After I bought my 2000 5-speed just over a month ago I discovered some problems with the roof mechanics. The left side was OK, but on the right side the plastic cup on the forward push rod had broken. Someone removed both the forward and rearward (that lifts the clamshell) push rods and left it so the left side was doing all the work.
I bought a new end cup and started to reinstall everything. I noticed that the 2 forward push rods are not the same shape. I checked the parts catalogue and I see that there is one part number that is supposed to fit both sides. So, I figure that the right side rod got bent after the cup broke and it fell off, but I find no damage in the area where it would have fallen. As well it is not the same length as the left side rod i.e. the sliding adjustment is placed so that the right side rod is longer and there is no indication that the length has been adjusted.
I am going to try to bend the right rod back to the same shape as the left one and adjust it to the same length... but I am having trouble understanding how the roof worked with rods of different lengths and how the rod got seriously bent with no collateral damage. I have already tried to straighten it and it is not easily bent.
The roof seemed to work fine with just the left side connected.
Left side push rod on the bottom, bent right side rod above. The white cup on the lower rod looks funny because I strengthened it by wrapping wire around it and coating it in epoxy.
