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mark in sunnyvale

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About mark in sunnyvale

  • Birthday 04/26/1978

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  1. I'm glad that helped. Keep us posted. I think Tool Pants was the first person to tell me that the dealer's tech used those markings for synching. I screwed up my timing so badly the first time, no amount of reading those instructions could get me to a good starting point until I did the all the way down, then up approach. If you're using a drill to sync, make sure that the torque setting is at the lowest setting.
  2. 1schoir, By the way there's several switches on the top that determines your tops position, I won't even pretend I remember how they work. I think there were three switches. I don't know why pressing the button yields the same direction of motion. I don't recall running into that issue. Oh, don't try putting the top down without the clamshell installed. Without the clamshell, you won't hit the limiter which will cause damage to your levers. The top works with drills hooked up to the cables and it also operated from the almost completely open position all the way up to the almost closed position (about 6 to 8 inches from the windshield), when it started cycling back and forth again. I willl see if I can dig up something like a speedometer cable to stick into the cable motor so I can watch the rotation as you suggested. Let me know what you discover when you install your new transmissions. Regards, 1schoir. 1schoir, I had a similar experience with my top - the transmission moved in the same direction regardless of what direction I pushed the button. I am in the process of upgrading the transmissions to the newer style and see if that helps. I will let you know. I have all the pieces I need (I think) and I am planning on getting it done this afternoon / evening. I already have a thread about my top experience - I will post pictures and the steps I took in that thread. Meanwhile, continue with the motor suggestion and see if it behaves the same way when it gets to the positions you mentioned. My guess is that the motor will operate normally unhooked, because you don't have the load of the transmissions / top, but it's just an uneducated guess. You could also try to unhook the top and see if the motor spins the transmissions in the right direction without the top connected, although I am not sure how that would help, except adding more details to your diagnosis. Good Luck, Azzar0. Thanks for the info, Azzar0. I did unhook both sides of the V-lever from the rod arms and from the push rods and the V-levers kept going in one direction (CCW, I think) no matter if I pressed the button in the "up" or the "down" direction. What is strange is that last week, when I just hooked up the clamshell via the pushrods to the V-lever, I was able to operate the clamshell back and forth (up and down) and the up/down switch was responding correctly. I have not been able to duplicate that this last time. I can't imagine how putting in new transmissions would help reverse the direction of rotation, but maybe I just don't understand what causes the reversal in direction. I think I have to look into the big relay on top of the fuse box and into the mysterious relay that I have heard is located behind the driver's side B pillar. I'll keep you up to date as well as I delve further into this. Regards, 1schoir.
  3. ischoir, Once the gear comes off, there's no reason to keep pressing. For some bizzarre reason, the transmission gear only spins one way. So while it's a half moon, it ony uses say a quarter of circle of rotation. The problem is if you don't have it synched correctly, it gets stuck in an up or down position. I spent 3 weeks trying to figure this out when I tried to fix my top. It took me a while to realize that the gears can only rotate one direction. I think I assembled/disassembled the joint at least 7 times in the process. Anyway, here's a picture of the driver side(US of course, for our international audience), taken from the top. So if you were to set yourself at eye level with the transmission (and you can see through the car's body), the position will be similar to you making an L with your left hand tilted slightly towards the front. If I recall correctly, the top open light is set by the switch on the motor. I never had an electrical problem, so I never bothered with it. Can you PM me your email address, I have something that might help you troubleshoot. The main idea is to get the top in a known position. Having the top down is the best way since this removes the effects of the red ball joint arm, etc out of the equation -Mark -Mark Thanks for reply, Mark. I will follow these instructions and report back with either progress or further symptoms. Do you reccommend that, (with all ball joints disconnected and with the cables disconnected on each side from the motor) I press the Up/Down button continuously for longer than it would take for the motor to get to its end point (say 30 seconds) in the down direction so that the motor's "position" is matched to the maximum down position as a starting point? Also, do you know what sends the signal to the dashboard display to either light up or extinguish the "top open" light? I did read in an old thread about someone putting in the V-Levers upside down (i.e, 180 degrees off) but I don't have another Boxster nearby or immediately available to ascertain the correct postion of the V-Levers but I will try to look for photos of where the V-levers are supposed to be in their travel when the top is in the maximum down position. Regards, 1schoir.
