manual tug, the top gets a bit closer, misses the latch, a bit closer, misses the latch, a bit closer... then latches.

Guys who did the PPI mentioned it was probably just a little low on fluid. Well I've added a bit more fluid (it was pretty much full already), but still have the same problem. I'm assuming that I need to go to my porsche indy to get it re-calibrated or is there anything else I could try?

AckyE

Turned out one of the cables had snapped. Not sure of the exact details, it was corrected at the dealer where I had taken it for some variocam work.

frisbee91

Might be a problem with faulty hydraulic cylinders. Are they leaking?

wucash

Broken hinge, couple threads with the same problem, frisbee91 will have all the links.

Right beside the latching mechanism there should be hinge that tells the top if its is done latching or not. Its either broken or the spring inside came off.

I have a picture of the proper spring mouting, its little tricky took me 20 mins to go through various combinations. If you need new hinge you need a new mechanism. $500 on ebay if you lucky $900 Oem or 1200 at the dealer.

scorchpa

So first off, I didn't see any leaks around the cylinders, and the reservoir seemed pretty much full. It also doesn't have a problem latching directly, its that the top doesn't get close enough before the latch tries to engage.

The top moves within a few inches of closing, then the latch extends, grabs air, then retracts. if I keep holding the button the top moves a little closer, the latch extends again, this time hits just short of the latching points, and retracts. Third time, it hits properly and closes. Of course if I pull in the last few inches it works on the first try.

I guess that's why I thought it's a calibration issue.

frisbee91

Hmm. I guess I'm not sure what causes the the top to stop at the end of the cylinder stroke. I assume it just reaches a mechanical limit, versus engaging some sort of electrical switch. Perhaps the top mechanism needs some sort of mechanical adjustment.

The "calibration" involves resetting the limit switch sequence, and is thus primarily an electrical/software calibration, versus a mechanical adjustment.

I would look into the top mechanism and see if anything is binding or catching that is preventing the top from fully extending.

Let us know what you find out.

scorchpa

I'll have a look and see if there is anything binding, I might try a bit of lube as well... maybe it's seeing some resistance which it's interpreting as the end of stroke.

wucash

Broken off hinge causes that to do, its a weird logic. Never figured it out (like what makes it start latching 6 inches before?) but if you hold the hinge up on your top you can replicate that behaviour.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...l#post11665298



Just hold the plastic up while the top is closing. As I said in my thread my half was broken and my spring was out of alligment. Glued the half fixed the spring, half broke but it is working ok with only half as long as the spring it pressing it down. I do not want to spend $500 for new unit.

To the OP, do you have that hinge in place? if you do does it move freely or is it "pressed down". If its pressed down then i don't know what I am talking about. If it moves freely you need to open the mechanism and reset the spring.

scorchpa

The thread you linked to has the symptoms dead on. But that hinge is in place and has pressure on it. MAybe there is something else loose in there, though no rattles etc. Before I take it all apart, I might try to blow a bit of compressed air in there and see if maybe it's a dirty contact or something.

wucash

taking it off with a power drill is a 1 min job.

But you might be right, something might be preventing from making contact, dust or something lodged in there. if you look at the last picture of the thread link on the top left there is a wire switch with 3 wires, blue red and black. shorting 2 of those could further help troubleshoot if nothing else works. I would short black and red and then black and blue.

Your car think the hinge is in the up position. you need it to think its in down position till its ready to latch (aka lodge against the window) and then it needs to be up and start latching.

edit: hold the hinge down while its closing, maybe the spring is weak.

scorchpa

You guys rock. I'll attach a pic in a bit, but the hinge you are talking about presses against a metal spring which pushes on a switch. That spring wasn't making complete contact with the switch. There was a small set screw to adjust, and a few turns of that screw fixed the problem!

wucash

cool, the big mystery is what makes it latch 6 inches from the top. why isn't it latching sooner, ( i guess that would destroy things around it). why does it even attempt to latch with the hinge in up position? is it based on a timer? is there a micro switch somewhere else that waits for the top to be in 90 degree angle...or hydraulics in certain position. i am assuming it's the red or blue wire.
the red wire sends signal to attempt latching and blue wire sends back position of the hinge.

it must be a backup system.

hinge is up but the top is down something is wrong lets put the top up and start latching at some point (what point?!?) . better to have top at least 90% up then nothing if its raining. this allows the top to be closed with some help even when the hinge is broken. so the engineers figure the hinge is a week point from the getco and put backup in knowing it will break for many of us.



its one of the last 911 convertible top mysteries left for me to solve .