Resyncronizing the V Levers...
 

Question, through a series of events my clam shell became out of sync when the transmission over drove the motor. My car is a 98 2.5L.

I have read Mike's tech pdfs, reread Maurice's tips and gone through the settings based on Bentley. With that said, here is where I am at: I have been able to reengage the the transmission and set the clam shell and V levers in the position according to all the directions...so you might ask whats the problem?

Is the timing done using the "top to go up" or "top to go down" selection? Motor to turn clockwise or counter clockwise when you "reengage" after having been apart? I ask as I just seem to be missing something on this aspect.

When I set ball connection and the clam shell drive rod to the proper height as described by Bentley and go "top down" it over drives the hydraulic rods and runs off the 50th tooth in the transmission, if I go the other direction it will close and then bend the V levers.

Where I am at now is, V levers are straight and the clam shell works if I press the top up I can take it to the full open, stop and then top down and the clam shell closes and I just stop pressing when the motor gets "loaded". The dash light does not go out, but the clam shell is down tight.

I am sure I am just missing some key timing issues but I am not sure what.

By the way, I am NOT using the transmission to drive the actual top as I have converted that to manual and am more then happy with that set up.

Thanks for reading and your help is appreciated...

From my experience (not a great deal) when my top stopped working I would say it does not make a difference.

I was very, very cautious when I dismantled my top mechansim as I did not want to cause any more damage so spent a lot of time troubleshooting.

My issue was the plastic cog failed on the passenger side. This is the transmission (XMSN) that does not have the micro switches. Prior to failure the top operation was jerky but functional.

I followed Maurices guide throughout - I do not have Bentley. My car is an 02 2.7

After I replaced the pasenger XMSN my starting position was:
Roof linkages disconnected (roof fully forward and rear in service position)
Passenger XMSN drive cable disconnected
Clamshell pushrods removed
Driver XMSN drive cable connected.

I operated the top switch a number of times to ensure smooth running - all this did was turn the driver XMSN through full cycle to ensure that the motor worked OK and the limit switches did their job.

I then started from fully closed and motored the driver side to place the V lever to approx the right place where the clamshell was in the raised position.

I then used the drill to move the passenger side to the same position checking with a caliper. Then reconnected the drive cable to the passenger side. Operating the top again to ensure both sides go through full motion and looked the same throughout the travel.

Again starting from fully closed, motor the XMSNs for a few seconds to equal the clamshell being at fully open I refitted the clamshell pushrods and confirmed its operation by cycling the motor.

I reconnected the roof and was happy.

I only removed one XMSN so had a good reference point to check things. Have both of the V levers been removed, if so is it possible you may have mixed them up? Is it possible one side may be on the wrong way round? Lastly the pushrods are "handed" so they need to go back in the right place.

I hope this helps - good luck,
Simon

Thank you Simon. I will try from the fully closed position rather then what Bentley suggests of full open. Doing that kept running and over drove the V Levers to the point of bending.

There may be a difference to our cars, is the problem when closing or opening the top? I think the earlier models have a m/s on the motor itself which is operated when the clamshell closes and breaks the circuit to stop the motor and allow the open cct to be made.

Could this be culprit? Just a thought

Simon