Damsel in distress - new roof push rods and drip tray and STILL banging!

Damsel · 3 May 2024

Can someone please help a damsel in distress! I have a 1998 986. My roof went bang a while ago. I then got water ingress which meant I had to replace ecu etc etc. Nightmare! . I then asked the porsche specialist garage to repair the roof for me. I went to collect it yesterday - they said the car was ready. They said they replaced the push rods and nylon ball joints, and also, at great expense, replaced the drip tray, which had been torn by the rod(s) snapping (high labour cost as roof had to come off). I turned up at garage - paid my invoice £1700 (!) and before I left I read notes (report) they had added to the invoice....... which read..... " Roof, when closing, now intermittently makes a loud bang which can be heard from the gearboxes either side of the roof as if the motor doesn't recognise that it is in end position and keeps trying to close, wedging and clamping the clamshell shut, sometimes causing the clamshell to get stuck and requires assistance by hand - adjusted roof rods until roof operation is as best as it can be"!!!!!" So you can imagine I then said - what the hell is this all this about!? The care isn't fixed / nor is it ready. The service manager said we made it the best we can!!?? I asked why they hadn't told me about this fault and the whole idea of them having the car was to repair the roof malfunction and it's NOT fixed - all they have done is fixed the outcome / damage caused by the faulty roof! I then asked if I took the car as is, with the banging and jamming, might the same thing happen again- rods snap, drip tray ripped again - he said sheepishly - he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again!!! I was furious and said they must now keep the car to ascertain what the roof fault is. They've since emailed to say they they want to charge me an hours labour £!52 to investigate it!! Having paid out nearly £800 on the roof repairs alone, can anyone tell me what it is likely to be, before this garage fleece me anymore / I end up in the same situation again! Thank you. p.s I noted that they have also stated on the invoice, that despite them clearing drains, putting new membrane on door and replacing the roof drip tray, they state " no water tests have been carried out after replacements so potential water ingress still present, no water test carried out to confirm either way" !!!! REALLY!? Surely they should test drains, membrane and drips tray after clearing / replacing, or am I being unreasonable?? Would really appreciate some ideas/thoughts re the actual roof fault, as am beside myself - have had the car 20 years and am spending money I don't have on a car that I love but is not worth much. Thank you x

HMG66 · 3 May 2024

As you say, it’s either fixed and working as Porsche intended or it’s not!

It’s a common fault on the 986 and 987 but the folks on boxa.net forum would probably be able to give you more of a steer on this.

911UK · 4 May 2024

A lot of issue and a lot of !!!!!, i'm surprised this specialist left it as it is, who is the specialist ?

Any noise 'the banging' would be the roof gearboxes. Those 98 cars had the early aluminium cases, one of the rams has most likely come off the gear. Roof gearboxes would need stripping down to check for damaged teeth.

The Baron3 · 14 Jun 2024

It sounds like they have not set the roof stops properly so the arms pull against the little plastic ball joints and just snap off causing issues with ripped trays etc.
You need to go to a good Indie that has done this sort of adjustment before.
By the way, taking the roof off is not a big job, is a couple of bolts, so I think the garage is ripping you off.
You should probably name and shame, so others don’t encounter similar problems

Damsel · 17 Jun 2024

911UK said:
A lot of issue and a lot of !!!!!, i'm surprised this specialist left it as it is, who is the specialist ?

Any noise 'the banging' would be the roof gearboxes. Those 98 cars had the early aluminium cases, one of the rams has most likely come off the gear. Roof gearboxes would need stripping down to check for damaged teeth.

Hi Finally, at considerable cost, they have checked the gearboxes and you are right! Apparently last tooth worn down each side. They say...... The very last tooth on both gears has worn down which means when its coming to close, its jumping because he doesn’t have a tooth to push against. We would advise to rebuild the gears and then set everything back up so that its not pushing on that final tooth. So what needs to happen now? Can those cogs /gears be replaced? The gearboxes are still open on the bench. Is £300 a fair price to fix? I have no idea what work is needed / what they might now do? Many thanks

The Baron3 · 18 Jun 2024

Might be cheaper to buy a second hand unit rather than rebuilding

PeterHoward · 19 Jun 2024

They can probably just rotate the cogs a few degrees so the damaged bits are not in the critical position, I went through this on my wifes 986 many years ago and managed to fix it, Im sure there are plenty of used ones on ebay too

Im afraid they clearly arent Porsche Specialist, this is a common problem with these cars and should have been sorted for half the price, who did you use?

Get yourself over to Boxa.net