Bobac455

I have a '70 Cutlass convt. and the top has worked fine since I bought it three years ago. Last week the motor (hydraulic pump?) stopped suddenly when I attempted to put the top up. It had almost completed the operation when it went silent. Now there is no life that I can find anywhere in the circuit. I can't put it up and I can't put it down. The prior owner replaced the dash switch when it burned out with a toggle switch bolted underneath the dash but I bought a new (repo) switch and put it in the dash and everything worked fine for many months.
I pulled apart the connector where the two 10 guage wires connect to the dash switch harness and shorted them together (I assume that is all the switch does) and "nothing". It is completely dead. I tried using a digital meter to see if I had 12 volts at the other end of the two wires where they hook into the short harness coming out of the pump behind the rear seat. "Nothing". I have a '70 GM service manual and looked at the A-67 body style wiring diagram. I don't see a relay or a fusable link anywhere but then I may not know what I'm looking at. I don't believe this wiring goes through the fuse block but all the fuses test OK anyway.
Questions: If I disconnect the two 10 ga. wires at the connector on the hydraulic pump motor behind the rear seat, how do I test those two wires coming from the dash to see if any current is getting that far? Should I be testing for current instead of voltage or vice versa? Where does the current come from for these two wires? Does one hook to the horn relay? I would like to make sure I have power going to these two wires but don't know where the source is. Any help will be greatly appreciated. If you can think of anything else I could be checking, please suggest it. Thanks

Bobac455

Glad no one has had time to reply to my original thread.
"Convertible top quit in middle of top up operation." I finally turned to the end of the section on tops in the service manual and discovered they have proceedures to check all the main components to see which one failed. It was the new switch I sweated profusely to install months ago. I ran a jumper from the battery to the leads that go to the dash switch and the top works fine. Sorry to sound the panic alarm but I have a big show to go to tomorrow.
Now i'm interested in what I saw in another thread about how to install a relay to take the heavy load off the switch but it seems no one has replied to it yet. Does anyone know of any remedy that takes the load off the switch? If I buy a relay and put it in between the switch and the two wires that power the hydraulic motor, will the switch power the relay? The switch harness only has two wires coming out of it. I don't remember when I installed it but there has to be a third wire to the dash switch that feeds it power. Will that power a relay or will I still have 40 amps going through the switch? Thanks

jaunty75

I'm glad you solved your problem. I wouldn't be surprised about the lack of a response in the two hours after you posted your original question. I've noticed that the activity on this board is down a bit today.

The number of people who frequent here who also live in the path of Hurricane Irene is pretty substantial, I think, and they're all off dealing with the storm. I hope everyone comes through with minimal damage, although it looks like the least of what will happen will still be a pretty substantial amount of rain.

It's too bad this storm couldn't be moved to Texas. I understand they can use the rain.