So I go out this morning to go to work and as I'm pulling out in my other car,.. I notice that the toipe and windows are down on my 2000 996 cabrio. During a torrential downpour of course. Not sure how long it was down. Close everything up and when I get home from work... after it's rained all day. My top is down again,with the side windows up. I AGAIN close the top and windows and go to pull the battery until I can figure out what's wrong... since it's still raining out and the side windows drop again as I'm pulling the negative cable nuts (this is with the car in gear and the parking brake disengaged). So I will assume that the top opened again about 5 minutes after I left in the storm this morning. WTH??? This has NEVER happened before and of course,.. has to be pouring outside for it to happen,.. not the sunny days we had the few days before this rain. Any ideas anyone? I can't find anything on the top just spontaneously opening.. lots on it not opening... opening part way... not this.

 

 

 

 

That's great! I'm glad you found the source. These cars throw all kinds of strange issues from electrical problems.

 

Having been a Cab owner and owner of many convertibles, I can attest to the frustrations the open-top luxury can place upon the owner. I assume since the car is parked outside, you don't have suitable garage access where it can be temporarily parked until this problem is sorted out? The problem with water ingress is since the Porsche cabriolets have immobilizer/alarm modules located under the driver's seats, water puddling up on the carpet can been very damaging. If these modules get wet inside, you'll not only inherit many electrical gremlins, but the car will not start. Translates to $$$$ for the repair.

Take practical steps...

1. If you can't park the car inside, then purchase a water proof tarp and cover the car. This will minimize damage associated with water ingress.
2. Pull the fuse associated with the convertible top mechanism. I wouldn't recommend reconnecting the battery.
3. Next, since the anomonly is happening when the car is not running, then I would think it's *not* the internal dash switch causing the problem. Therefore, examine the key lock hole and microswitches in the door panel. As you probably know, on the Porsche 996 cabs, you can open the top by inserting the key in the lock, turning it, and holding it for several seconds while the top opens. This assembly may be faulty.

But remember... may sure the car is dry BEFORE attempting to start it! Especially under the driver side seat! I got water in mine, and put a dehumidifier in it for a day before starting it. I was surprised how much water was pulled into the reservoir.

 

I wet vacced it,... under the seats it was still dry,.. everything exposed to water directly was soaked though. Wet vacced the seats too,.. and pulled a fair amount off thee. Left it open in the sun for a few hours (getting a portable dehumidifier and small fans this week - Amazon). When it went to rain again,.. as it seems to do every day now here in VA,.. closed her up and put a car cover on her... with large, multi-pound tubs of dessicant inside... and pulled the battery so, if it does try to open again,.. it won't,.. and burn out the battery doing it. Once I get her completely dry, I'll start testing systems one by one. Thanks all.

 

Before you totally dry the car you should try to check for damp door bottoms. If these fail and they will due to age water from the door's wet side gets into the dry side and this can cause all sorts of weird behavior mainly with the door and door locks and windows, but if left unaddressed the electrical gremlins can appear at seemingly unrelated areas of the car.



Fortunately I noticed the door bottom carpet dampness of my 2002 Boxster doors and had the membranes replaced. With your 2000 Cab the door membranes are past their replace by date.

 

 

I think the issue might be with the door. It's the only place in the car I can see where an issue with electronics would drop the top. The interior switch does not work without battery power to it when the key is placed into position 2 and the relay is energized. The ignition is not connected to the top in any way, other than powering the relay to the interior cabrio switch. What does the door have to do with anything?... the fact that it opens and closes the top, without additional power, when you hold the key in the open or close position. If it were to go bad, I could see it causing the issue as described.


Of course,.. Now I also get to buy new interior seats as the humidity cause the seats in there to rip apart. They were a little worn to begin with, what with a 145k+ mile car but they absolutely disintegrated. I can find the 8 way power seats on ebay for about $1k for both, in better condition than mine were so unless someone here, preferably local, has a set in grey they want to get rid of,.. that's the route I think I'm going to go. Everything else in there is dry and not mildewy so it should be cleaned up and ready to sell (with a new top) in a few weeks. Going back to hard tops. /sigh.

 

Been spending my online time on the Hellcat forums. Oh, and driving my Hellcat. It is hard to not walk on past the JCW and instead continue on to the Hellcat and drive it. As a result the Hellcat mileage is fast catching up to my Mini JCW's mileage.

Have to admit I do miss driving my Porsche (Boxster and the Turbo) but what I do not miss is the big (especially for the Turbo) service/repair bills.

 

Have you estimated the cost of ownership for the Hellcat? Of course, it may be too soon to know what the cost will be to keep them going 10 years from now, but I'm curious, since this is a very high-end car, how much money will have to be dumped into this car to keep it tearin' up the pavement. ha!

Cheers!

 

Since this is going off topic I think I'll respond via email.