New hard top- now remote won't work

[johonole]

I bought a hard top for my 2003 cab and now the remote will not work. Is this a coincidence, or is the top blocking my signal some how? As soon as the top was installed, the remote quit working. I went to a Autozone to get a new battery and they tested my key and battery & said it was fine. I have been reading the TSB on the 996 DIY on remote extended range and wondering if this would fix my problem. Anyone else experience this and have advice?

Thanks- John

[Loren]

Have you tried your second key?

[johonole]

Have you tried your second key?

I only have one key.

[johonole]

bp

[Alfieboy]

Quick answer is that it isn't the hardtop blocking the signal, at least I believe not. One would have to assume that the alarm system is the same for hard top and cab, at least in terms of the ability for it to operate within line of sight. If you stand in front of the car and point at the windshield and it doesn't work, it's not the alarm system.

I did the same thing, in that I bought a hard top for 996 2003 C4 cab. Depending on how you fit it, all sorts of shennanigans can occur. Heated rear window never works, alarm can give you probs, windows randomly seem to close then open down one third, etc. Re-adjusting it seems to help, but god forbid you align it all and test it without the engine running or you'll end up with a dead battery. Usually, it takes me 5 mins to get the top on, then about an hour of jiggery pokery and adjusting to get it to the point where the least amount of idiosynchroncies are evident. I put it down to it not being the original hard top (I got mine off of eBay and had it resprayed), but definitely I get a whole bunch of electrical oddities occur and yours is one symptom I have seen that seems to go away if I adjust the hard top. Seems illogical, but it works for me. Just gotta be careful lifting it out slightly and dropping it back down again and re-tightening.

[johonole]

Thanks for the reply, I will play around with adjusting it. The Passenger rear window does not go up with hard top on unless you push rubber window seal out of the way of the glass so maybe that has something to do with it.

The top also appears to have too much of a gap at the back- looks funny. Maybe I can adjust that down too.

[number9ine]

I bought a hard top for my 2003 cab and now the remote will not work. Is this a coincidence, or is the top blocking my signal some how? As soon as the top was installed, the remote quit working. I went to a Autozone to get a new battery and they tested my key and battery & said it was fine. I have been reading the TSB on the 996 DIY on remote extended range and wondering if this would fix my problem. Anyone else experience this and have advice?

Thanks- John

Did you buy mounting hardware for your hardtop, and if not, were they already present? My friend recently purchased a hardtop for his '03 C4S cab and the hardware wasn't installed. It's the bits that are installed under the fabric fascia behind the rear seats and used to secure the spinlocks at the rear. Absent those two parts, your hardtop definitely wouldn't seat well.

If your top isn't properly seated it could lead to problems with locking the car, a "beep" for an alarm fault related to the front latch, for example. I don't know if it would make your key stop working entirely though. If you remove the hardtop, does the key work again? If you use the key blade in the door to unlock the car, does the remote work after that? Does the alarm LED at the front of the dashboard pulse fast when you press a key on your fob? Does the test light on your key light up when you press a button?

Mark

[johonole]

I bought a hard top for my 2003 cab and now the remote will not work. Is this a coincidence, or is the top blocking my signal some how? As soon as the top was installed, the remote quit working. I went to a Autozone to get a new battery and they tested my key and battery & said it was fine. I have been reading the TSB on the 996 DIY on remote extended range and wondering if this would fix my problem. Anyone else experience this and have advice?

Thanks- John

Did you buy mounting hardware for your hardtop, and if not, were they already present? My friend recently purchased a hardtop for his '03 C4S cab and the hardware wasn't installed. It's the bits that are installed under the fabric fascia behind the rear seats and used to secure the spinlocks at the rear. Absent those two parts, your hardtop definitely wouldn't seat well.

If your top isn't properly seated it could lead to problems with locking the car, a "beep" for an alarm fault related to the front latch, for example. I don't know if it would make your key stop working entirely though. If you remove the hardtop, does the key work again? If you use the key blade in the door to unlock the car, does the remote work after that? Does the alarm LED at the front of the dashboard pulse fast when you press a key on your fob? Does the test light on your key light up when you press a button?

Mark

The hardware is there. I took the hard top off and the remote still didn't work. I have tried alot of fixes that I read from searches here and Rennlist; push remote button while locking door with blade, flip battery, touch blade to chin?, new battery. The light on the remote works but the remote no longer seems to communicate with the car. The alarm does activate if I lock the car with the blade key.

