patriot993

I tend to leave my Targa roof open all the time - drive with it down and leave it down in the garage. When I recently parked it at the airport, the roof closed unusually slowly, seemed at times to hesitate and almost stick. It had been sitting in my garage for about a week with it open and was also cold that morning, maybe the lubrication was just cold? Anyone with a Targa had a similar experience?

thanks

captainbaker

I would lube the whole track system and try again. After a proper cleaning of course.

patriot993

Sounds like a good plan - adding it to the weekend to-do list ;-)

F308gt4

Agree with the clean and lube.

Additionally, you need to post more pics of your car. For good karma.

patriot993

Ha! I guess I do. Car is very dirty, needs a wash. Just got the clear side markers and should post after I put them on

r_32

The roofs are a bit fickle. I also never have my roof up when driving it, but I always close it when I park. Just too many pieces in there which can get gunk or dirt on them and result in the problems you describe or the dreaded squeaks these roofs are known for. Just my $.02

patriot993

You are correct, I have learned my lesson. My garage can be surprisingly dusty based on how my car looks after being parked for a few days

patriot993

Resurrecting this older thread of mine as my saga with my Targa roof continues (but even with some issues so would not want anything but a Targa )

I have had the following issues with my roof, all intermittent and often non repeatable:

1. Leak that would leave a puddle in rear passenger seat - this happened twice...couldn't repeat
2. Slow closing Targa top
3. Targa top would sometimes get stuck trying to open / close
4. Even when Targa top closed, hatch would occasionally refuse to open. I would have to open / close the Targa roof a few times to I believe get the sensor to register closed so that the hatch could open (for non-Targa owners, the hatch won't open if the roof isn't completely closed since the Targa top slides under the hatch when opened and for safety reasons there is the preventative measure)
5. On one occasion, in a car wash, water came pouring in through the dome light (!) even with roof closed.

Well, today took car to the Indy I use for an oil change and new brakes. It had rained hard and when they pulled it into the shop and hit the brakes, water moved forward and came pouring into the cabin through the dome light.

They checked all of the drains, no issues there but they did notice that the roof on the passenger side isn't completely sealing up when closed. It is off by just a bit and I never noticed it.

I have done some searching, found a similar issue on the 996 forum in that the roof would not completely close on one side, they thought it might have been a a bad cable but there wasn't really closure to that post.

I am going to postpone having the Indy do anything more with the roof at this point as I would like to do more investigation. They cleaned and lubed it - maybe that will help but I think that the issue is going to require more work to fix.

I will keep forum apprised of what I learn / fix

thanks

patriot993

Adding picture - can see gap in the roof. There is quite a bit of play on the glass; can push it by hand at least a quarter of an inch.

The rubber seal at the leading edge of the glass is also not tight

Minok

That all sounds like something isn't aligned or seated properly in the Targa roof and track system.
Keep us updated.

TargaFirst

Have you checked the track for debris and/or other blockages? Sometimes debris gets UNDER the bottom sliders and that creates hesitation.

For the record I always close mine- it reduces the chance of track debris, and if it malfunctions at least its closed.
Once or twice I've had to re-activate the close toggle to ensure the roof was seated properly- on both occasions a thorough inspection revealed small spruce needles in the track.

patriot993

Hi Minok -

I purchased an electronic version of a complete set of 997 repair manuals from isiplanet...I haven't had a chance to review as have been out of town but my plan is to take the roof apart to get it properly sorted. I plan on documenting as a separate thread.

Unfortunately, need the car for a Rally and Autocross in August and then a DE in October so hopefully can get it all worked out in September.

Thanks

patriot993

Hi TargaFirst...great suggestion - will take a look this weekend when home. Might take a very narrow shopvac adapter and see if I can fit it down under the sliders

patriot993

Quick update on my Targa roof issues:

1. By sitting in the passenger seat and pushing straight up while roof is closing, I can get the roof completely closed such that the hatch will open. I haven't tested that the roof is waterproof but given that the sensor for the hatch determines that it is closed I assume that it is.

2. I reviewed the shop manual entries for the removal of the roof...wow, very involved. The step stating that it requires four people to remove the glass top was a bit of a deterrent.

3. At this point, my plan is to clean the tracks out really well; ordered some McLube Sailkote One-Drop that is recommended in another post.

Question for the forum...any thoughts on why the motor doesn't have enough power to fully close the top on the passenger side without me pushing on it? Is it a lubrication issue? Is it an issue with a cable or gear? All thoughts welcome!

Thanks

Minok

I would not think the motor power is an issue (unless the motor is defective).
Maybe its an alignment or loose screw/bolt issue?

The roof has a manual crank to close it - you could try using the manual crank to see if you also find increased resistance as you hand-crank.. that would suggest alignment problem - thought you would need to know what it feels like when one hand cranks a roof that is working correctly to have a baseline to compare to.