Crack goes the top

[lwc]

Likely culprit is the Main Bow Pushrod . . .

[RandallNeighbour]

thanks, I'll find that and check it out. If anyone else wants to chime in, I'd love more thoughts.

[Pablito]

Randall, I'll have to agree with the veredict above, check also the orientation of the rods (all four of them) If one of them is placed incorretly they start rubbing with each other....also that snap may be your cables getting loose from the housing in the top motor...check that asap, If you continue using it like this the transmissions will un-synchonize and you will have a possessed convertible top, th proverbial one sided flex...

[rbsboxster]

I'm a new member. over memorial day weekend, my top stopped working with one side up a foot higher than the other (the back bow was flexed), causing me great panic. Fortunately, I was only a mile from a local dealer...unfortunately, it was not my local dealer as i was away for the weekend.

the prognosis was i needed new motors on each side as well as a new cable...total damage was over $1,500. i feel like i got ripped off, but i just don't know. Car is 1997, so i understand that there is a design flaw that does not prevent one motor from working when the other is not working, causing the flex in the top.

Has anyone experienced both motors going at the same time. The dealer was really helpful and fixed the top immediately, so i am really wondering.

[RandallNeighbour]

Sounds like a single motor went out and they assumed the other would be doing the same soon enough and twisting it up in the other direction next time... so they replaced both and didn't give you an option.

The other thought is that if a new motor ran faster than the other 1997 one that wasn't yet burned out, it might create another problem.

[RandallNeighbour]

I need some advice concerning my top.

I'm driving to San Francisco from Houston Texas and back this summer... very long trip in the boxster, eh?

Anyway, if my 1997 should develop convertible top problems, is there any process by which I could raise the top manually (even by disconnecting cables) and keep it in the up position for the remainder of the trip versus having to hit a dealership and spend huge sums as rbsboxster did?

Jeff, are you reading this? Anyone else "disabled" their top to raise it in an emergency?

[RandallNeighbour]

http://www.renntech.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t68.html

Found this link on renntech to a good thread on the reason older boxsters (97-99)have top problems.

In a nutshell, there's a plastic covered cable that links the top's raising/lowering mechanism to the transmission on each side. This cable stretches in length due to heat.

When it stretches, the metal cable within it that turns (as opposed to pushing or pulling) become disengaged (it does not stretch like the plastic). When this happens, one side goes up and the other doesn't and the clamshell twists and you say "oh crap."

The dealers do not remove the cables and shorten them to insure the metal inside bit is 3/4 out the end as it should ... they replace the whole transmission assembly for both sides at a whopping expense.

So, according to Jeff's thorough posts on Renntech (aka ToolPants) with pictures, he recommends that concerned boxster owners do the following:

1. Check to see if you have the newer cables, which have some sort of diamond pattern on them. These new cables are reinforced and should not stretch or grow. You're fine.

2. If you have the old ones, you have two options. Replace them with the new reinforced ones or remove them and shorten the plastic covering, exposing the 3/4 inches required for trouble free operation. Parts numbers and pictures are available on the thread above.

I still want to know if I can unscrew a couple of bolts somewhere and raise my top manually along my trip if it becomes messed up... there's gotta be a procedure for this... I just need to learn how to do it before the big trip just in case.