Hey there, I just bought a new daily yesterday. An 05 6spd black roadster. I'm in love. I'm experiencing something weird with the top though. At the dealer, the car top opened and closed just fine. It was really neat. As soon as i drove it off the lot it stopped working. First, i was closing the top and it took forever, then suddenly went really fast and slammed down closed. Now it doesn't move at all. I hear the motor running to try and move it but it doesn't move at all. I'm so lucky i found the tool to open it manually in the trunk. So far i've just been doing that....I know it has the potential to work as it was demonstrated right in front of me just yesterday.

Here is what i've been doing to try and open the top powered.
1)unlatch top, push up, windows go down.
2)press the open top switch, rear window unlatches then motor just whirrs.

If i am trying to close the top powered after manually putting it down. all that happens is the tonneau pops up, thats it.

thats it. The vertical divider in the trunk is latched correctly and the trunk lock is engaging. Almost ripped off the handle trying to figure that one out.

 

Have you checked the fluid level in the pump ?

 

It's probably worth looking at the fluid level in the reservoir. Just remove the little fasteners on the driver's side of the inside of the trunk and pull the trunk liner back. Shine a flashlight back in there and see if the fluid level is between the Max and Min marks. I picked up a 2005 roadster last year that I knew had a non-working top. I had a lot going on so it took me a year to start working on my non-working top. (I don't think it hurts anything to manually put the top up and down if you have no pressure in the system.) I ended up rebuilding the two main lifting hydraulic cylinders using TopHydraulics to rebuild them for me. That fixed it and it's still working! Just keep posting info and asking questions here. There's an amazing number of smart folks here.

 

AH! That will be my next step, great idea, i do remember seeing it a bit low when it was going slow, but i thought that was due to it currently using the fluids to power the system. I'll see if o'reilys has the fluid handy. I'll update with results

 

You would think the dealer would at least give you a 30 day warranty?

 

Pentosin CHF 11S

 

Still haven't been able to check the level, these shifts at the hospital are 14 hours plus and i haven't been able to do anything other than work and sleep. Today though i came outside to the parking lot during break and found a dark colored leak behind my right rear wheel! I looked under neath the car and sure enough near the wheel well towards the corner there was a droplet just waiting to drip. It was a very small puddle but if i had to guess i would assume it's a leak coming from one of the cylinders to move the top? I won't know for sure until i pop open the tonneau and take a peak...