convertible top issues
 

one of my rx7s is a 88 convertible. the top has always worked great, i had it in storage for the winter and just pulled it out. drove it for a few days and everything was fine, but went to drive to work yesterday and the top wont go down. it doesnt click on the motors and the buzzer doesnt go off, but it will try and close (motors turn on and buzzer comes on). i tried jumping accross the switch and tried jumping across on the troubleshooting harness under the hood. the under hood harness does the same, works for up but not for down. i ended up just backing out the screws on the motors and making it manual. does anyone have any clue what would cause this or does someone atleast have a wiring diagram for the switch and the motors. oh and the ebrake is pulled up during all this and teh light is on for it. any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.rotaryheads.com/PDF/2nd_g...ng_diagram.pdf

Check out page 97, it's a serious abortion of an electrical system. A true testament to how over-zealous the Japanese were back in the 80's.

Unfortunately, I haven't stared at the schematic enough yet, so it's not making sense yet. I'm sure a few more pissed off glares at it and it'll come around.

If I had to throw a shot in the dark, I'd say it looks like if ONE of those relays (which look to be an integral part of the motor assembly) went bad, the top won't operate in one direction. Not sure which one yet, but I'll stare it down later when I'm not so sleep-deprived :)

thanks a bunch. i will read through that on my break today. yeh ive noticed the wiring on these things is horrible. luckily i worked as a aerospace electrical engineer for our government so i know how stupid our stuff can be too lol, so im used to it. hopefully i will find something in those diagrams. the relay thing seems about right sense with 2 different switches on the car it wont do anything.

ok so i took the time to print that manual out, put it in a nice binder with laminated sheets...then tossed it to the side after 5 minutes when i realized their wiring diagrams are horrible lol. as far as the rest of the car goes it shows alot of good info, but as far as troubleshooting a convertible top, its kinda useless. but i did have a break through of sorts. i decided to just unplug the motors and start seeing what had power and do some jumpers to figure out what wire did what. i foudn what wire does the up and what one does the down (when i put power to the wires the motor relays clicked) i then plugged them back in and was going to troubleshoot further up the harness, but when i plugged the motors back in, everything works perfect now lol. which is good and bad. good cuz it all works, but bad because i dont know exactly what caused the problem. but as far as relays go, you are right, then are internal on the motors and you can see the control box on the side of one of the motors also. i am going to read further into that diagram and research exactly what everything does so i can get some more knowledge for the future.

:lol:

That is a bittersweet blessing! It's like a fuel pump that's been whacked with a hammer. It started working again... but how long? I hope it doesn't leave you stranded in a parking lot far from home, top halfway up as it starts pouring rain!

That wiring diagram is actually easier to follow than the ones I work with usually. The Navy has some seriously messed up electrical systems, especially in nuclear power.

yeh now i just have to cross my fingers everytime i drive it and wait for the day it stops working. luckily i made it easier to access the manual release for the top so if it does quit, i can just pull it up by hand. i found the diagrams in the military to be alot easier because they had wire numbers and said what signal was what and where it went to. the rx7 ones are very basic diagrams but they dont show much for what wire is what. i guess if i did more than skim through on my 10 minute break i probably would figure out there color codes and stuff i guess lol. so shouldnt complain too bad until i sit down and look more. i think im going to hunt down a cheap top motor and tear it apart to figure out exactly what does what in it so i can troubleshoot these things better. i wanna put together and adapter plug to make them a simple 3 wire setup and bypass all the safety switches and such. the question now is sense i put the top into manual release mode, do i need to realign the motors at all. they seem to work, but slower than they were and seems to stop a few times along the way instead of just once half way for the safety check. guess more research to come....

Damn i had the same issue... put the top down to just go over everything when i brought it out been driving it a while juat left the top up but put it down and pulled in the garage to put it up and it wont go up at all.... no noise no beeps no clicks nothing im stumped just did some digging with the wires but nothing. Would prefer it to not go in manual since its a pain now that the top is all the way down. Any advice or further things on this would be awesome! Thanks

This just happened to my 88 too today. Now the top is stuck at all the way down.....

On my vert it was corroded terminals.
I cleaned the connectors to everything and the Fuse turned out to be crusty.
go figure!,I replaced the fuse and Voila!..workin.
I'm glad I got it to work too,as I sold the car.(mo' Money yo!)

I had trouble with my 90 top. The 90-91 have the control on the center arm rest panel. I already knew what it was. I had spilled a Coke on the panel. Removed the switch and tore it apart to find sticky mess all over the terminals. A little rubbing alcohol and the switch was working fine.

Okay, I have a question. My car is a '90 vert and the top worked great every single time I used it, even when I got a new top put on. Flawless. Until yesterday, when I got in it to take my girlfriend home and it wouldn't go up. The switch had the same click but no beep and no motors. My dad and I tried to troubleshoot it a bit, but to no avail. Right now it's in manual mode, but I'm kinda lost of what to do now. The fuse is not blown and the rest of the console pieces in that same unit work just fine, but I hear no motor or beeps when I tried to put it up. Now, in manual mode, I can still hear the beeping and motors turning for it to go down, but when I click up I get nothing. Anyone have any references or ideas? I've been searching for hours now.

Handbrake set (I'm sure it is, but it's the first of the standard check list)?

Does the "handbrake on" light go on when you pull the handbrake (how it communicates to the ECU)?

Dirty contacts on the switch (by far the most common issue as JustJeff outlined above)?

Yes, the light comes on exactly as it should and I'll check the contacts on both the switch and the fuse tomorrow, as I also have to fix the stupid alarm and passenger window switch as is. Thanks for the tip! I really appreciate it.

How do you manually control the 88 vert hood? Mine works fine, but I worry one day it won't
Thanks,
Mike

Go to my profile and find my for sale thread for my 88 vert. On the last comment page look for Robbywally's comment on trouble shoot vert top. With a helper and a voltmeter should be easy. Worst case senario is all volts check fine which means new top motor time.

Okay, so today was an eventful day. I replaced the passenger lock mechanism (the actual plastic lock tab with the three wire connector) and buttoned it up, now the alarm system works perfectly and ironically enough so does the top. Up and down, no issues. Not sure what I moved or did, but I'm gonna call it good for a while. Thanks for the help, guys!

OK, wrong terminology
How do you manually operate the top on a 88 vert to go up and down if the motors fail, please?
Mike

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co.../rx7man14.html No pictures, but should help you out. Also in any FSM or your owners manual in the convertible top section.

Hi, I have a convertible 1990, and the top wouldn't go up so I was wondering where the bypass valve is exactly, I read online from someone that it was inside a panel in the left of the trunk but I didn't see anything that I could turn or maybe I just didn't know what to look for since I'm new to fixing my own car and such.

how did you take apart the button?

Yes this is an old post. I'm sorry
 

Just wondering if you ever figured out the wiring for the top. Mine will go up on its own but not down. Would like to just install my own switch. Do not have my multi meter so it's a guess with like 8 wires