top won't go down

[Lucas]

The soft top on my 2001 Boxster will not go down. Actually the driver side goes down but the other side will not. As it starts to fold/retract one side does not move. My wife and I have tried a couple of times carefully. As I watched it go partially up and down before it starts to bind, I attempt to assist the pivot arm with no success. Before I take it in to the dealer, I was hoping someone could give me some suggestions on what I can do to correct this problem. I would like to put my hard top back on. Thank you!!!

[rp17]

Lucas thats usually a push rod assembly thats broke. Its a plastic piece that breaks. So you don't cause further damage to the motor. Look on both sides to see if your push rods are broken. White plastic ball socket? Stop using the top since the lower metal pieces can tear the plastic drain pan which can be a pain to fix. Looking for my broken part right now.

[rp17]

Here is a picture of the push rod.

[dghii]

Is the body panel rotating into service position when but the top not moving or is nothing moving on the passenger side?

As mentioned in the earlier reply, it could be the push rod pivot end that is broken. Another possibility is that the drive cable for the passenger side is frayed and not turning the transmission.

Since your top is stuck in the up position, you need to see if you can manually turn your transmissions to open the top and find your problem.

The drive cables are like bicycle speedo cables. You can disconnect the cable from the motor and use a cordless drill to slowly turn the transmission on the passenger side (leave the drivers side connected to the motor and use your switch to power that side.

The motor is located under the rear window. Remove the rain curtain (2 clips) and remove the plastic cover over the motor. The you will see the drive cables that exit on each side of the motor. Each cable is held in place by a small metal clip that can be remove by pushing it upward. With the clip removed, simply pull the drive cable out of the motor.

The motor is a little hard to reach as you are working around your roll bars. Be patient and you can get to the cables and fix this yourself!

1. Disconnect the push rods from the top frame.