Jinster

Thank you for your continuing support, TP. You are exactly right. The gears keep running until the teeth come off. And I broke a red balljoint while trying to take off one of the V arms to look inside the transmission...... bloody hell. Building a new control circuit to cut power..... I can get build a circuit using a relay I suppose and mount it somewhere. Jporter's idea of using the V arm to trigger a new microswitch to control a new relay to cut power is a good one. But I am still looking for a more OEM solution... I know of no one else with a Boxster in Melbourne (Aust) so swapping relays might be a bit difficult. What I don't understand about the B-pillar microswitch and the microswitch on top of the convertible motor is that are they meant to do and why they are both needed? It would seem the B-pillar switch is reduntant if there is a switch on the top motor already. Anyway, I am yet to locate the B-pillar switch. The convertible motor (CTCL) microswitch, meanwhile, doesn't seem to do anything. When the top is moving in mid air (after I hooked up the gears on both sides) and I press down on the CTCL microswitch, nothing happens. The top just keeps moving anyway..... maybe that's where the B-pillar switch come in: both the B-pillar switch and the CTCL switch need to be contacted in order to trigger the final 1sec over-drive of the top.... But Jporter seems to say that his top stops moving midair soon as the CTCL switch is depressed.... It's dark in Melbourne now. So I will have to continue this tomorrow (and put off replacing the coolant pump for another day). TP, if you got the time, I would be grateful if you could please open your top half way, put some weight on the CTCL microswitch to close it, and then see if you can still move the top by pressing the top down/up dash switch. Coz this doesn't stop the top for me, so I could have a dud switch....

Ok, this is becoming like a top repair journal. I figured out that the position of the V arms were incorrect due to over spin of the transmission. I pushed the V arms to as far as possible in the right direction and then pushed the top down button, this took up the V arms and the wound them back into their normal operating arc. But, after I have hooked up everything, and tried to close the roof again, the V arms being powered by the transmission which is being powered by the motor just kept going as long as I kept my finger on the top down switch even after the top was fully closed. And this resulted in the V arms going over their final position again and internally unhooking the gear teeth. I am beginning to think that my problem is not with the convertible operating assembly but with whatever mechanism that is meant to stop it from operating once the top is in position.... There must be a mechanism that tells the motor to stop spinning when the top is fully closed so that the transmission doesn't keep disconnecting its own gears by overspinning them beyond the the range of the half moon teeth arc. Where is this mechanism? Is it the convertible top compartment lid microswitch? I tried to push on that switch but that doesn't stop the motor spinning at all....... I would appreciate any suggestion people have at this point.

Ok, I noticed something strange. This is what the V arm position is when the top is still fully up, with the clamshell clip disconnected: This is what the V arm position is when I lowered the roof manually: Do these seem right? I think the black ball joint lever arm should be on top of the red ball joint lever arm when the top is down. As it is, the top doesn't go down completely because the black ball joint lever arm gets in the way. This would also mean that the resting position of my V arm on the transmission is wrong in that the arm towards the front of the car should be pointing downwards rather than upwards to facilitate the correct movement of the black balljoint lever up, and the red balljoint lever down when the top is being lowered. Can someone verify if what I say is true? If so, it would look like that both my transmissions have come off gear at the same time.......... Can I simply push the transmission back in gear by pushing on the V arms or do I need to open up both transmissions to do this?

Ok, I got the top down by disconnecting the clips to the clamshell. I checked the motor. It spins both sides. The cables are not shortened and I have Part No. *01 cables. But when I press the convertible top switch, neither transmission moves! I haven't taken the transmissions apart yet but what could be doing this? I can feel the cables moving (they vibrate) on both sides.... p.s: If people want to know, the motor spins clockwise to lower the top and anticlockwise to raise it.

Thanks TP. I dug up quite a bit of info from this forum. I am gonna have a crack at the roof tomorrow. Jin

Thank you both very much. I will look into this in the next few days and report on my progress. At the moment, I need to: 1. Replace a leaking coolant pump (planned on Monday) 2. Trouble shoot my stuck top in up position (planning to do tomorrow) 3. Open up the door panel to look at the central locking situation, microswitches sounds culprible. (maybe Tuesday) It's a good thing I got some time off work. Are the microswitches individually replaceable or do you just buy the whole locking mechanism from Porsche?

Is there a way to test that? As in, if I apply direct 12V electrical connection to the motor and see it spin (or not spin)? Where would I find those wires? Someone mentioned a black and green wires but I don't know where they are. Also, does the top operate up or down because current is applied in either backward or forward directions into the motor or is it mechanically switched somehow?

