Convertible Top Problems
 

I have been having a great amount of trouble getting my top to raise and lower properly on my 99 Boxster. I have the Bently manual and have carefully followed all the procedures twice but so far I have broken 4 of the cast aluminum "arms" that the large round rod connects to from the ball joint on the pivot arn. The top mechanism was broken when I got the car so I am not sure about a couple of things. When I fist re-aligned the top motors and set up everything according to the book, it worked fine. I didn't know at first that you must keep pushing the button on the dash until the motor "grinds" down and then finally the dash light goes out. Something happened and as I said I have broken 4 of the arms so far. know when I examine the lever that attaches to the motors the ball joint end appears to be bent slightly. I asked a professional welder about it and he said if the part is cast iron as it appears to be that it would not likely bend that it would crack instead. I have checked all the microswiches and they work. I have tried taking the control module out and tapping it, cleaning the contacts and replacing it with no luck. My main questions are: does the lever have a slight bend where the ball joint for where the large round rod attaches to, do the large round rods actually expand ( I put them in a vise and pulled as hard as I could and they would not move at all) and what else can I check. The motors are very precisly aligned also. I have also put a piece of rubber on the top cover microswith to ensure that it is closing all the way but it seems like noting works. Could I just have a bad control module and has anyone taken one apart and tried to clean any contacts inside? Thank you for any help in this matter. I have also found that the expert welder can weld the arms back together even though they are caled "pot aluminum" and this has save me about $60.00 apiece for the arms. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated, Thank you, Jerry Peterson