Convertible Deck Lid Won't Open

Joe Johnston · Post by **Joe Johnston** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:05 pm

Guess its my turn to have this issue. Tried to open the trunk and the deck lid did not lift. Nothing. No clicks - nothing. I have quickly scanned the top repair manual and need to make the jumpers and study the process before going further. Luckily (I think) my son in law was able to help sperad several towels and remove the tonneau, and I can now remove the back seat.

The basis of my question is: When pushing the top operating switch down there is nothing. HOWEVER when pushing the switch UP there are clicks and the dash light dims, with the shifter in both N and P. This tells me what?? I didn't see this mentioned in the manuals, but I have only read through quickly. Any guesses as to what I should check first? I will search the posts here also to see what has been mentioned before. Thanks in advance.

nbaum · Post by **nbaum** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:26 pm

The first thing I would do would be to open the hood and jump past the circuit breaker to see if it makes any difference. I and some other people have had that 50 amp breaker go bad which shuts you down. That breaker is either attached to the starter selonoid if its an early car or its a hockey puck looking thing up under and around the horns.
If that's not it I guess you need to get access to the relays behind the rear seat. It could be switches out of adjustment as well which requires you to open the deck lid the manual way by unbolting from the fender well.
Good luck

tbird · Post by **tbird** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:41 pm

If you are geting power on the trunk closed action the breaker must be OK sounds like your flipper panel is not tight against the bumpers on the trunk lid so it is not making the limit switch circuit. if you get the back seat out you can open the lid by jumpering the relays first the unlock then deck-up relay.

akbash · Post by **akbash** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:48 am

I've not had any open/close problems when I have the engine running during the cycle. With the engine off the circuit breaker has tripped several times.I takes a lot of amps to open the top.

segi1962tbird · Post by **segi1962tbird** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:57 pm

i had a similar problem a couple weeks ago, it turned out my locks were off a bit and were causing it to bind...after i manually unlocked the trunk from underneath i was able to get the top to work, hope it helps and good luck

boaterbob · Post by **boaterbob** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:46 pm

If you don't hear a click for the deck open but hear it for deck close i agree probably not the breaker. Could be the switch it self, but i don't think so. You could have a bad deck open relay. If you have a lot of play in your flipper lid sometimes you can have someone push up on it through the back seat while you do the switch.

Joe Johnston · Post by **Joe Johnston** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:08 pm

I hope to get back to the shop next week to work on it. Thanks for all the helpful hints and will post more as I check into it. Have only had time to remove the back seat and look in at the relays, but no more. Everything worked well until last week.

Thanks again and Happy Easter to all.

Jim Wulf · Post by **Jim Wulf** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:49 pm

Joe,

Before you get too involved, remove the back seat to gain access to the deck relays. First check the bus bar on the left relay bank to be sure all the connecting screws are secure. These screws have a habit of working loose over time. If any are loose, tighten, and try the switch again.

If that wasn't it, then remove the rubber plug on the deck open relay (front left on the left relay bank, I think), slightly squeeze the female terminals with a pair of pliers to tighten them, lube the relay prongs with dielectric grease, and carefully replace the plug. Take care to get the plug onto the prongs correctly and firmly - it's not very easy. Then try the switch again. Nine times out of ten, a loose connection here is the problem when the relay doesn't even click and the deck won't unlock.

My next step would be to jump the relay, and if that works, replace the relay with a known good relay, and give it another go.

My experience has been that a deck that was just recently opening and closing correctly does not usually simply come out of adjustment, but most often stops working because of a simple loose electrical connection somewhere, maybe jarred loose by a bump in the road.

Remember to disconnect your battery when working on the relay banks!

Good luck!

My Thunderbird website: www.tbirdgarage.com

Joe Johnston · Post by **Joe Johnston** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:14 pm

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I always try the easiest things first so I tried them all. I found the the flip lid tight to the trunklid bumpers, found 6 loose screws on the bus bars, jumped the hockey puck looking breaker, crimped the slide on connectors in the rubber boots for the relays and nothing helped. Jumped the relays according to the manual and eventually found the tray retract limit switches were not being actuated properly. Cylcled the lid and top a couple of times and think it is fixed. Again, thanks for all the help to a new guy!! I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future.

rgebbie · Post by **rgebbie** » Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:14 pm

having the same issue on my 62 m-code. replaced hoses, and pump, went perfect. cycled the top and deck lide 4 times over a period of time and was great. went for a short ride with the top up, came back and the switch only works for the top up and not down. when i tried to jumper the deck unlock relay works perfect, when i jumper the deck open relay i hear the pump running but the deck doesn't open. got to be doing something wrong.

rich

Jim Wulf · Post by **Jim Wulf** » Fri Aug 23, 2019 2:57 pm

rgebbie wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:14 pm having the same issue on my 62 m-code. replaced hoses, and pump, went perfect. cycled the top and deck lide 4 times over a period of time and was great. went for a short ride with the top up, came back and the switch only works for the top up and not down. when i tried to jumper the deck unlock relay works perfect, when i jumper the deck open relay i hear the pump running but the deck doesn't open. got to be doing something wrong.

rich

If the pump is running when you jumper the relay, and there's no opening action, it's very possible that the deck solenoid isn't functioning. These solenoids very rarely fail outright, so it's probably a loose power connection or a loose ground on the solenoid. The ground is through the sheet metal mounting screw and it's not uncommon for the screw to loosen up if the car has gone over some hard bumps. Since you just replaced the hoses, and removed the solenoids in the process, it's a good possibility that the screw wasn't tightened enough (or the hole is stripped) and has worked its way loose. The deck solenoid is located to the rear of the pump.

The only way to get the deck open at this point is to remove the four bolts, two each side, that secure the bottom deck cylinder brackets to the trunk floor. They're readily accessible just underneath and forward of the rear bumper. Once the bolts are removed you can easily lift the deck manually; the retracted cylinders will just dangle from the deck.

rgebbie · Post by **rgebbie** » Sun Aug 25, 2019 8:33 am

so, i was not jumpering the relay correctly, when i realized what i was doing wrong, the deck lid went right up. i replaced the to relays for the deck lid, then found out it was in the flipper motor closed limit switch on the deck lid. as soon as i adjusted it, things are working now.
thank you for responding.

rich

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Convertible Deck Lid Won't Open

Convertible Deck Lid Won't Open

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Convert. Deck Lid won't open

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