The Mystery of the Tempermental Inoperative Top

[Alan H. Tast]

I don't know if anyone else has gone through this, so I feel compared to share my continuing experiences with the convertible top system in order to chronicle the situation for future reference.

About 3 months ago we had the original hydraulic system replaced for the top (lines, cylinders, pump), the travails of which were played out here in the Forum. One week after getting the car home, I went to work the top, only to have everything die in mid-sequence when opening the deck lid. At the time, I went to open the deck lid to change out the spare wheel/tire in the trunk with one that had new rubber (see my 2018 adventures with 27-year old tires failing and replacing the tubes/rim liners). The top would not operate after I let up on the switch. Repeated attempts yielded no results - tried to hit the switch again to close the deck lid, but nothing happened.

I typically never work the top unless the engine's running, and on that date I was late getting to a parade in my home town as part of my 40-year high school reunion - I just shut the car down with the top up and the rear deck lid stuck in the open position. Because the next few months became a living hell of overtime and weekends in the office, I never got a chance to try working the top again - until late this afternoon. Wanting to try my luck, I took the keys down to the storage building, reconnected the battery, started the car and went to hit the switch to drop the deck lid - and IT WORKED! Wanting to continue tempting fate, I decided to see if I could lower the top. Worked the switch - deck lid opened, flipper panel went up, top started to raise and I let off of the switch, this time with the top partially raised. When I went to hit the switch again - NOTHING in either direction. I tried working the switch (again) several times with the car running, and then thought "what if I shut the car off, disconnect the battery, reconnect the battery, start the car and then work the top switch"? Well, sure enough, going through this procedure allowed the top to work again. This time, I allowed the top to completely cycle through retraction/deck closing, and then deck open/top erection, repeating this several times, but not stopping in mid-cycle like I did before.

What de-energizing and re-energizing the system in order for things to reset and start working again is telling me is that either the main 60-amp breaker or the top switch may be weak or going out. Has anyone out there experienced this, or have any thoughts as to what's going on? This is one mystery I'd like to track down and solve.

BTW, now that it appears (for now) I can get the car back on the road, I plan on getting it out on Sunday. Will I be brave (or foolish) enough to drop the top when I get to the show I want to attend on Sunday? You'll soon find out.

[tbird]

Next time it happens I would check the main breaker to see if it is open, if is tripped it will not take to long to reset.

[Mheiron]

My guess is the top down relay is sticky. They just don’t get operated enough. I’ve used a 12V source and “exercised” a sticky relay before and it seemed to get it functioning. You can run a jumper from the power bus to the activation post and see if it clicks every time.

If the main breaker is going, the power bus bar to the relays should be cold so that’s easy to check.

My experience is the top relays are very temperamental.