As they say and this is how the story goes: Here is the update:
Took the car to another shop recommended by Systems Consulting here in N.J., Powertech.
First things first. Let me just say what an unbelievable person Loren is at Systems Consulting. Anytime, and I mean even Saturday's after buisness hours, I would get a follow up email, either that hour or the next day. System Consulting and Loren are a unknown Gem to the Porsche Community.
Why are they not well know when it comes to DME and CPU repairs and mentioned more often in this forum is, as explained to me by Loren, they do not put alot of money into their
SEO for the web. A low profile good guy who cares about people who just happens to be his customer.
In regards to ECU Doctors, the other people. No one ever returned a call, or an email. Their chat people to try to get an answer to a problem, were well trained ,but only relayed messages that were never returned. Finally if you ever had a CPU repaired by them there is a tag on the back that if removed voids the warrenty
Reason being in my case I got a substitute CPU. This unit was check elsewhere and its has an anomaly. Hence my purchase of a second CPU unit , that was subsequently sent to Germany for final testing.
Stepping back from this whole thing, there is a very last step to my knowledge that is not documented anywhere and would have prevented this whole fiasco.
To recap, the convertible top stopped working after 4 years of no problems and with a perfectly rebuilt CPU from ECU doctors. Under warrenty, ECU replaced the CPU and I went through the Convertible top checklist provided here in the forum. The problem from the beginning was the convertible top motors would not open.
Applying 12v to the wiring bypassing the cpu, the motors would unlock and lock, the top would also retract fully. Bringing he top halfway forward and then taping the switches in the top by the locking motors to simulate the locked position, the motors
this time going through the CPU the locking motors would only work in one direction.
Hence the thought that the CPU is still bad.
The problem: if the locking motors work when bypassing the cpu why don't they work
when going through the cpu?
This stumped the first mechanic I took the car to. Apparently according to Loren, if the motors are not timed right they confuse the CPU and it will not open the motors.
This begs the question how does one determine the motors are timed correctly?
Nowhere is this fine point explained anywhere. Or, that how does one determine if the locking motor is bad? It opened and closed when 12 v was applied. So is it a timing thing or a motor thing?
This is the problem, as the top worked great for 4 years. How to determine this. So obviously the motor is bad in this scenario and its not a timing thing as things worked fine for 4 years.
As all these parts for the convertible top are ridiculously expensive I ask the forums helps for people's thoughts on motor testing and timing.
I am sure other people threw in the towel and said screw it, and I am converting the top to manual operation due to the cost ,as I can't figure out what the hell is going on. I just couldn't go down that road. In essence its 5 parts in the operation of a convertible top, how hard could this be?
Back to the story. So at the second shop, Powertech, the initial assessment was to replace the locking motors and the top motors. As these are the original top motors which are dual motors, the upgrade is go to a single motor. Unfortunately your need to upgrade the cables as well. this runs into total parts cost of 1K. This in addition to the locking motors cost of $2600. If the CPU is bad thats another $600 part. This does not include labor, this is pure parts cost .I can see why people threw in the towel.
To Powertech's credit and honesty, they they determined that only the locking motors were the issue, and I dodged a $2600 cost. Thankyou Mike.
I would like to in closing that
Loren at Sytems Consulting for being a great person. I encourage the community to use his services. In NJ, Powertech for your Porsche needs
Finally, does anyone know how to test these locking motors and to time them for the next person, so no one has to go through this?
On the road with a working convertible top
Rich
