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scmack · 06-19-2007, 05:54 AM

I have enjoyed reading thru the many forums that are available on the internet and thought that the time had come to join one.

I have a 72 olds convertible with a power top issue. The top has been sluggish the past couple of years but never let me down. When I awoke the beast from its winter hibernation this spring, the top was of course up and no noticeable difference from earlier behaviour when I lowered it. However when I went to raise it again, there was no movement. The switch did not appear to be working so I removed the switch, carefully opened it up to reveal a very simplistic mechanism. Regardless of the simplicity it did not work. I ended up ordering a new switch and tried to operate the top again. Nothing. The motor can be heard working but no top movement. I decided to dive right in and removed the back seat and side panels. I detached the cylinders from the roof and hit the switch again with no load on the cylinders. Lo and behold they started to move. They did not travel their full length however as the motor stopped on its own. Several minutes later I tried the switch again and the cylinders would move again. I did notice that the back of the switch was getting warm to the touch. I decided to remove the whole system do a little clean up work, as I have had the vehicle for 6 yrs and never attempted any work on the hydraulics. I drained the systems, cleaned up as best as I could and reassembled with fresh ATF. A partial re-install of the system back in the vehicle yielded no better results. The motor and switch get very warm after cycling several times. I was curious about the condition of the new switch so I carefully disassembled and saw that there is some serious heat happening as there was some melted plastic around one of the contacts.

My question is, what is causing this excessive heat? Is the motor/pump on its last legs and working to hard and therefore drawing too much current? If so would a pressure test on the motor/pump pinpoint this as the problem? Could the motor/pump be all gummed up and in need of cleaning/rebuild?. Sorry for the long winded post, but I want to paint a clear picture of the problem.

Your words of wisdow are greatly appreciated.

06-19-2007, 05:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
scmack Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belleville Ont Posts: 3	Newbie with power top issues I have enjoyed reading thru the many forums that are available on the internet and thought that the time had come to join one. I have a 72 olds convertible with a power top issue. The top has been sluggish the past couple of years but never let me down. When I awoke the beast from its winter hibernation this spring, the top was of course up and no noticeable difference from earlier behaviour when I lowered it. However when I went to raise it again, there was no movement. The switch did not appear to be working so I removed the switch, carefully opened it up to reveal a very simplistic mechanism. Regardless of the simplicity it did not work. I ended up ordering a new switch and tried to operate the top again. Nothing. The motor can be heard working but no top movement. I decided to dive right in and removed the back seat and side panels. I detached the cylinders from the roof and hit the switch again with no load on the cylinders. Lo and behold they started to move. They did not travel their full length however as the motor stopped on its own. Several minutes later I tried the switch again and the cylinders would move again. I did notice that the back of the switch was getting warm to the touch. I decided to remove the whole system do a little clean up work, as I have had the vehicle for 6 yrs and never attempted any work on the hydraulics. I drained the systems, cleaned up as best as I could and reassembled with fresh ATF. A partial re-install of the system back in the vehicle yielded no better results. The motor and switch get very warm after cycling several times. I was curious about the condition of the new switch so I carefully disassembled and saw that there is some serious heat happening as there was some melted plastic around one of the contacts. My question is, what is causing this excessive heat? Is the motor/pump on its last legs and working to hard and therefore drawing too much current? If so would a pressure test on the motor/pump pinpoint this as the problem? Could the motor/pump be all gummed up and in need of cleaning/rebuild?. Sorry for the long winded post, but I want to paint a clear picture of the problem. Your words of wisdow are greatly appreciated.