[Alfieboy]

It'll be down to the sensitivity of how the hard top is sitting on the car. It's a royal pain in the *** to get it right, as it's a heavy beast and not easy to know if you've adjusted it in any meaningful way at all until it's back in place. Then, you tighten it up and..."Oh, look at that now, oh well let's start again". It's a lesson in being pragmatic. I have a few years experience with it and it's more luck than judgement and never falls into place first time. You can get the dealer to fit it, then the adjusting is their headache, but who wants to pay them for something like that? Sometimes when I put it on first time I get all sorts of electrical craziness, just doesn't seem to be a great design (or maybe, given that there is some adjustability it really is a great design, who knows).

As for the gap at the back, it's normal that there's an overlap and you'll get used to it. You should be able to get your fingers under it, even when fully tightened down, and you'll be able to feel the compressed rubber seal against your regular bodywork. That's the closest it's going to get in terms of being flush. I used to worry about it, thinking the cold NY winters will come breezing in as it doesn't seem to be snug, but that heavy rubber seal is doing its job of protecting the bodywork the hard top is fitting to and keeping out mother nature.

[johonole]

I adjusted it down in the back 3mm and it looks better and is as snug as I would want it. Being on a roll, I tried the key remote and still dead.

I guess it is time to buy a new key. Not exactly what I wanted to spend several hundred dollars on for the car next but...

[Alfieboy]

Let me know if programming a new key into one of your remaining key slots works - if it does, I may just use that as the reason for parting with money for a second key. Logically, I struggle to see how it will help, but then I've seen logic defied in the servicing and upkeep of these puppies before.

[johonole]

I will let you know on the key when I get back to it. Looks like I am back on the hard top for now. When I used the car today the driver's window would open half way after I would shut the door. I guess I adjusted the top too tight but it sure looks good that way.

[Alfieboy]

Excellent news! You're in the same s*!t as me :P

There's always something with the hardtop, the **** window is a pain and intermittment at best. Like I said, it's all down to the hardtop adjustment. Beginning to understand why people don't bother with them, but I live in the NorthEast and so prefer to live with a little idiosynchrocy and have the cab top stored for the winter.

[johonole]

Yes you where right on that one. I guess it is big gap & windows that stay shut or better looking fit and a driver's window that rolls down half way when you shut the door.

I am now looking for a lift so I can hang the hard top from the garage ceiling. I have a feeling it will live up there most of the time.

[swynn97]

Be really careful adjusting your hardtop. There is a metal seam along the back, and the first spring I removed my hard top there was a contact mark where the top hit the paint. Rubbed it out but it got near to going through to primer.

Had the dealer adjust the top and deal with the pain of adjusting - next spring I had indentations in the front of the folded soft top, and fine scratches from dirt under the rubber seal rubbing the paint.

You need to be able to put your finder under the edge, as another poster said.

Anyhow, I live in CA and no longer use the top. It's a pain and I wished I didn't own it :)

Simon

[johonole]

Simon- you are just a little too late with that advice. When I readjusted the top again this a.m. I saw the line you are speaking of. I have figured out a way to adjust the top without totaly removing it. I used a foam pool float rolled in a towel to prop up the back edge of the top once I had unlatched the top. Was much easier to just get in the back seat and adjust the fit, latch it, and then test everything with out having to take it off and put it back on. The wife & neighbors are happier about it too.

[fpb111]

My hard top goes on easy and works first time. Now I have probably jinxed it.

You can make an electric top hoist for under $150. Look here on Rennlist

http://forums.rennli...then-150-a.html

Edited October 1, 2010 by fpb111

[JeTexas]

I have no idea why your remote quit working. However, I know why everyone's hardtop heated rear windows don't work. There's a plastic ring on the driver's side mount with two wires that lead to a metal contact patch on the ring. There's also two wires on the top. You have to have contact on that ring for the electrical signal to the rear window defroster to work.

Unfortunately, those rings get brittle and tend to snap into pieces. I lost mine last year.

The ring isn't sold separately, so to fix it you have to buy an entirely new driver's side mount -- or clip the wires at both the top and the mount and splice them into a butt connecter, so that you can just put the top on and then plug in the wires.