KombatKing

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I wanted to make 100% sure that I could say my top problem has been resolved and I am happy to say now that it has!

Thank God (literally) that I bought the extended warranty for this car - it was $1,500 well spent! If I hadn't had the extended warranty for my ZR, I would have been paying over $8,000 for this repair - not to mention the cost of rental car for 49 days at $30/day - all of this was covered by my warranty. Actually now that I think about it, I would have been forced to get an attorney - which would have meant even greater cost out of pocket up front. Anyway, I digress... the bottom line is this:

If you are noticing ANY similar problems with your top's operation (as listed below) - get the dealer to examine your car before the warranty runs out. I have a sneaking suspicion that early model year ZRs ('04-'05) have some flaws in the design of the control unit and motors and they tend to fail prematurely.
Here is what I experienced with my top:

1. Sluggish opening and closing performance. The top mechanisms function - but they go much slower than normal (at outside temperatures >68 degrees F)
--- Possible causes: 5th bow motor assembly requires lubrication with high quality silicone grease (Primis lube gel or something else) - the dealer can do this for you or you can do it yourself. Basically, you want to lubricate all moving roof parts/motors/latches on a regular basis.

2. Failure of top to complete opening/closing sequence on one attempt. Failure usually occurs mid-sequence and results in "stuck" top. You may be able to get the top to complete its cycle if you toggle the on/off switch a few times and/or you can usually manually assist the top in completing it's cycle if you know which way to push/pull, but this is a sign of impending doom (see #3).
--- Possible causes: Roof motor malfunction or Control Unit malfunction/failure.
You need to get your car serviced soon - things will not get better!

3. Top refuses to open at all - the opening sequence will initiate (i.e. the windows go down and the passenger seat moves forward), but all that happens is the latches make clicking and whirring noises in the back - and no top movement is seen at all. This type of failure will also cause the yellow top light on the dashboard to say lit.
--- Possible causes: Complete roof motor failure, 5th bow motor failure,
At this point, I would advise taking it to a dealer who knows what they are doing and has repaired several tops before.

I made the mistake of ignoring things thinking they would get better until I experienced #3 - then I made the second mistake of taking it to a dealer who didn't know how to repair the tops themselves. They in turn took it to a convertible top/upholstery shop who proceeded to force the top to do things it wasn't meant to do - thereby bending certain roof bows and stretching the top in ways that caused it to begin to separate. In order to "fix" this, the body shop decided to bend the A-pillar of my car towards the roof a couple of degrees... Needless to say this didn't fix the problem and opened up an entirely new can of worms... for instance - now when the top went down the hard cover would
not latch down over the compressed soft top (an obvious sign it was bent to me... but it took them a while to figure that out).

Finally, last month, my dealer hired a tech named Nick who had repaired over 30 ZRs with similar problems... Nick took 28 days to undo the damage done to my car - re-align everything - bend the A-pillar back, and make all the necessary adjustments. The short version is they had to replace my entire roof assembly, the top itself, and all the motors, control units, trim pieces, windshield liner, roof latch covers, etc.

So... the bottom line is this - get the extended warranty - and get help early if you notice any of these problems happening with your ZR. My dealer is Mossy Nissan in San Diego, CA. My service reps name is Mark Bowman - he is honest and an all around great guy. Frankly - he is the reason I did not get an attorney after all the things they did to my car - but I have my baby back now - and everything works great again!



~KK

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions - I have ALOT of useful info and contact numbers, etc.

This is the previous thread with some pics and more details of my saga...

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ht=top+problem

chicagokid

iTrader: (1)

Glad to hear they got it fixed.

Is the top and motors covered under the normal 3 year warranty since my car is only 2007?

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Holy Sh*t thats crazy... I'm glad to hear its all sorted out! Thanks for posting this too, good info that may save some of our asses in the future.

sluggoZ

iTrader: (129)

I appreciate you sharing your experiences....

kenpo_350Z

iTrader: (15)

+1 thanks for the information. I think this is one of the biggest worries for any of us ZR owners. That sounds like a horrible time for you! Now you can relax and really enjoy your ZR!

gregom

iTrader: (3)

Someone effin' sticky this biyotch!

KombatKing

The top itself technically isn't covered; however if the top gets prematurely worn or begins to seperate then most dealers will replace it under warranty. Just make sure if you have to replace the roof you send it to a shop that has completed one before.

