marshcat

At the halfway point of raising the top on my '03 Boxster I hear a cracking sound. The top finishes closing but doesn't meet the lip of the windshield like it normally does. Instead it's a few inches away and I have to wrestle it down to meet the latch. I pull the car into my workshop and see that the metal ball and socket on the passenger side of the top has come unscrewed. I reinstall it with some blue locktite. I also see that two trim pieces on either side 986 561 445 03 have both popped off and are caught on the top mechanism.

I try raising and lowering the top a few times. It moves normally but still stops a few inches away from the top of the windshield when closing. I can push it down with a firm hand and close the top, although the latch feels like it's doing more pulling than normal.

Any idea what has happened? I took a 2 min video showing the problem here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mfNRoDxA5FsatPFy6

Geza

Looks like the crunching plastic was the center clip on the plastic trim piece you had in your hand in the video. If the clamshell is closing properly but the top doesn't fully close, something may have bent. I'd look closely at the mechanism, specifically the boomerang link and forward push rods (to the top). Any bending in these links would cause the top to not fully close. If you don't see anything bent, you can also lengthen the forward link by both adjusting the location of the ball sockets, and by adjusting the link length at its adjustment bolt.

marshcat

Upon further investigation the push rods and boomerang link seem fine. The issue is that the edge of the top seems to be catching on the sliding clamshell arms on both sides. What could break to cause this problem to start? Could the cables be worn out? The black "hydraulic" rods to the clamshell aren't actually hydraulic, right?

Geza

They are not hydraulic - solid link. How do the rubber bushings at the forward link look? Hard to see what's going on with these pictures - perhaps take some more with the rear roof pulled up.