  4. Hi 1schoir, I think you bolted the lever the wrong way. The cycling back and forth and not reaching the top is symptomatic of having the gears inside the transmission in the wrong position relative to the V lever. Here's what I would suggest. Spin each transmission following the down movement until the gears inside jumps off the teeth (I.E. CCW). Reverse the spin to re-engage (ie CW) Put your top in the down position. The trick is to have another boxster to take a look at and see how the V lever is supposed to face. I'll take alook when I get home tonight. Adjust the lever to line up the black and red ball joint by spinning in the top up direction only. This is very important. -Mark The top works with drills hooked up to the cables and it also operated from the almost completely open position all the way up to the almost closed position (about 6 to 8 inches from the windshield), when it started cycling back and forth again. I willl see if I can dig up something like a speedometer cable to stick into the cable motor so I can watch the rotation as you suggested. Let me know what you discover when you install your new transmissions. Regards, 1schoir. 1schoir, I had a similar experience with my top - the transmission moved in the same direction regardless of what direction I pushed the button. I am in the process of upgrading the transmissions to the newer style and see if that helps. I will let you know. I have all the pieces I need (I think) and I am planning on getting it done this afternoon / evening. I already have a thread about my top experience - I will post pictures and the steps I took in that thread. Meanwhile, continue with the motor suggestion and see if it behaves the same way when it gets to the positions you mentioned. My guess is that the motor will operate normally unhooked, because you don't have the load of the transmissions / top, but it's just an uneducated guess. You could also try to unhook the top and see if the motor spins the transmissions in the right direction without the top connected, although I am not sure how that would help, except adding more details to your diagnosis. Good Luck, Azzar0. Thanks for the info, Azzar0. I did unhook both sides of the V-lever from the rod arms and from the push rods and the V-levers kept going in one direction (CCW, I think) no matter if I pressed the button in the "up" or the "down" direction. What is strange is that last week, when I just hooked up the clamshell via the pushrods to the V-lever, I was able to operate the clamshell back and forth (up and down) and the up/down switch was responding correctly. I have not been able to duplicate that this last time. I can't imagine how putting in new transmissions would help reverse the direction of rotation, but maybe I just don't understand what causes the reversal in direction. I think I have to look into the big relay on top of the fuse box and into the mysterious relay that I have heard is located behind the driver's side B pillar. I'll keep you up to date as well as I delve further into this. Regards, 1schoir.
  5. I was referring to the V lever. You push the button for a second or so, what this does is it re-engages the gears. When the gearpops out, you've reached the maximum "down" position. Re engaging and pushing the up button puts you in a known point. So now you know that if you push up to allow you to reconnect the ball joints, you will be in the correct "top is down" position for the gear. -Mark Mark: When you say "After the gear pops out, you spin the lever in the opposite direction (if down is CW, spin it ccw).", which lever must be spun in the opposite direction? Also, when you have someone push the button in the "up" direction, how long do they push the button? Regards, 1schoir.
  6. azzar0, I'm not sure if this will help but when I fixed my top, I got my half moon stuck in the same manner you described. The gear can only move one way, if installed incorrectly the half gear will stop moving after an up or down cycle or pop out. If you open the transmission and you don't see any damage, then it's fine. The way I fixed this is disconnected all the joints and lever. I had someone press the down button until the half moon gear jumps out of the track. I took note of the direction of motion (CW or CCW. After the gear pops out, you spin the lever in the opposite direction (if down is CW, spin it cw). Then have someone push the up button. This resynchs the gears. Now, when you spin the transmission to re-synch the two sides all motions must be similar to when you're pushing the button up. When you reassemble the the joints, you must do it with the top in the down position. -Mark
  7. Hey Mike, TP told me you have a top problem. I work in Sunnyvale and I live in the east bay, if you're close by you can swing by my work or home. I might be able to tell you what parts you need.
  8. Here's how I did mine. Make sure you remove as much of the plastic bits as possible by removing the water pump. My instinct is you don't want to flush those bits further in. I'm doing this off memory: 1) Raise the rear of the car 2) Remove the coolant cap and the black lid that lines it. This will give you access to the overflow valve for bleeding. 3) Remove the rear undertray cover 4) Remove the allen plug for drain located on the bottom of the engine block 5) Drain the coolant and dispose properly 6) Flush with water using garden hose to fill the reservoir, make sure the oil cap is on :-) 7) If you want to be anal you can pour 2.5 gallon of distilled water to flush out the tap water. :D 8) Wait... wait... wait ... wait for it to drain 9) Reinstall plug and undertray 10) Fill with 50/50 Porsche approved coolant (note, it's supposed to be a special coolant) and distilled water 11) Burp the system by starting the car, leaving the coolant cap and overflow valve open. Get it warmed up and stay at 3k for 2 minutes. 12) Refill if necessary. I just drove aroudn with my overflow valve open for a while to make sure there was no nasty surprises running my heater and revving the car up. I checked the coolant level afterwards. Bring some coolant with you. Honestly, the whole process was pretty much like any other car.
  9. Let me know if you guys need help. I can stop by Jeff's office as well. Jeff will not let me touch his car though, he thinks I forgot how to synch the transmissions. :-) I guess you can be the guinea pig so I can prove him wrong. hehe. -Mark
  10. Does anyone know if the folks from Durametric have plans to include some of the command functions? Bleeding the brakes, triggering the fans, etc?
  11. Based on your previous post, and this one check the switch on top of the motor. That's just my guess.
  12. The manual list the proceedure. You use the metal rod used with the red tip, if you remove the tip it exposes a flat end. It takes quite a bit of force to seprate the ball joint.
  13. Did he try to push on the cable to see if it goes in? Maybe it looks fine when you pull the cable out but it gets pushed in when you install. Also, there was a case of some guy with a broken cable. When he pulled on it, a section of the cable came off. The old style (pre-99) cables shouldn't pull off. I don't know about the newer style ones.
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