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mark in sunnyvale

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Everything posted by mark in sunnyvale

  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.
  14. They can't time the cable because you can't move the transmission a little bit at a time. I'm pretty sure that the Smart top had nothing to do with the failure since the failure is inherent to the design. With that said, having a smart top can cause a lot of damage if you don't stop it in time. Unless smart top/Porsche has a way of monitoring the current load on the motor and shut it down when it exceeds a threshold. I doubt it.
  15. Hehe, glad to see you figured out it was upside down. I did the same thing the first time I did it. This is how I synch the transmission. The Factory workshop way did not work for me since I screwed up mine really badly. 1) With one side connected and, have someone press the down button. Note the direction of motion (CW or CCW). 2) Keep pressing until the gear jumps off the half moon cog. 3) Now spin the gear by hand opposite to what it was doing when you were pressing the down button. Press the UP button to get the gear to re-engaged with the cog. 4) Repeat on other side. Now your gears are in a known position. 5)Put the hood and clamshell in the down position. 6) With only one side connected at a time, have someone press the up button a second at a time until the ball joint for the clamshell aligns with the arm. You should be able to put the top up and down now. -Mark
  16. it's gone! I've had a P1102 and a P1107 that would not go away. Dealer attributed it to a stuck check valve, reset it and happily took my hundred-odd dollars. Problem came back after a few weeks. I bought my own OBD-II reader. I've replaced the O2 sensors and MAF, that wasn't it. Checked the relays, checked the fuses. Checked all the wiring. No problem found. I got my DMV notice that I need a smog, so out of desperation, I cleaned/checked the grounding lug in the rear trunk. The **** thing was loose. I cleaned the contact area with sandpaper and re-tightened. Ground point 8 is to the left of the ECM Ground point 9 is to the right, I think. It's been 4 days... no CEL, no pending codes according to my OBD-II reader. I haven't gone this long CEL free. I promptly got a smog check at my local gas station, I didn't want to tempt faith. Hope this helps anyone out there with a O2 sensor heater shorted to Battery plus issue.
  17. Sounds like they are just going by the repair manual. Replace ECM is the last step, that's why they are saying they can't guarantee that it will fix the problem. My 97 has a O2 sensor that won't clear either. Won't a faulty check valve cause an O2 sensor to come up as faulty?
  18. Same stuff I ran into when I assembled my top for the first time. Your gears are off 180. To fix it, just connect one side. Press the down button, take not of the direction of the movement, CW/CCW. Keep pressing the button until the teeth falls into the notch. Now, twist the V lever towards the opposite direction. If it was CW, going down, twist it CCW. Then press the Up button once to get the teeth to grab the gear again. All your future adjustment to this side must be in this direction of the top up motion. Do the same thing on the other side. The gears can only move one way. Don't ask me why... I don't understand it myself. Now, reassemble the whole thing with the top in the down position. It should work.
  19. Thanks for the response everyone. I still haven't figured out what's causing my problem. Jenno's post confirms that it's not a simple resistor problem. =( I tested all the relay, and they all work fine. For anyone out there who needs to test their radiator fan relay, it's the same relay type as the horn. (position 10). I just swapped the relay from the fan to the horn and honked the horn (I'm sure my neighbors loved that). If it's broken, the horn will not work. Back to my quest.
  20. Thanks for the picture, Loren! Joe, do you recall if your left fan turned on when you turned on the AC? I was looking at the description of operation for the fan. It said low speed should turn on if the AC is on. Then, I looked at the wiring diagram, I don't see how the resistor can be bypassed when AC is on. I'm starting to think my problem is not the resistor. I might splice the resistor anyway, to check if I have an open circuit.
  21. Hi Joe, Did you find out if there was a test spec for the resistor? Also, I would you happen to know the part number. Of course, I just removed and re-install my front bumper over the weekend! Oh well, it wasn't that bad to remove it. Thanks again!
  22. I agree with Frenchy. Make sure you take into account the total cost of the car. Can you do stuff yourself? If not, give the dealers a call and ask how much the schedule maintenance is. Also, budget it tire replacement, they're not cheap. I've seen high mileage cars go for mid to low teens. They are tempting, but consider the cost of the maintenance for these cars are pretty high. Reliabilty wise. I have a '97 with 47K miles on it. The list of I problems I've had since I bought it in '01 are: 1) Window regulator, driver's side $800 (I think) 2) CE light on (150 for the dealer to reset, still not fixed) 3) 2 O2 sensors ($300 DIY) 4) Coolant boil-over ($100 in coolant + a new cap, DIY) 5) Top Cable broke ($150 DIY, dealer quoted $2k) Outstanding problems: 1) CE light still on. Pointing to shorted O2 heater. So if you're looking for a high mileage older car, be prepared to set aside money for costly repairs or be able to DIY.
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