Convertible top blues.... HELP
 

Hi All. Well the dreaded convertible top blues has hit me HARD.

Over the weekend I noticed the rear window section was hitting the interior tub when folding open. It was enough to tear away the black vinyl that lines the tub. I thought that it was a simple adjustment of rotating nut that increases or decreases the distance from the rear lid....boy was I WRONG. For 3 hours I fought like hell to get the top up and without the rear lid (which previously never did this) from striking the rear window area. Things got stuck and at one point I could not fully close the top. I am thinking I am absolutely screwed. Well after a few more hours of playing around, I somewhat forcefully got it to close. No beeps, etc etc. But now I noticed two things. The rear deck lid is slightly out of alignment where it was once straight with the seams (see pic) and when I open the doors and the window pops down slightly but does not now come back up to get a tight seal.

I am absolutely gutted and do not have 7 grand to spend on a new top. Thoughts???

It sucks that these tops have proven to be worse and more costly than the CSC.
I hope you have an AT so you only have to deal with one issue f anything happens. Crazy thing is that I wanted to purchase the Roadster so badly but after hearing all the horror stories with the top, I'm glad I didn't. But don't get me wrong, once the top is down, I'm sure all these problems go away lol

So sorry to hear about that!! Ugh. The saving grace you have is you're in Orlando, so there have GOT to be reputable shops (not dealers) that deal with drop tops. Do you have a favorite body shop you could ask for a referral? I hope you post later that it was a simple adjustment. Good Luck!!

Hi

These tops are a real challenge when they need to be worked on. Did the top light go out when the top closed or did it stay on? For the window not going back up, does it hit somewhere on the top? Did you try both windows? It seems that most people that have had problems in this area have played with the 5th bow bungee cord adj.

:mad:

Same thing happened to me this weekend. Im a little over 51k miles and have never had a problem BUT knew it was coming at some point from reading all the problems many owners have had.

Went to put the top down and it went about a quarter of the way then stopped. The motor was still going like it was trying to complete the process. I stopped tried it again, no movement but the motor was going. So I tried closing it. It went a little bit then again stopped. I pressed the "open" button again then the "closed" button and it finally closed completely.

Now Im freaked out it will fail and get stuck so I dont even want to temp fate. No warrant left obviously, BUT I'm considering purchasing an extended warranty through Nissan...Security+Plus Gold Preferred which will cover the car for an additional 36k miles (with exception of wear/tear items).

Its going to cost over $1500 but with everything that seems to go wrong with these cars I figure its a good investment. I certainly do not have or want to pay $7000 to replace an entire top.

My best friend has a 2013 Roadster. Same exact problem. The dealer could not figure out what the issue was and kept her car for over 3 weeks. They finally had to have a Nissan mechanic from corporate fly to Vegas to figure it out. She was out of warranty and it was going to cost her $6500 to fix. She threw an absolute fit to Nissan Customer Care and they covered the cost.

Any thoughts on extended warranty purchase?

Just make sure that it says the top is covered, minus the canvas of course. $1500 isn't bad for peace of mind.

Yeah, I read through it pretty good and appears to be covered. Fingers crossed!

suzook,

I've followed every thread concerning the top issues since long before the purchase of my roadster. That and hours of wandering through the FSM sections of the top mechanism, makes me think that your issue is as OldGuyFla has suggested, the 5th bow bungee cords.

These thin metal straps with an elastic bungee cord are reponsible for pulling the 5th bow(bow below the rear window that sits on the rear tonneau cover when closed) out of the way of the tonneau cover lid, so they don't strike each other during opening and closing operations. As the car ages with many openings and closings, those two bungee cords stretch, allowing the 5th bow and the lid to contact. It sure sounds like your issue.

Recently someone posted here of this very issue, and after a 4 hour dealership fix (both bungee cords replaced) the owner reported that his top problem was fixed. An online search of Nissan parts showed that the bungee cords were about $107 each as I recall (far too expensive for what they are in my opinion, but that's the car parts business). All in all, if this is your fix, the dollar damage should be under a $1000, if that's any consolation. Good Luck! Keep us posted.

Gene

can anyone suggest an idea as to why the windows dont go back up after the door is closed?

So this might help explain some of it
 

Getting frustrated I started to dive into this a little more. Upon closer inspection, one of the bolts that seems to hold on the assembly has completely gone missing. So no wonder things are out of alignment. Wonder what this is going to cost...... You can see the left side as it should be...

Wow it is a wonder that you were even able to get the top to go up or down with that thing the way it is. Have you tried to get that piece to go back on the axle? Looks like to me that there might be some bent pieces that won't let you get it back where it should be. I took a look at mine & it looks like there should be a bushing in the piece that came off the axle. Do you see any pieces laying down in the bottom? Are there any cracks in the piece that came off? Not to sound negative but it looks like that it would be very difficult, if at all, to repair if there are any bent pieces.

suzook,

I've done a great deal of searching through these convertible top issues, because I know that some day I will be there, and I want to be prepared to fix the issue quickly and inexpensively. And I know it will come when the car is out of warranty.

That said, on page 184 of the convertible top section of the FSM (factory service manual), the RF pdf. file, the very bottom picture shows why your one side of the frame has come undone.

There is a very thin spring steel washer (called a push on nut) that looks like its inside is star-shaped (see the picture on the fsm page 184, or the picture you took of the good frame side).

The frame arm sits on a 3/4 long shaft that has a groove cut around the shaft at its end. A white bushing and similar end washer is installed, and then a push nut is put in place. The push on nut, bushing and end washer are missing in the picture of your bad side picture. If your frame arm hasn't been damaged, meaning the hole in the frame arm is still round and hasn't been made out of round, then the fix is simply to put the frame arm back onto its shaft, slide on a new bushing, end washer and push nut, ensure that its properly seated to not come off, and then check the system out to see if all is fine.

Now, that should be all that's required, if ... while the arm was off its shaft none of the wiring wasn't chaffed/cut and none of the moving parts of the top were bent. It shouldn't take a service tech 30 minutes to fix and check out, again, if nothing else hasn't been damaged.

From your pictures and my research this sure looks like the solution to your problem. I sure hope so! Get back to us and let us know how you make out. Good Luck!

Gene

Hi Gene

I dont know how I missed this reply but THANK YOU SO MUCH. I am going to look into that. It doesnt appear damaged so fingers crossed. Now how a repair bulletin for the 5th bow will get that fixed for free :)

Suzook,

You are most welcome! I'll bet that when the top is partially up and stopped momentarily, that you'll be able to find most of those plastic bushing and washer parts down in there somewhere.

As for the windows not going back up after you drop the top ... the Nissan development guys missed that. They just didn't think it was necessary is my best guess, because mine don't go back up either.

Gene