Targa Roof Help - misalignment!

My '02 Targa's roof didn't close properly last night. Heard a crack when it was cycling closed and the driver's side is 1 cm down vs. the passenger side. I'm not much of a DIY'er but am hoping I might be able to re-align it. Searched the forum but didn't see this exact situation. Any help/thoughts appreciated!

Try Loren at Renntech.org

All my research says I may have a very expensive fix on my hands for my misaligned Targa roof. I was thinking on asking my independent service shop to help me shut and secure it for the winter. Anyone ever do this manually?

Is there a way to manually open or shut your Targa like there is for a sunroof in the owners manual?

Doh! Good point. I'll check.

Found a 997 manual online and saw the emergency closing procedure. So when I get to my car I'm sure there'll be something similar. I'll post an update....

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How does it get misaligned? How much is the repair?

The owner's manual contains the instructions to shut the roof manually. It is quite easy. However if one side sits lower than the other side, then this probably has to do with the lifting mechanism - not the alignment, so even manually you (probably) won't be able to close it completely.

Optical - I'm not sure what happened. The roof was in need of lubrication (closing was slowing down) and something may have just broken. But I've looked at posts around the world for Targa's and full repair replacement seems like a $2K in parts plus 10+ hrs of labor deal. Admittedly, that's from a small 'n' (our cars are rare) and 1.5 days of searching. A couple of people have thought the worse and been able to get fixed with lubrication. But their's weren't misaligned..... We'll see tonight whether I can get it closed.

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We are both seal gray and black. You have a great car. Love the winter with the top open. Good thing it's not the 15k repair some talk about.

Anyone have any tips on lubricating to help prevent this? I tried lubricating the tracks once but that did nothing. I must be missing the right spots.

Well, I wasn't able to force the roof closed using the process and tools outlined in the owners manual. Fri. its going to my independent for an oil change and to see if they can get it done. Luckily, no rain in the near forecast in Nashville! My amateur analysis from feeling/listening while trying the manual shutting is that the motor for the driver's side of the roof (there's one for each side) broke a gear of some type.

Were you able to move the roof in both directions, but just not far enough to close it with the tools?

Barn996 - the roof was all the way closed on one side and dropped on the other. So there wasn't much movement. I could turn the manual cranks and get about a 1/2 inch drop on the flush closed side, but much less on the dropped/misaligned side. So really not much movement either way. Looks bad - $$$

The final bit of lift is because of the uplift in the track -- no magic there -- if the gear drive has failed you will not get complete forward movement wich at the last moment is converted into upwards movement by the change in track direction. You mention slowness etc before the failure, so it seems the motor was working hard against resistance or there was no resistance and it was failing for other reasons. My suggestion is to have someone inside push the window in the right direction (using their feet) and at the same time you turing the motors with the T handles. Hopefully this will do the trick. As for a permanent fix, the hard part about the roof is getting at the parts, they are all so dammed hard to get at, even the side curtain is hard to remove, so that probable means a dealer or a porsche bodyshop where they have experience at getting the assemblies on and off.

For what it is worth, I got a can on spray grease and a straw about the same as you get on wd40. Opened the top and then spray as far back down the guides as you can. As soon as the top starts squeaking it's time to spray. If you consider the rails are also the drainage parts then you have to keep it well lubricated. Good luck and hopefully not a huge issue.

If you've followed this thread here's an update. Thurs. I tried to manually close the driver's side of the roof with no luck. Fri. my independent couldn't get the roof closed either. Admitted he has little targa experience, so he's calling the local Porsche dealer's main mechanic to see what might be done. Luckily, we're so dry in middle Tennessee I'm still driving every day. But, I see duct tape in my future Couple of car guys suggested I might see if a body shop could get the unit shut. Thoughts on that? Continued searching the Web for any thread related to something similar to my problem and am coming up with zero. Appreciate each of you who have chimed in. Inviting additional input

Did you ever resolve your targa top issue?

The car's getting looked at next week by another local independent. We'll keep our finger's crossed.

Any update on this? Just curious.

My independent was able to get the roof closed but it needs the cables to be replaced. He's researching how much that will cost. I was out of work from Jan. until two weeks ago so I didn't pursue it.... But, now we'll see where things end up. It may take a while though as I am traveling a lot in my new position and since the car drives fine it isn't a priority. Thanks for asking

Thanks for the update! There's a 2003 Targa for sale locally so I'm researching reliability, etc. Love the idea of the Targa top!

Mine's been utterly reliable engine-wise. The Targa failure is my own fault. It needs to be lubricated occasionally. I thought it was a sealed system. So if you're researching to buy, see if that's ever been done. Mine was 4yrs old when I bought it and I didn't know to check or to do it later. My only repairs have been a replaced ignition switch and a replaced light switch. Good luck! They're great.

Thanks!

You can search again and find some trouble i had with a cosmetic cover on the c-pillar. I ended up slicing and removing it rather than disassemble the back-end to replace it. I wasn't comfortable taking several electic motors out in order to get at it and I certainly wasn't going to pay the dealership thousands in labour for the hours. That all said, it's a small thing to go wrong on an eight-year-old car. The glass over head is spectacular on rainy days when it would be so dark otherwise. Enough can't be said about the hatch, either. Good luck

Thanks, I did find your thread. Piccia's thread was the only "major" dilema I found. It seems most issues are minor annoyances (like squeaks). Even if motors fail, it seems they can be manually closed and the car just becomes a 911 with a really huge sunroof. Cheers!