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stateofidleness · 07-04-2013, 11:39 AM

Gents,
Backstory: other day, nice weather so i drove with the top down. after arriving at destination, went to put it back up and... nothing... tapping the button a few times I could see the top "jerking" a bit.

So i did some research which led me to believe it was the ebrake microswitch not engaging properly. Just finished replacing as of 10 minutes ago and no dice... still an intermittent issue going both up and down with the top. The PARK light on the dash is lighting up and is very consistent (no dead spots in the lever pull).

So what is my next step here? The fact that it is "sluggish" in intermittent spurts tells me it's getting some power at least. All fuses are good, the relay is good, etc. If I raise it about an inch, let it sit for a few minutes, it'll go another inch or so. Once it gets around half way I can "hand assist" the top all the way closed at that point (still kinda jerky).

It almost seems like something is "overheating" (no smells or smoke or anything), or it's not getting enough consistent power maybe?? I'd actually almost prefer if this was not working at all which I think would make it easier to diagnose...

Anyone experience this? I have a multimeter, but not that handy with it. Willing to learn though! Not looking for links to "i converted to a manual top" or "I built my own relays to bypass all that stuff", etc... I want to fix this properly.

Thanks in advance!

07-04-2013, 11:39 AM	#1
stateofidleness Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Canyon Lake, Texas Posts: 801	Top stopped working (intermittently) Gents, Backstory: other day, nice weather so i drove with the top down. after arriving at destination, went to put it back up and... nothing... tapping the button a few times I could see the top "jerking" a bit. So i did some research which led me to believe it was the ebrake microswitch not engaging properly. Just finished replacing as of 10 minutes ago and no dice... still an intermittent issue going both up and down with the top. The PARK light on the dash is lighting up and is very consistent (no dead spots in the lever pull). So what is my next step here? The fact that it is "sluggish" in intermittent spurts tells me it's getting some power at least. All fuses are good, the relay is good, etc. If I raise it about an inch, let it sit for a few minutes, it'll go another inch or so. Once it gets around half way I can "hand assist" the top all the way closed at that point (still kinda jerky). It almost seems like something is "overheating" (no smells or smoke or anything), or it's not getting enough consistent power maybe?? I'd actually almost prefer if this was not working at all which I think would make it easier to diagnose... Anyone experience this? I have a multimeter, but not that handy with it. Willing to learn though! Not looking for links to "i converted to a manual top" or "I built my own relays to bypass all that stuff", etc... I want to fix this properly. Thanks in advance!