OBD

First off try the search function on this site. You will find it to be a very useful tool. As far as the OBD port it is under the dash on the right hand side of the steering column. Hard to see unless you lay down in the footwell and look up towards the dash. After that you can probably locate it by feel. Not sure how you can say it is an error code unless you have an OBD reader connected to the car.

 

I do not believe you will find any "CODES" for the Softtop in the OBD Port.....Maybe with an SD2 but I still don't think so.

What is the problem?

 

Mines a UK spec '97 spider and the connection for the SD2/3 is behind the drivers seat firewall cover panel. Diagnostics is the best way to find the fault, I'm suprised you've exhausted all electrical and mechnical faults as these include, micro switches, fluid levels and most importantly time of the month!

 

OBDII will not show codes for the top. It is only for the Motronic ECU. The Top ECU has a separate connector that is inside the center console where the reservoir is located. You need to read it with an SD. When I had mine read it showed a bad sensor which was behind the driver's seat in the area of the primary ram.

 

System Diagnostics, the computer which is used to read the fault codes on your car, usually refered to as SD1 SD2 or SD3

 

I have a 99 that is going in the shop for the same thing tomorrow. The top will go up but not down. I can get it to go up or down using the override behind the driver seat, but that is not something I want to do every time I put the top up or down. I'll let you know what they come up with.

 

Yes. There are several different versions of SDs available, but in essence, you need to use an SDx to read the ECU. The SD boxes are tens of thousands of US$, so it is best to just take it to a shop and let them read it, unless you know someone. I usually have the shop read the data, then fix it myself.

 

If it won't go down, I would check the sensor in the latch receiver on the driver's side at the top of the window. If that is not the issue, then when you push the top back, do you hear the beep. If not, there is another sensor to sense that you have pushed the top back which you could check.

 

355tsr,

Did you say that you had checked the fluid ?

When i was doing car audio I had a customers car that started to do this and it was simply either low on fluid or the system needed purging, my local specialist sorted it in about 20 minutes. Its a cheap and easy thing to check, im sure that there is a really good right up on here about it.

Neil

 

So what happens when you cycle the top down? Do the main cylinders work and the secondaries don't? Or does it do nothing? If the answer is nothing, it could be one of your seat potentiometers. Does the top work with the bypass switches?