Southern_Hospitality

hey guys, i really need your help. my top motor is not working. this issue occurred two wknds ago so i took the car to a restoration shop to have motor checked out this past friday.

first off, he plugs some wires to a used motor to show me that it created a spark. then he ran the same wires to my motor, and there was no spark. he claims that is a sign that my top motor is going bad??? who am i to say he's wrong, i'm no expert...

so, he attempts to sell me a used top motor w/ installation for $250. After seeing the expression on my face, he immediately drops the price to $200. There was no way I would pay that kind of money for a used, unwarrented motor when I buy a new one for $300.

well, i decided to hold off on the motor and asked him to check my battery under the hood. after playing around with the battery and some other thing (looks like a small plastic container), to my surprise the top started working again. so i decided to test it by raising the top. it worked for a moment, but stopped again. i'm very confused at this point. not sure if i really need a new motor now.

could someone please provide me with some test i can run to maybe troubleshoot the problem...when the top stops working, there is absolutely no sound coming from the motor. also, i notice a couple weeks ago that the tops was going up and down alot slower than usual.

i really really appreciate any and all help/suggestions.

THANKS!!!

hookem horns

Does your pump motor consistently work in both directions if jumpered directly to power? If so, I would check grounds and the top switch. With corroded ground or switch contacts his unloaded motor may run but yours may not with the top attached pulling more amps.

Southern_Hospitality

Thanks Hookem Horns. How do I jumper to power. I'm a freshman when it comes to automobiles. Thanks!

hookem horns

By jumper I mean a wire run directly from the battery, I think it has to be mininum 12ga for the top motor. You can make your own with some alligator clips and can help isolate isolate power problems. Non-fused power supply for testing only, so usual electrical safety warnings and disclaimers apply.

I think all 40+ year old cars have electrical issues due to corrosion, loose connections and the ever-challenging previous repairs/additions. Kinda like my own body. Trouble shooting can be tedious and time consuming, so a cheapo test light from any auto store is also handy along with a multi-meter.

72w442

Just had problems with my top motor but my issue was hydralic oil leaking into the actual electric motor of the pump, the motor was running very slow and would actually emit small amounts of smoke when operating. I disassembled the whole pump and cleaned the brushes and armature as well as the whole pump body, then replaced all of the o rings incuding the ones for the lines. The pump now looks new and operates perfectly with no leaks. Just thought I would share this, cost me about $1.50 in parts. At the same time I studied the entire system. Oh and by the way a new pump is about $220 and does not look exaclty like your original pump.

Now to your issue sorry, Your top switch sends only power back to your pump on two seperate wires up/down and your switch gets power from either the fuse box or in earlier years through a small relay or circuit breaker under the hood with a small rubber boot covering it. Your pump motor gound wire must be sound and have a good connectuion to the body. Small black wire connected from the pump to the body near the pump,your pump has two set of windings in it one for up and one for down, these run to the two wires you see on the pump, these wires are the two you must jump power to seperatly not at the same time. The colors are red and green if you put power directly to one of these wires at a time your motor should run one way or the other. if one of these connections does not operate, then the motor will be the problem but is repairable. It sounds like from your explanation that you have a bad connection under the hood or the circuit breaker under the hood is bad.

I NEED TO START TAKING PICTURES LIKE ROB

Hope this helps explain it somwhat. Mine was on my 72

brown7373

How good are the top switches on these cars? I ask that because I am more familiar with the top switches on Pontiacs like my 70 Bonneville that are notorious for going bad. The switches for GTO/LeMans are the same as my Bonneville, and have the same issue. The switch on my 72 Cutlass looks externally totally different than the Pontiac switch, but the guts may be similar. Pontiac switches have what almost look like breaker points. One set for up, one set for down. And they tend to burn, make poor contact and the switch fails. I haven't heard that the Olds switch is a problem, but if it burns and makes poor contact, that would kill the motor, and maybe cause it to operate intermittently for a while.

MDchanic

They're all the same switch.

GM probably saved about 85¢ a car by running high current straight through the switch, rather than through a relay.

- Eric