hood problem, will not raise.

Hi All, I have just only just bought my 1st 996 (Christmas present) and am having it repainted. The hood worked fine, it went up and down quite nicely. I then lowered it and fitted the hardtop and took it to the body shop who then removed the hardtop and tried to raise the roof but no joy. The drivers door is off as are the bumpers and boot lid. I checked the hand brake was on, and checked that the boot latch was in the closed position with a fully charged battery but no luck. I even re connected the door and checked that the door glass was lowered. When i press the "up button" there is a whirring noise for a few seconds then silence. Press again...same thing. I removed the carpet panel behind the rear seats and the whirring noise is behind the round brass colored thing that the manual roof raise key fits into. I tried the key but the key will not turn such is the resistance. What have i done or better still what can i do...HELP!!! One other small observation: although the hood is down the rear deck is slightly raised at the rear by 1/2" ie it is not flush. When the hood was raised the rear deck was flush. Oh and the rear windo button do not work with the roof down but do with the roof up. I am not sure if this is relevant.

Rear windows are supposed to only work when the roof's up or the hardtop is on. Is you bonnet (engine compartment lid) open? That would stop the roof working.

As per Alex,s post .. make sure the rear lid is closed but from memory if its open then it's the same as the handbrake not being on .. it wont operate at all ... Your comment .. the rear lid ( CTL ) is not flush .. this seems to be the key to the fault to me .. the car has to open the CTL before it can drive the roof .. it it doesn't see the CTL micro switch go to open then it will shut down after a few seconds as it knows there is a fault . Something is wrong on the CTL drive cables basically. Your options .. look in the hand book for the emergency roof operation .. read it carefully as it should do something . You have to remove the panel behind the rear seats , a couple of philips screws then pull it down and out . Behind this is the tool you will need and access to the manual opening . read the hand book and follow the instructions and see if it lifts the lid or trys to lift it one side... have someone pull on the CTL as you manually operate it . CTL =Convertible Top Lid . I don't suppose you are anywhere near Brighton ?

Thanks for the response. The engine lid is off the car but i did close the latch I have removed the bulkhead board and tried the key but there is substantial resistance and it is not turning. I found the soft top section of the service manual and checked that the hand brake was on etc. I can confirm that your description of my observation re the motor whirring for a few seconds sounds plausible and that the slightly raised rear deck lid which i now know is the CTL could be the problem but i just do not know what to do next. I am in N London which is quite close to Bright on but not close enough. Supposing the raised ctl is the problem in that it did not close fully when the hood was lowered. Should i press hard on the rear edge whilst operating the down button to try to latch it. Or try lifting it whilst pressing the up button. Re the up button, this has no effect when pressed, only the down side initiates a whirring. As this is my 1st 996 i am not familiar with the inner workings of the hood mechanism so am not sure what damage i can cause and to what! Any further advice very welcome indeed

Start the car and see if the soft top red light is lit up on the dash - if it is the car thinks it's part way through the cycle and not fully open or closed. Have you tried applying pressure to the CTL so that it is in it's fully down position and thus making the sensor think it's shut. If so does the red light then go off? The two locking clamps that hold the CTL in its down position can only be accessed when the roof is halfway (in service position). Sounds like the cable on one of them has come unhooked (happened with mine last month) but you can't get to these with the roof down - hence me suggesting you hold the CTL down to do the same job as the clamps do. With these hoods its a case of keep trying different things until you find what's wrong. So long as you don't try and force anything manually I can't see you doing much damage.

in your post you say that the drivers door is off as are the bumpers. I know that some of the VWG vehicles need the door to be connected to work also the temp sensor will stop the motor from working Hope that is o some use to you! Cheers

Thanks Alex I did not know about the hood light on the dash board (1st 996 etc) as i only got the car 3 weeks ago, so i have a lot to learn. I will check the warning light and try pressing down on the CTL again on monday to see if that works.

From memory as its been awhile since ive had to open a jammed shut CTL ... At the front " corners " of the CTL is a locking pin .. there is a 6 inch rod connected to a hook .. you have to use a screwdriver to push off the retaining clip , push the rod off the hook then push the hook off the lid . Do this both sides and you should be able to lift the CTL to some degree .. after that its undoing the Torx screws at the back of the CTL both sides on the mechanism. I suspect you will need new cables but a good look at the motor gear will also be needed . EDIT .. Images added . Side flaps down might help .. link added .. https://www.pelicanparts.com/techar...chanism/71-BODY-Convertible_Top_Mechanism.htm

That diagram is very useful and i have just read the link to pelican parts which does not fill me with joy but does point the way to a solution if only i can isolate the cause! I will report back next week when i have had another look at my car. Thanks to all for taking the time to guide me. PS can anyone give me the link to the service manual as i cannot remember where I found it on here.

Well some good news at last: I tried the advice given to no avail. In this case what had happened is that the rear latching mechanism had jammed. I tried to turn the manual hood release but it would not budge, in fact i broke the knob clean off!!! I had made contact with Porschetec and he gave me advice on how to progress. In the end he dropped everything and attended the body shop where he released the hood in a matter of minutes. As he said he had done squillions of hoods and therefore knew exactly what to do. He is coming back to re program the hood and replace the part i broke. Meanwhile my car is being prepped for a full respray Thanks again for all your help, I should now be able to help someone stuck in a similar position...i hope.