Thread: 11th Annual Fall 2017 - Tail of the Dragon GTG - Oct 5,6,7,8
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Old Oct 8, 2017 | 10:25 PM
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pizzaguy
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Default Re: 11th Annual Fall 2017 -Tail of the Dragon GTG - Oct 5,6,7,8
Originally Posted by ewaynec
I made it OK, drove in the rain almost all the way. It stopped about 30 miles from home. I am glad to say I did get my top up. It would have been really rough if I had not. I asked Mark to help, and I guess he felt as though he had done enough. He said he would help, but never did, but that's OK he is under no obligation. Everything worked out, we had a wonderful time and got home safe.


VERY SORRY WAYNE - THIS REALLY DISTURBS ME, I kept trying to get away, and once I said, 'I gottta go look at this top..." I was told, "Oh, they are done out there.".

 What happened to you can easily happen - I understand you interrupted the cycle and let it time out, it lost pressure and the cylinders relaxed. This is how it is designed to work, but problem is, the act of letting it time out can cause the system to lose track of where in the cycle it is – so it shuts down to prevent damage.

This has happened to me at least three times in eight years. The fix is easy.

Start the car, so the electrical system is fully powered up and the TCM is 'watching" the sensors.

Now, put the top up and down manually at least twice. You must do the complete cycle, including the hey key, so that the system “gets it”. And the key MUST be on, I prefer to have the engine idling as well.

The TCM will watch this and learn what is going on, it will know the cylinders are all in the right position and the TCM will then allow the pump to run.

Please keep in mind, there is NO reason to worry about the system. It worked as designed, (we may question the design, but it did work as designed). You should, of course, know how to put it up and down manually just in case, we all should - but I'm sure the system is fine, from what I’ve been told about the symptoms.


The reason it did not recover at first, was that the key was not on, so the TCM was not powered up fully and was not watching the sensors as you were doing it manually.