How to Fix Top Pulldown that Cycles Continuously

[c5 rv]

When putting the car away yesterday, the pulldown cycled down and up continuously with the J-hook engaged. I disengaged the latch, cycled the pulldown down, left J-hook unhooked, covered the car, and cursed the top under my breath.

Today I reviewed the shop manual and old threads here about adjusting the pulldown motor to stop the cycling. Repair steps:

- Enter the garage armed with a beer and a flashlight.
- Cycle the pulldown and limit switches (aka poke around) until the pulldown switch won't function.
- Lower the top until the J-hook contacts the latch, allowing the motor to cycle.
- When the latch reaches the top, lift the top and slam it down.
- Pulldown motor pulls the top down and stops correctly. Problem solved.
- Shrug shoulders and drink beer.

I'm pretty sure this "repair" will hold at least until I put the top down again.

[babylac89]

Mine had been doing the exact same thing for years and I would finagle it like you did each time to try and lock it it place. I was lucky enough to be a a Meet last month at the Reagan Library and Tom Rohner was there. He owns the Allante Store in San Diego, and Tom obviously knew exactly what the problem was, and made a slight adjustment with a screwdriver, and I have never had the problem again. So it is obviously a very minor problem, but if you don't know how to adjust it properly, then it becomes a very large annoyance!

Peace,

Chief

[c5 rv]

Ah, yes, the screwdriver is another one of my favorite, um, diagnostic tools. It has both the poking around end and larger whacking end. It's convenient that they come in larger sizes for more stubborn jobs.

[babylac89]

As the old saying goes..."If it moves, use Duck Tape...if it doesn't use WD-40!"

Chief

[carnut]

If you look straight down at the pull down motor, you will see a black lever that follows the J hook down. That spring loaded lever MUST be parallel and very close to the pull down latch ( within 1/32 " ) that grabs the J hook. Most are bent back towards the trunk lid and will allow
this lever to move away from the J hook once its in the pull down latch. This will cause the pull down to never get a good ground and it will continue to cycle. What Tom did with the screw driver was to gently bend this lever forward to parallel the pull down I presume.

[babylac89]

Originally Posted by carnut

If you look straight down at the pull down motor, you will see a black lever that follows the J hook down. That spring loaded lever MUST be parallel and very close to the pull down latch ( within 1/32 " ) that grabs the J hook. Most are bent back towards the trunk lid and will allow this lever to move away from the J hook once its in the pull down latch. This will cause the pull down to never get a good ground and it will continue to cycle. What Tom did with the screw driver was to gently bend this lever forward to parallel the pull down I presume.

Thanks!!! I had absolutely no idea what he did, all I knew is that it took him about three minutes to fix it and it works perfectly now!

Chief

[c5 rv]

Thanks, again. I'll have to inspect mine the next time I have the top down. I'll also have make sure I have beer in the fridge.

[babylac89]

FYI...If you're a member of the Allante Club of America, there is a complete article dedicated to the convertible top in this month's issue. It's totally informative and I now have a more thorough understanding of how this whole convertible top mechanism works. It even covers changing the entire motor all together with step by step instructions.

Peace,

Chief

[billc83]

Great advice from carnut, as usual.

[c5 rv]

The "black lever" adjustment worked as advertised. I noticed that it was easier to get leverage on it if I used the pulldown switch to lower the latch. Thanks!

[carnut]

Its also a good practice to slap/drop this J hook into the pull down rather than gently insert it. On mine I would drop the glass/ J hook about 6 to 8 inches above the pull down motor and it has worked for years.