The motors and all of the roof assemblies are definitely covered under the 3yr/36K mile warranty; however I would strongly suggest getting the extended factory warranty if you plan on keeping your car past 3yrs/36K miles...

It's like I told my wife when I bought our warranty - if one thing goes wrong with the top it will cost more than the warranty, because it turns out that according to several local repair shops that specialize in convertible car repair - our cars are one of the more difficult models to service/repair and they flat out refused to even attempt to fix my car.

I'm just fortunate that my dealer happened to hire someone who knows what they are doing. Nissan Tech actually called Nick multiple times this past week to ask HIM how to do a repair lol.

Anyway, I kept all of the measurement info and other goodies I got from Nissan Tech - including an electronic copy of the service manual, so if any of you start having similar problems or need service advice - just PM me.



~KK

kenpo_350Z

iTrader: (15)

Thanks for the help. I hope I won't need it

maxpowers

iTrader: (3)

Wow - glad this all worked out for you. I've had my soft top material replaced twice but my motors appear to be strong.

ZPHILE

iTrader: (13)

Glad you've got a fix!!!!!

domrvt

iTrader: (2)

Is that the Kearny Mesa Mossy dealer?

KombatKing

Yeah - it's the dealer on Clairemont Mesa - I would only trust Nick to fix my car and if you call them if/when you start to have roof issues - make sure you talk to the service advisor Mark Bowman - he is a genuinely honest guy. His boss Craig McKinnon is the service manager - another car who actually cares about his clients - he's been there for >25 years so he knows what he is doing.

Hope you don't need them but if you do now you know you actually have a good resource to tap into!

~KK

domrvt

iTrader: (2)

I had my top replaced for leakage by Kearny Mesa under warranty (it was outsourced), but now my top operation is getting slow. I'm guessing it'll die soon, thanks for the great info.

Swifty

iTrader: (6)

I know what you mean about dealers not wanting to fix the top problems. I live in FL and they couldn't fix my top or figure out what was wrong with it. I drove my Z to TN to visit family and the TN nissan dealer fixed it within the day. I didn't know i had to lube it though. I'm sure someone will throw the "search" @ me but what lube do i need to use?

sluggoZ

iTrader: (129)

By any chance was that Hippodrome Nissan in Nashville, TN?

Swifty

iTrader: (6)

No. it was in Johnson City, TN.

sluggoZ

iTrader: (129)

OK,,,,I bought my ZR at Hippodrome, in Nashville thru the internet....they seem to know their stuff too!

domrvt

iTrader: (2)

My 5th bow finally quit on me. I took it to Mossy Nissan Kearny Mesa under Security+ Preowned Preferred Nissan extended warranty. The diagnosis was to replace the 5th bow motor and the soft top, since accessing the motor requires partial soft top removal and my soft top was starting to seperate. Unfortunately, they claimed the motor is not covered under my warranty. My warranty agreement states that "convertible top hydraulic motors" are covered. But the 350Z top is gear driven, not hydraulic. So what other convertible vehicle could this be referring to? I can't think of any since the 300ZX, and that would be out of extended warranty by now.

Anyway, I got tired of getting the run-around from Nissan NA and the dealership trying to fight this. I ended up fixing the problem myself, and it's very simple. The 5th bow motor can be accessed from inside the car by lifting the black plastic cover until the clips release. The motor is attached by 3 phillips screws and 2 8mm socket head screws. It's a tight fit, but it's possible to get tools in there and remove the motor with the soft top still in place.

Once I got the motor out, I dissassembled it and noticed it was very dirty. The motor brushes are on springs and were not moving freely due to the amount of dirt. I think that's why the motor quit. So I cleaned all of the motor assembly with CRC Lectra Motive, then lubed everything with grease. Once the motor was reassembled, I tested it by powering it straight from the car battery. It was working again, so I reinstalled it and lubed the 5th bow hinge track with spray lube.

It's only been a day so I can't say how long this fix will last, but it's not slow at all and seems to be running as well as ever.

richcity

iTrader: (2)

Thats Great!! Can you post some pics?

KombatKing

Wow - nice job man! I'm not sure why they covered my 5th bow motor under warranty and didn't cover yours... I do the have the Security Gold + Preferred so maybe it's a listed part in that warranty.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter if your repair works just as well. This may be the best form of preventative maintenance for top related problems to date.



~KK