Roof hitting the tonneau when opening

DocJ

Any further developments on this? Tempted to try replacing the hydraulic pump with one from tophydraulics to see if that makes any difference.

gbhrps

DocJ,

If you take the time to read through all of the posts on this thread, I believe you'll find that changing your hydraulic pump will not fix the problem.

On Page 3 of this thread, the 2nd last poster identifies the issue as the 5th bow bungee cord. He has pictures as to where to find them (one on each side) and explains that they stretch with age and don't pull the 5th bow completely vertical enough for the tonneau cover to clear when opening and closing.

They can both be changed for new ones, or you could possibly try to reposition the bulk of the bungee cords towards the front of the car to gain more elastic pulling power (eventually you'd have to repeat the process every so often as they would slide to the rear with useage), or possibly try to shorten them (loop a small section of the bungee cord on top of itself and tie it with a cord or a zip tie?), to gain more pulling power.

Unless you know for sure that you need the pump remanufactured, I'd suggest looking closer at the 5th bow bungee cords before committing to that repair.

Gene

Spoiler

DocJ

Thanks, yes I've kept up with this thread. Not anxious to replace the pump. I did see one post mention the bungees were replaced which sort of fixed it but sort of didn't. Wasn't sure if the overall experience was that replacing the bungees definitely fixes the issue, or if it's mixed results and other potential solutions exist.

DocJ

Interesting, looking up parts for bungee replacements and I've come across several parts websites that list the bungees as discontinued. Has Nissan changed its part or design for this in recent years?

gbhrps

DocJ,

Two things to consider.

Convertible top mechanisms require lubricating from time to time, and if yours is 18 years old ...? See YouTube videos for "convertible top lubrication" or similar. There are two or three to see. Just be careful, because too much lubrication can be squeezed out of a joint and cause top stains.

There are a couple of Nissan Parts suppliers online that show the 5th bow bungee cords and pricing out of the USA., Findlay Nissan Parts (Indiana) and Nissan USA eSTORE Parts. Both ask for the year, model, trim level, and then have you go through exploded diagrams of the car.

It can be tricky, but with patience, I came up with the bungee cord part numbers as 971F8 and 971F9 (rt and lt) and a price of $9.08 at the one and $121.91 on the other site just today. Go figure, but still cheaper than a new pump assembly by a long shot.

Myself, if I find the bungee problem gets to the point where it drives me crazy, I'll search for suppliers/manufacturers of bungee cord products, and see if I can come up with something similar, that can be retrofitted to the existing hardware. With the top partially opened, since you can slide the bungee cord forward and back, one should be able to fasten a made up bungee of similar design to its existing metal ends without having to take the top apart.

I'll cross that bridge when it becomes necessary.

Gene

ReeceZ

Hi all,

I've been experiencing this problem as well. However, when I open my top for the first time during the day, the cover will hit the soft top, and when the soft top starts it's motion to fold and go into the storage bin, the soft top stops. The only thing I can do then is to close the soft top from that halted position, then re-open. When I re-open the soft top, there's almost no impact on the soft top, and the the soft top folds away as normal. Can you guys offer any other advice on this issue?
My assumption is that the impact from the cover hitting the soft top is causing the operation to stall when the top is trying to fold away.

gbhrps

ReeceZ,

From your description it sounds like you may have a frayed wire to a sail switch (switches at the ends of each hydraulic ram that signal the ram is at full extension or fully retracted), or a corroded/bad connection. The tonneau cover striking the folded top jars the connection completing the circuit?

If you think this may be the case, download the FSM from this site and research where to look for the wiring to the sail switches. You may have to remove the inner top lining to get at some of them, and that is in the FSM as well.

I'm not certain this is your issue, but its a good place to start, as others here have found frayed wires in the folding top mechanism and correcting them has cured their top problem. Good Luck!

Gene

opruitt

My left (driver's side) rail has been hitting again for a couple of months. It's just automatic for me now to reach back with my left arm, while in the car, and pull the back bottom of the top up that extra 2-3 inches so it doesn't hit. lol

I spoke with the service manager at my local Nissan and he was sure there will be no permanent fix for this. He recommended writing a letter to Nisan North America consumer affairs. I haven't yet.

ReeceZ

Thanks Gene, I will have a look at this.
A bit more background info on my issue: In 2015, a dealership replaced the hinges for the tonneau cover, saying that there was too much play in them.
Part numbers of the hinges:
972401ET0A HINGE-LID RH
972411ET0A HINGE-LID L

Fast forward to this year, the soft top was not opening properly at all. Another dealership found that this cover (attached) was broken and it was the cause of the soft top not opening. Some weeks later a new cover arrived and was fitted after they aligned the top. When they operated the top with the replacement cover, that broke as well (another cover is now on order). The top can still open without that cover.

Also, this dealership told me that Nissan has newer hinges than the ones replaced in 2015 for my car, which they ordered and installed. Since then I have two new issues:

1. When going over bumpy parts of road, there's a lot of rattling behind me, doesn't happen often, but it is there when the top is closed, but louder when the top is down << Really lost on this one, but I will take the Service Manager for a ride so he can hear it too.

2. When I went to fetch the car, I asked that they open the top. Sure enough, the tonneau cover struck the soft top on first opening, did it's stall, closed it, opened it again. I found that the tonneau cover was sitting abit skew on the driver side, they adjusted it while I waited but I just wonder if that will break the other cover that's on its way.

Attached Images

	cover 1.jpg (104.3 KB, 27 views)
	cover 2.jpg (130.3 KB, 30 views)

gbhrps

ReeceZ,

Top Rattle & Vibration

Click the link. Its a thread from this forum from way back in 2012, and at the bottom of page 2 of this thread a guy posts pictures of the tonneau cover rests that can be adjusted to align the cover when closed. If the stops are incorrectly adjusted, they may be the cause of your rattle.

You should read through the entire thread (all 3 pages) since there may well be other ideas in there you can try as well. Good Luck!

Gene

ReeceZ

Thanks again Gene. This looks promising, will have a look for these caps tomorrow morning.

ReeceZ

Gene, you're a friggin rockstar man, I've had this rattle from the rear for like 3 years now, and this recent hinge replacement made it worse. I used thin strips of 2-way tape to cover both bolts on the top and left the top of the strip still covered so it doesn't stick to anything. Rattle gone! I'm not one to show emotion often, but I felt like a chick watching The Notebook when I drove on a bumpy road and heard nothing. Thanks again

gbhrps

ReeceZ,

You are most welcome, but I can't take the credit. Someone else (see the poster who first brought the rattle solution to the forum in the thread I drew to your attention), another Z owner, did that for us.

Glad to see that it worked out for you. Owners helping owners.

Gene

xpenziv

Just got quoted 200 for the bungee and 1200 for the labor. LOL. Going to try this.