Tonneau won't latch
 

I've just joined the Crossfire community and thanks already for the wealth of information shared in these forums. We received an '05 Roadster with 3600 miles from my father-in-law, as far as I know it wasn't driven for quite a few years before I drove it home last week. It sat in his garage for years, so I had a local shop check it over and the only issue they found was some rodents had chewed the air filters. Mechanically it is sound, but the rear window has come unglued and the top doesn't function properly.

I do not intend to fix anything at the time and would be happy just manually lowering/raising the top when needed. It will most likely sit in our garage 9 months of the year and may be driven very rarely during the summer months when the weather is nice and our busy schedule allows for some joyride time. Now that you've heard my story, here's the issue I'm having.

I've searched and found a couple of related comments, but I have not seen a resolution. I can open the tonneau cover using an open end 10mm wrench (special tool is missing), but after I lower the top into the trunk with the divider in the upright position as required, I can't get the tonneau cover to relatch. It will only latch shut with the top up. What am I doing wrong, or what could possibly being misaligned/malfunctioning to cause the problem? Thanks in advance.

Re: Tonneau won't latch
 

Fireteach,

You may have fixed or found the fix but I want to share my experience today on a possible fix to locking your tonneau cover. There are 3 bolts holding the case cover lock, this is the mechanism you manually unlock/lock the tonneau cover with the factory tool/thin 10 mm wrench. That mechanism is adjustable. The brackets for the bolts are slotted.

I replaced all 7 hydraulic cylinders through Top Hydraulics. Guaranteed for life. Great company! This case cover lock (it’s heavy) was installed by me and I just let it hang down when I bolted it back on. Turns out the tonneau cover would not lock. It looked closed but was not locked down. This prevented the top from coming down, opening up. If I put the top down manually, the top would cycle completely up as factory.

By the way I’m doing this with the car running to avoid any electrical drain on the battery.

I hope my experience helps you.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0eNx...inton_Township

Re: Tonneau won't latch
 

If there IS no more rodent damage, you are the luckiest person in the world. Any car with chewed up air filters is going to be a car with chewed wiring.
Just keep that in mind when things start acting up.

Better yet, check the following for chewed wires.

1) The ECU box. It's next to the battery, has the ECU, Body Control Module and Relay Control module. Lid comes off if you slide the two latched to the unlocked position, no tools needed. LOok for chewed wires in there.
LOOK CAREFULLY and make sure you latch the top back on properly.

2) Raise the Tonneau lid; look in both wheel wells for chewed wires. Remember that, if you take more than nine minutes, pressure will be released and the lid will start to fall.

3) Yank the floor mat from the passenger side foot area. Look around the stereo amp area, etc.



Usually, latching the lid is harder with the top UP. Cant think of a reason for this to be happening.

Re: Tonneau won't latch
 

Thanks for the reply, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I took a closer look and sure enough the latch mechanism is slotted so I could easily adjust it up a few millimeters. That made all the difference and I am now able to latch it tight. Thank you!

Re: Tonneau won't latch
 

Thanks for the extra info pizzaguy, I'll take a look at those problem areas. The drive home was uneventful so hopefully they were very thorough on their inspection, but you make a good point. I won't complain about some good luck if that's what I got here.