I have posted the same thread on 986forum but nobody there seems to have any suggestions. I am hoping someone here can give some pointers. I have had this problem for a while now. I will try to describe this in detail. The car is a 97 Tip without alarm or remote modules. Initially - and I don't know if this is related - the driver's side window will not stay slightly lowered after the door opens. But pulling on the door handle both inside or out does lower it so I have been pulling on the door handle to lower the window to close the door to avoid hitting the window against the top frame for a few months. That problem is gone spontaneously now. And at about the same time, the new problem started: Driver's side: I can't lock the doors from the driver's side. If I try turning the key once on the driver's side, the doors (including the fuel door) would lock, and then all three doors would automatically unlock straight away within the same mechanical sequence (I hear the mechanism's locking sounds, straight away followed by unlocking sounds). If I try to emergency lock on the driver's side by turning the key three times, the driver's side and the fuel door would stay locked, but the passenger side is not locked at all. Also, the doors can be opened from the interior door handle if locked with the triple turn like this (I don't know if this point normal, never did it when the car was working fine). Passenger's side: If I try to single turn lock from the passenger's side, all three doors would lock and then straight away unlock much like if I tried to lock from the driver's side. I can, however, lock all three doors successfully if I emergency triple turn lock on the passenger side. If locked this way, I can unlock all three doors normally from the passenger's side. But if I unlock from the driver's side, the passenger door would stay locked from the outside and the central locking switch light would stay lit as I drive the car. The passenger door can be unlocked via the interior handle. I am completely baffled. I need some thoughts as to the logic of what is happening. I can't think of a sensor or actuator failure that could single-handedly lead to such symptoms... What exactly is emergency lock anyway? I assume it was designed to bypass some circuits or mechanism which may be faulty to make locking possible in an emergency situation in case of component failure. But what exactly is bypassed? Also, the fact emergency lock works on the passenger side would seem to suggest that the actuators on boths sides are working properly (unless emergency lock doesn't actually use actuators?). The fact that emergency lock on driver's side doesn't work may suggest some sort of one-way communication failure between the driver's side and passenger's side, but what could that be? I think it may well come down to the mechanism that'is actually involved in emergency locking. Part of it may have failed. If you guesstimate the emergency lock to be a "skeleton system", the most basic system, the simplest electromechanical pathway to lock the doors then this would account for the higher functions of normal single turn lock not working on both sides too. The question then remains, which electromechanical parts are actually involved in the emergency lock pathway? Anyone have any thoughts on the situation at all? I plan on opening up the doors to have a lock, but it would help if I know where I should be looking at.

Where did you find the black and green wires clk2004? Did the top work if you keep the battery connected to those wires? Does the top work the other way if you reverse the polarity? Thanks.

Wow... my top always looked like this and I didn't even think it was meant to be any different.

Thanks for the quick reply, TP. My Boxster already has problems with central locking and a leaking coolant pump. And now this..... added to the ABS control unit failure and MAF failures and Tiptronic case leak in the last three years....... suffice to say I am a bit depressed. I don't have another relay handy but I did reinsert and tap the relay. The same problem remains. I have extensively tapped the microswitch from the latch hole, no use. I can distinctively hear a tick followed by a few seconds of hiss from the back that sounds like the motor is being supplied with electricity and is trying to spin when I keep the convertible switch depressed. There is a corresponding dimming of instrument lights for around 5secs when this happens. But there is no top movement at all. The hissing sound stops in about 5sec and the dimming comes back to full brightness again even tho my finger is still on the convertible switch. And in amidst my frantic tapping of the convertible top switch, there were two times when the windows just randomly dropped all the way to completely open rather than the 10cm open. Once, only the driver side window completely opened while the passenger side stayed at 10cm. This is after the initial 10cm drop when unlatching.

My MY97 top just wouldn't open after closing it and left at a shopping centre today. The windows drop when unlatched. The handbrake light is on. And the transmission is in park position. I have read that the point of failure could be the cables or the transmissions. But is that more likely to result in a unilateral failure? As in, the top would try to go down on one side while the other side appears stuck, or is that not the case? I do hear an initial clicking noise from where the convertible top is if I keep the button depressed. Like an initial push by the motor or a relay activating at the back or something. I am just trying to get an idea what to expect before I manually drop the top and look around.

TP, do you know how many volts these bulbs are? 12V? I am thinking about replacing them with different coloured LEDs.

