Seems that might post dead ended, but I figured I'd give you guys an update in case anybody else has the same problem. I answered my question about what direction the fifth bow motor turns and it's always is turning in the same direction up or down. I bought a rebuilt fifth bow motor on eBay. Before installing it she had so much power than my old motor. Once I installed it voila, the top goes up and down flawlessly. So that was my problem, the fifth bow motor. My problem first started out with a slightly sluggish spot going down. Seems this fifth bow motor does a lot of different things and can have a lot of different problematic symptoms.

 

Good for you coming back and posting the solution. There are so many "help my top doesn't work" threads with no resolution. Luckily, I've never had to touch my 5th bow motor.

Out of curiosity, does the new one always spin the same direction just like your old one, it just has more power?

 

Yes, the motor always turns the same direction no matter if you push the button for up or down. I was a bit frustrated with the forum finding so many posts with people that had similar top issues but didn't find many with resolutions. Being such a common problem I was surprised that I didn't get more responses to my post on the forum, but I learned enough to solve the problem this time.The top goes up and down better than it ever did in the last 6 years, I hope it stays like that. BTW, I did try replacing the brushes in my motor and that just made the situation worse.