More troubleshooting convertible top

[Phobos]

Hi all!
I have been looking for this topic on the forums, cant seem to find any.

I got the car a year ago.
From time to time, the top down/top up stops responding- never if i complete the cycle, but if i, for exempel, open the trunk, stop and resume the cycle, it dies almost every time.
If i wait a few minutes it responds again.

I was thinking it could be related to auto-resetting circuit breakers, i ordered new ones from T-bird nest (the 60a and two 15amp). It happened yesterday- i had my voltmeter with me, so i measured on the 60Amp breaker in front of the battery. It was all good.

The top control safety relay looks brand new.

Now im thinking about the 10amp auto resetting breaker in the fusepanel: top control”. Is there Anywhere you can replace those? Or do i just replace it with a pair of cables and a regular fuseholder?

[redthundervert64]

Hi Phobos - I had almost the exact same problem with my convertible top operation. As a test I removed the top control safety relay plug and installed a jumper in it to bypass the relay coil (after cleaning the plug connections and using pliers to compress them to ensure a tight fit) and the problem was solved. Be aware that the jumper will allow the top to be operated whether or not the ignition is on and also when the car is in any gear.

I'd suggest trying this first before modifying or changing breakers. Good luck!

Bob

[Alan H. Tast]

Pictures of location the relay and jumper would be helpful. Please post if you have any. Thanks.

For the record, I'm having a similar problem with my '63 Roadster. I have a quick-disconnect knob at my negative/ground terminal at the battery. I found if I shut the car down and turn off the ignition, disconnected the battery and then reconnected it, the top would again start to work. I haven't figured this one out, and quite frankly right now my entire top's 'dead' again at the top operation switch. My top's staying up for the rest of the summer, anyway.

[Phobos]

Hi Phobos - I had almost the exact same problem with my convertible top operation. As a test I removed the top control safety relay plug and installed a jumper in it to bypass the relay coil (after cleaning the plug connections and using pliers to compress them to ensure a tight fit) and the problem was solved. Be aware that the jumper will allow the top to be operated whether or not the ignition is on and also when the car is in any gear.

I'd suggest trying this first before modifying or changing breakers. Good luck!

Bob

Thnx! The relay (looks brand new, propably replaced by the previous owner, might be due to the problem with the top?) gets quite hot, ill try that first then.
How do you make a jumper?

[Phobos]

Pictures of location the relay and jumper would be helpful. Please post if you have any. Thanks.

For the record, I'm having a similar problem with my '63 Roadster. I have a quick-disconnect knob at my negative/ground terminal at the battery. I found if I shut the car down and turn off the ignition, disconnected the battery and then reconnected it, the top would again start to work. I haven't figured this one out, and quite frankly right now my entire top's 'dead' again at the top operation switch. My top's staying up for the rest of the summer, anyway.

Havent got any pics (not at home at the moment), but the Top control relay on a 65 is located in the engine compartment, central on the firewall.

[Phobos]

Picture

Ha have a pic in my phone from the shop manual.

[redthundervert64]

Here is a picture of my old convertible top safety relay and plug.

On my '64 the relay is located on the firewall directly under the passenger side cowl drain behind the the cowl drain tube. The old relay and plug had become so corroded in this location that I cut off the plug so that I could pull the wiring through the firewall into the area below the passenger-side dash so that I could install a new relay and plug pigtail inside the car. I don't know about the location on a '65, but just make doubly sure that you're looking at the correct relay. My power window relay is located closer to the middle of the firewall and the previous owner had mistaken it for the convertible top relay, removed it and installed a new top relay in it's place and messed up the wiring (and of course then nothing worked)!

Here's a picture of the relay plug with a jumper in the correct terminals. Try to get the plug terminals as clean as you can, and as I mentioned before, use pliers to compress the terminals to ensure a tight fit.

Good luck - Bob

[Phobos]

Here is a picture of my old convertible top safety relay and plug.

IMG_0409.JPG

On my '64 the relay is located on the firewall directly under the passenger side cowl drain behind the the cowl drain tube. The old relay and plug had become so corroded in this location that I cut off the plug so that I could pull the wiring through the firewall into the area below the passenger-side dash so that I could install a new relay and plug pigtail inside the car. I don't know about the location on a '65, but just make doubly sure that you're looking at the correct relay. My power window relay is located closer to the middle of the firewall and the previous owner had mistaken it for the convertible top relay, removed it and installed a new top relay in it's place and messed up the wiring (and of course then nothing worked)!

Here's a picture of the relay plug with a jumper in the correct terminals. Try to get the plug terminals as clean as you can, and as I mentioned before, use pliers to compress the terminals to ensure a tight fit.

IMG_0411.JPG

Good luck - Bob

Great! Thnx!

[Phobos]

Jumper cable worked great, btw. :)
Thnx again.