okay,

88 turbo vert. factory convertible top. and the damn thing wont come up! usually when i turn the little *** and nothing happens, i hear a beeping noise. but when i went to put it up 15 min ago, no beeping and no movement. i checked the fuse in that little box behind the drivers seat and it was ok. i need to get this sucker up before it starts rainin!!! lol i have no idea what to check first. the motor isnt getting any power at all. is there a relay that could have possibly blown?? need some some help here fellas.

thanks
steve

 

Prob already know but check to make sure you have the emergency brake set.

 

I have had this happen on both my Verts. The Convertible rocker switch is probably to blame. I ended up buying a new one from Mazda for about $60. You can also disengage the motors and pull the top up by hand. I did this for a long time before troubleshooting, and eventually it caused two rips in the vinyl top. To disengage the motors, use a flat head screw driver to disconnect them. The placement and instructions are covered in the owner's manual.

 

how bout the haynes? i dont have the manual for the vert.

 

alright, i found the screw hole! thanks for the speedy help

 

I found this thread by running a search and would like to ask a follow-up question. I haven't gotten to drive my FC convertible much recently due to a number of mechanical issues and then due to a vacation in Canada on which I took my Acura (an RX-7 simply didn't have enough space for two sets of golf clubs plus our other luggage, aside from the mechanical issues it's been having). Anyway, the most recent problem came in late June when the alternator failed and had to be replaced. I didn't have the time to work on it myself and so dropped it at a reliable mechanic, and since the forecast was for rain I also asked him to put the top up for me while waiting for the part to arrive. He did this, then replaced the alternator when the part arrived, I picked up the car on July 16, and I hadn't driven it since then until yesterday since I was off in Nova Scotia.

Drove the car yesterday and put the top down the normal way using the power ****. No problems. I was going over to my parents' place for dinner and when I got there, the top wouldn't go back up (and yes, the hand brake was set; checked it again by lowering the hand brake and resetting it). The top moves a minimal amount, perhaps a centimetre at most, and I do get the beep, but it won't go up. It occurred to me that perhaps the motors might be disconnected and so I unsuccessfully tried to raise it by hand, but then I said that doesn't make sense because the top wouldn't have gone down if the motors were disconnected.

Anyone have any thoughts on what might be the cause here? I put the car in the garage at home to protect it from bird crap, bad weather, and punk vandals, so at least it's safe with the top down for now, but I can't very well leave it this way. I am aware of the procedure described in the owner's manual for raising the top manually and will try that if I must (probably next weekend, as there's never enough light to see what I'm doing when I get home from work at night), but in the meantime I'm wondering if anyone might have a sense for why it went down OK and tries to go back up but won't.

Thanks in advance.