'98 boxster top failure

[rmbert]

I had an interesting day today disassembling and reassembling the top mechanism on my '98 boxster. It failed friday when the right side of the cover went up and the left side stayed down, then stalled in that position (fun ride home). The dealer was closing and wouldn't wait an extra 15 min. for me to get there, plus the rough estimate of $1200 for the fix made me decide to tackle it today.
After removing the right and left transmisions and removing the cables from the motor, I couldn't find anything wrong! [IMG]cable ends at motor[/IMG] I removed the cables, laid them out, and they were identical except for the brass wire in the right cable.[IMG]cables[/IMG] I assume that the left cable end slipped out of the motor causing the failure.
I reassembled everything, testing as I went. The most difficult part being getting the transmisions aligned the same.
The top now works as before, except that now I am concerned that the cable will disconnect again.
I have seen that Porsche has new and improved cables. Are they longer than the originals to engage the motor more securely? [IMG]cable length[/IMG] If so, I plan to replace them.

[Grizzly]

Damn, I think I can actually help someone for a change!!! :dance:

When I looked at the pictures of your cables I realized that you don't have at 3/4 of an inch of steel cable sticking out beyond the bright metal cable end. What happens is that over the years, the heat from the engine actually causes the plastic cable sheathing to lengthen. When it does, it pulls the steel cable out of the top motor.

You can fix this two ways:

1) You can buy the new and improved cables from Porsche and pop them in ($30.00 I think).

2) You can remove the ends of the cables from the motor and then remove the bright metal ends from the cables (you'll need two pair of pliers to pull the ends off). Then, with a pair of wire strippers or a razor blade, whatever, trim the plastic sheathing back so that 3/4" of metal cable will protrude once you reinstall the bright metal cable end. Stick the cable back into the motor and you're done (for free). By the way, it won't happen again. Your cables have expanded all they're gonna expand.

Now, take the $1200 the dealer was going to charge you and buy something really cool.

[rmbert]

Thanks
that sounds logical, should have thought of it myself. I'll shorten the covering tonight and let you know how it worked.

[rmbert]

finally got to shortening the cables. It was easier than I thought it would be. A sharp blade worked best to cut the outer coating. Here are the before and after pics.[IMG]before and after[/IMG]

[Grizzly]

That's it. There's one problem that should never raise its ugly head again.

[RandallNeighbour]

Not so, the problem may rear it's ugly head again...

The cables always stay the same length, but the unreinforced plastic sheathing stretches in the heat and makes the cable pop out of the transmission or motor. So it could happen again.

The new ones from Porsche are reinforced and have a criss-cross diamond pattern showing the reinforcements. You should upgrade to these so you can say "done with that forever" and it be true.

[Grizzly]

Interesting. I was told that after this many years the cable has expanded all that it's going to expand.

[RandallNeighbour]

You could be absolutely right on that. I, however, would have the bad luck of having a hotter summer than ever the month after I fixed the old cables and bam! bent up clamshell one more time.

Hence the urgency to swap them out with the new reinforced ones so I could sleep at night.

Your mileage may vary...

[rmbert]

I think I will spring for the new and inproved cables. These things always happen at the worst times, so $30 worth of prevention is worth...
At least now I can pick a convient time to do the work.