Sounds like MAF. When my MAF failed, twice, the car wouldn't accelerate properly. It gave no CEL light either. The MAF? Either you didn't understand my post (the subject line is not very descriptive - my apologies) or you have a great sense of humor! The engine runs great. No problems there - it is a mechanical problem somewhere between the business end of the crankshaft and the wheels. Gearbox/clutch etc. Dam I wish I can claim this one on humour. :) But, just re-read your thread. Are you saying that you car won't move at all? I must have misinterpreted as it having poor acceleration. Apologies. And good luck.

I like it. A bigger pic of the whole car would be nice.

Sounds like MAF. When my MAF failed, twice, the car wouldn't accelerate properly. It gave no CEL light either.

Jinijazz, I am going to attempt to make some custom xenon lights for my car. Sounds like heat gun is the way to go. Thanks Vfxbox & djantlive. TP, I will fry them if only heat gun doesn't work. :)

I have tried to bake the headlight to take it apart. But my experiment failed very prematurely as none of the ovens I have access to is big enough to fit the headlight. So I need to use a hair dryer as that has been reported to work. I don't have a hair dryer at home. And a search turned up hair dryers of different power ratings obviously representing the heat ratings. To those that have used a hair dryer to open up any kind of headlight, what rating was your hair dryer?

The function of the tiptronic transmission is selected by a multi-positional plate-like switch at the bottom of the car on the transmission. The position of this switch, in turn, is selected by pulling or pushing the cable that connects it and the lever selector in the cabin. I doubt there are any electronics around the shifter lever that comes into this. The length of this cable is adjustable by twisting a horizontal screw type of connection. It's possible that over time, the length of the cable has changed due to various reasons so that when you select your gear position via the shifter, the cable doesn't pull the multi-positional switch on the transmission just the right amount to get it to select the next function within the transmission. That final shove you give your shifter when things sit in between or in the wrong mode would then bump the switch into the correct position. So it's possible that you would need that cable length adjusted.

Don't use the Dexron AT4 or whatever ATF you get at the supermarket. They are completely different to the ones used in the Porsche. Proper Porsche labelled ATF cost heaps. They sell them in single units of 1L as well as larger volumes - and the larger volume cost more than if you were to buy individual 1L bottles combined! Ridiculous. Porsche uses the same ATF as some Audi and VW, since they use the same ATX units built by ZF (5HP19FL). These cars share this transmission: 1996–2001 Audi A4 2.8 V6 1996–2003 Porsche Boxster 986 2.5L 6 Cyl 1997–2003 Audi A4 1.8T 1997–1999 Audi A8 3.7 V8 1998–2001 Audi A6 2.8 V6 1998–2003 VW Passat GLS 1.8T 1998–2003 VW Passat GLS V6 2.8L 1998–2003 VW Passat GLX V6 2.8L 1999–2003 Porsche Boxster S 986 3.2L 2003– VW Passat GL 1.8T So, you can rock up to a VW or Audi dealer and ask to buy their transmission fluid. It's a lot cheaper. I think from memory, it cost $24AUD for 1L of Audi ATF here in Australia. Prices in US may be different, obviously. P.S: The part number for the Audi ATF and Porsche ATF are different. But it's the same fluid since it goes into the same transmission. So don't be put off by it.

I sympathise with you, Iccubed. If this was a Mazda or Toyota, it wouldn't have cost this much to fix the same problem. It probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. German engineering leaves much to be desired, honestly. Anyway, I am having issues with doors not locking - they lock but then automatically unlocks straight after. Fingers crossed it's not a fried computer.

I sympathise with you, Iccubed. If this was a Mazda or Toyota, it wouldn't have cost this much to fix the same problem. It probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. German engineering leaves much to be desired, honestly. Anyway, I am having issues with doors not locking - they lock but then automatically unlocks straight after. Fingers crossed it's not a fried computer.

I figured it's something like that. My family was never big on Christmas. Didn't know there was a story associated with it.

Richard, the 3 stroke locking technique works. At least I can now lock the car without trial-and-error. Thanks. Nik, unfortunately re-plugging the module didn't work for me. Thanks for the suggestion though. TP, is that a movie? Nick_USA, you lost me completely. So there is a GT in the movie?

These forums are so fantastic. Now I know it's possible to do a 3.2L swap. Almost everyone does the 3.4L so this is great to see there are other options to beef up my 2.5L. Keep up the good work, Kanin.