Top will not come down on a 97 355 spider.

Just bought the car and for the life of me I can't get the top down. This is what I have done. Moved both seat all the way forward and unlatch the top and pulled it back and opended both doors and check the fluid level and its at the max line. I'm using the emergence switch and you can hear the pump running but the top is not moving. The motor is not acting like its under a load.

Oh, and the windows are open aswell.

TIA
Rich

 

Welcome to the most finicky automatic top in the automotive world.

1. Did you push the top back manually with your hand until there is a beep ?
2. Did you assist the opening operation with your hand to see if it could get passed a sticky point?
3. Did you check to see if the bar across the top is bent?
4. Did you bleed the cylinders?

 

Yelcab thanks for the quick reply!

I think the pump has lost its prime. When you use the emegence switch does it bypass everything like the seat potentiometer? The pump is running but I see no movement in the fluid level and the motor has no load on it.

 

Push the top back as far as you can manually until you feel some pressure.

Make sure you move the first bar aft of the header rail up after you release the top. Otherwise the top will get stuck about 1/2 way down.

Is it required to have the handbrake engaged during the emergency top retraction? Mine doesn't need it, but mine needs some serious TLC and may have been bypassed along the way.

Make sure you are pressing the correct buttons for retraction....and not reversed accidentally.

Hold them longer than you think you need to...sometimes it takes bit to get started.

I also do this with the car running so there is enough electrical power to support the pump. Probably not necessary.....but it cant hurt.

 

The car I just bought (97) has some issues too - once it gets delivered I will also begin the saga of the top maintenance...

 

Sounds like you're using the bypass switch already, so it shouldn't matter, but when you use the regular switch, you'll need to have both doors closed, not open.

As someone else mentioned, if you were pushing the closed button instead of the open button, the motor will run and the top won't move.

 

Yes I'm using the bypass switch..

 

If anyone of you live in the Los Angeles area, I would not mind helping you out with your top issues. You may drive to my location and we'll see how we get those tops working.

Steve

 

You offer phone support?

 

PM me your phone number and I will try.

Thanks
Steve

 

Major brotherhood points (even if it is a 355 and not a 348 )

My top operation is pretty messed up with all the requisite problems. Microswitch, seat pot, windows, and the ECU itself which I just replaced. I'll fix the whole mess this winter.

To make things more manageable, I simply intercepted the wires on the emergency switch and ran them to the top switch on the console. Unplug the wiring block on the switch, hook up the new wires & then ground the switch to the bolt under the console. The top switch now runs the pump as long as I hold it up or down.

I would never sell the car in this condition, but it does allow for reasonable top operation until I find the time to fix the system properly. Just a thought......

 

Steve we did it. Thanks again!!

 

Well done. If you think it would be useful, post the solution!

 

where is the fluid canister and how is it checked

 

What happened was I moved both seats forward and had the doors open. I used the emergency by pass. I had Steve on the phone and he could hear the pump running. He said the pump was not picking up fluid. On the side of the pump you will see a little plate with two screws on both sides and a bigger flat blade screw in the middle of the two smaller screws.

I had the pump running and undid the screw and tighted it back up and that is when everything started working.

 

Between the seats on the fire wall. 4 screws hold the cover on and you will see you oil level once you get the cover off.

 

Interesting! Does it put the system into prime-mode or something?

 

If for any reason you run low on the hydraulic fluid, the pump will suck air into the system. By adding more fluid, it won't help the issue. After adding fluid, and I recommend above its max level, you need to bleed the system of its air and let the pump suck the fluid into the system. You can tell if you have air in the system when the sound of the pump motor is constant higher pitch noise. Usually if there is hydraulic fluid in the lines, the sound will get deeper as there is more pressure on the system to push the top down.
There is a diagram of the procedure to bleed the system on this site, not sure how to search it, but also on www.my348.com

It is helpfull

 

My top won't operate with the doors opened...

I just went through a saga of blown lines, pump operation, refill, bleeding, replacement, pot work and more. My top works good now and really didn't cost me much to get working well..just took a lot of time.

 

Doors need to be shut.

 

My top hydraulics rams are not getting any oil, I opend the lines ard no oil is coming out with the pump on. The rams are moving fine. Could the oil distrubution block be plugged off?

 

Am I goin senile? Thought you talked to Steve and got it working?

 

It works part way "95%" I noticed the fluid level was low and stopped to prevent air from getting into the lines. Added more fluid and I found out there is a bleeder on the bottom that needs bleed to. I guess I jumped the gun a little. I went from 0-95 so i was happy.

 

Hi, glad to hear I am not alone. In some other treads on this forum, it was mentioned that i installed top mechanism from SCRATCH (previous owner ripped all out ) and i also jumper to 95% but my top rams do not yet live either. checked and rewired all switches, bleed things went fine etc.. (i use bypass switch) even found original manufacturer for Ferrari who is Power packer in Holland. They too are to buzy to be helpfull in anyway ;-)

so yes, i suspect that the solenoid valve behind driver seat is not functioning properly. I dissasembled this valve (you can simulate its operation by (i hope) applying 12V to its connector. But this is tricky, as i am NOT sure that DC is the correct control signal for this. My main pistons work fine (I even had to repair leaks on them!!!!!, that was a mess inside car,, but anticipated after bying second hand ;-))))

bring us to the question: does anyone know how to check operation of this valve ???????? who's job it is (i think) to switch between main and secundary pistons at the right moment.
Corvette, send me a PM maybe we can share the pains&gains.

 

Yes, that's what I was confirming for the guy because he said he was trying to move the top with the doors opened. Doors gotta be shut.