hydraulic top fill hole blocked by metal...???

OK, so after researching what fluid to use, refreshing my memory how to access the hydraulic pump area, this happens.... If you see in the first photo, I took a wide shot of the fill hole with the plug removed and a dental tool balanced so as to see in the hole.To my surprise (damn you Porsche engineers) I see that there is a metal rod blocking the fill hole. It looks like it has a channel in it which may allow fluid to be inserted but it's very very small. Not even one of those flexible red tube on most spray cans will fit in. I even had a hard time fishing a piece of fishing line in just to see if I could get something that small in. The second 2 photos are just close ups of the metal bar blocking the fill hole. I watched videos of guys inserting fairly wide tube in theirs and sucking out the old fluid and pumping in new fluid. No way I can do that with the way mine is. What gives here? Is there a way to move the bar? There are some plugs on the side which may move that piece but are very hard to access. Hopefully this is a duh!! moments and someone can school me. FYI... I know some of you will chime in and ask why the fluid is low. Don't know at this point, but I first need to be able to fill it and test of leaks. There is no fluid anywhere I can see including around the hydraulic cylinders. I've had the car 2 years and many top cycles in that time. Top starts sounding a bit louder and kind of bouncing as it lowered, which is why i checked.

Have you tried to put fluid in with a syringe and tube? There is a good DIY on Renntech. https://www.renntech.org/forums/tuto...-step-by-step/

Quotes source post: 14723833

Upon further research, I believe it is normal, there to protect idiots like me from dropping something in when filling. It just makes it impossible to insert the tube to suck out old fluid. And truthfully a lot more difficult to fill. You just can't put the tube in very far, but the fluid will go in, just need to do it slowly to prevent spillage.

Fluid is in. About 5 cycles up and down and the top still bounces as it lowers. Could there be air in the system? I thought I read it was self bleeding. Any one know of a bleeding procedure? Had car on a battery tender when I cycled the top, still drained the battery pretty good. Waiting for it to recharge then I�m going to start it and cycle the top with engine running. If I�m not imagining it, I think the top lower without as much bounce when the car was running and I kept the RPM at 2500-3000. Could it be a battery issue? All else is working fine.

So I guess I'll just live with the bounce when it closes and hope it's not bad for the cylinder actuators. Found this connector just dangling and not connected anywhere. First photo shows where it is, on the drivers side. Second is how I found it just dangling down. Any Ideas what it is, or why it's not connected? Thanks.

So I'll closed this thread out with this, hope it may help someone in the future with similar issues: It happens that my top cylinders are indeed leaking. No visible leaks, you have to wipe underneath the cylinders and then you have a little film of fluid on your fingers. The bounce is not from fluid leaking out, but from air getting in, thus the bounce due to air in the system. I am removing them myself and sending them to get rebuilt. After much searching I found good DIY's (surprisingly easy) for removal and replacement. Also a great place to have them fixed at a great price. Craig also takes your call ASAP should you have any problems. It seems these cylinder typically last about 7 years, give or take, before the seals start failing. If you let failing seals go to long eventually the top will fail to operate. More problematic is debris from the deteriorating seals reaching the pump and taking out the motor.