Has anyone had this problem before and know of a solution for it or the cost of fixing it?

The top of my car would open fully, stows itself in the little compartment behind the seats, and the tonneau cover would close over the now compressed top and latches with a click.

At least in the beginning, but now it's got this problem where the cover just wouldn't click shut, but instead there's a creaking and groaning sound. I had to put my palm on it and exert considerable force, before it would actually lutch shut. When opening, the tenneau cover would jump out a little.

It feels as if something has been misaligned. I can't imagine this being a motor problem as I can't imagine the motor putting out around 150lbs of force around the hinges if not more to close the tonneau.

Once in a while, the tonneau would still click smoothly on its own, but that's becoming extremely rare.

Can anyone help me here?

Thanks in advance!

 

Is the top going down completely? If not it could be NTB08-100 - When trying to open the top, it will not fully fold down into the storage area.

 

VinceZ, I think this might actually be the problem I tried to push down the top into the back compartment a little more, and the tonneau snaps shut.

The top folds almost all the way, except for about another third of an inch the tonneau, which prevented the cover to close.

Any idea if the dealer would replace this for free, since the vehicle is out of warranty. If not, is there a quick work around or an affordable solution - like some DIY tutorial. If I have to go to the dealer, how much would it set me back?

Thanks for the help.

 

I am having this same issue as well on my 2004 Nissan 250Z Roadster Touring. My situation has become bad enough that in never clicks smoothly on its own. With 67K miles on the odometer, I'm fearful that Nissan will do nothing to fix it for free. Any ideas what this is going to cost?

 

Greetings!
I see this is still an issue for several owners. The tonneau cover will not open without hitting the button several times until it reaches fully vertical.
I chased this issue for years and concluded that:
1. It is not related to 5th bow motor.
2. It is not related to the two actuator motors found in the trunk . I had both rebuilt and problem persisted.
3. This issue is that when the opening sequence is happening, the fifth bow does not fully come to a complete vertical position prior to the tonneau cover beginning its movement. It is just slightly less than vertical when the tonneau cover does not operate correctly.
4. Disconnecting the battery for about 10 minutes will reset the top mechanism, then the fifth bow will fully retract and the tonneau cover will smoothly open all the way.
5. Why this happens? I do not know! I sold my car before I could get to the root cause, but I always suspected the convertible top module located in the trunk as the culprit. Nissan made a change in the module with different part number in 2006 or 2007. I was going to try the later module to see if that fixed it.

 

Interesting. So, doing the "reset" on the top mechanism with a battery disconnect one time fixed everything or did the issue continue to arise which required the battery disconnect/reset for the tonneau cover to open all the way vertical?