Porsche 911 convertible cabriolet roof not working, broken, stuck? Hydraulic cylinder repair 996 997
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 พ.ค. 2021
- Reuploaded 28.5.2021
DISCLAIMER I am not a professional mechanic, just a guy who likes experimenting and trying to fix things. No responsibility taken for any damage to your car or severed limbs you incur while foolishly trying to replicate anything in this video.
Pictures at dtmtune.com
This is a long, almost unedited video of me fixing my 1999 911 (996) convertible roof. The hydraulics were slowly leaking for a while, I could top up the hydraulic fluid in the reservoir tank, but would have to do it every few months. Then one day there was a massive hydraulic fluid leak in front of the left rear wheel. Topping up the reservoir would do nothing, time to fix it properly.
Ordered a seal replacement kit on ebay. Too busy working until COVID19 hit, and here in Melbourne Australia been in lockdown for 6 weeks now.
Anyway, the process is relatively straightforward, but maybe could help some other DIY people out there to fix your roof problems. Sorry you have to listen to my voice!
Tools needed - 10, 12, 13mm sockets/wrenches, 5mm allen key. Torx bits to remove rear speaker grilles. Some hydraulic fluid and a curved syringe or similar to refill the reservoir.
The only thing that really stumped me was removing the little wire retainers in the cylinders, that hold the seals in. Some people have drilled holes through the cylinders to push them out, which I wasn't brave enough to do. Luckily a mate of mine told me of a small hydraulics maintenance company next door to his warehouse. Basically, if you've got as far as removing the cylinders from your car but can't get the seals done yourself, just google "hydraulics repair" in your area. Apparently using tiny screwdrivers or picks, you can manage it yourself. However if you gouge or scrape the rods, there will be a constant but small leak after that, so be careful.
Other tips - wear gloves - it's a messy job. I ended up refilling the hydraulic tank twice and a little more. Will check again after I've cycled the roof a few more dozen times. Definitely remove the rear speaker grilles to access the ends of the cylinders, makes life very easy and minimises risk of damaging the rods.
This is no show car or garage queen, as the high milage indicates - these unloved 996s are great to be driven still! They're relatively cheap to buy, and maintenance and repairs can be done by a halfway competent home mechanic. More car stuff at dtmtune.com and jdmtune.com - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
You are a hero! Thank you so much for this video. This easily saved me at least $2,500. Thanks!
Awesome video!!
Thanx man... My repair shop wants $2300 - $2800 to replace these cylinders. I think I can get it done for less than $500 with this video + Ebay's CKunins.
I did a similar refill about 3 years ago and it worked great ever since. The fluid was expensive but worth it.
A very helpful video, many thanks
Nice optical illusion before the 4 min. mark, it looks like you have 2 black 996 Cabs! Good video, good help. Cheers from New Jersey, USA :)
Hope the video helped you out somehow!
Thank you! Super helpful!
Good job
Thanks great to see another vid' i hope it's fixed and i don't like how i sound either British northern accent....
Very helpful expounding the process and removing the speaker was a superb idea to deal especially with the potentiometer. Also smart move to take it to a local hydraulic shop: i did the same. Thanks mate
May I ask whats the deal with the potentiometer? I need to do the exact same thing to mine this weekend. And all the step by steps say "please note potentiometer position". What does it do? what does that mean ? a little confuse about the whole thing
@@matttodd9611 The potentiometer is part of the convertible mechanisms. It indicates the positioning of the roof. It is like a close end hook with a rectangular slot on the left side only of the car. The pin on the left cylinder sits at the bottom end of the potentiometer and moves it by sliding up or down. You can see it well if you remove the left rear speaker (recommended). When you reinstall the left cylinder make sure that the cylinders are calibrated according to the position of the arms by pushing the shaft in or out and rotating the shaft so that the hydraulic cables are in the right original position so that the pin is in the lower end of the slot and right position.
@@kevhov6929 Do I have to remove it at all? This pontentiometer? Or do I just make sure when I install new cylinder that this pin hits potentionmeter is in the exact spot as the old one?
@@matttodd9611 No do not remove. Replace the cylinder pin in exact position inside the potentiometer’s slot.
@@kevhov6929 yeah yeah I gotchu!!! Gonna give it a go this sunday. Im sure there will be a lot of CURSING and SCREAMING!!! LOL
Thank you for the film. I too my one uit now but I’m looking for the repairs set on eBay but cannot find it . Do you know a number from it ? I don’t know how to find it ? Thanks I advance 👍🏻
this video definitely helped me a lot. i have one question. when reconnecting the red and blue banjo screws did you hand tighten the screws or did you torque them down to a spec?
Definitely not hand tight - but didn't use a torque wrench either! The hydraulic fluid is under a lot of pressure so hand tight not a good idea.
This is great. My left side hydraulic cylinder is kind of loosely mounted. everytime when the roof opens and closes, I see it moves once and makes a knocking sound. may I ask if I can tighten it through the access of the inner panel where the speaker is mounted?
The cylinders are attached at either end - so yes, pull out the rear speaker grille and check the lower bolt. If that's tight, check the rear mount. Good luck!
Thx for helpful vid. What is the silver car next to it? Stumped...
Nissan S15 200sx (silvia) - bought it as a cheap drift car, but now it's worth too much to drift and smash!
Would of love if you could have
reconditioned the struts
Yes the seals in the struts were replaced by a hydraulics shop.
Hi where did you buy the parts I can't find them, greetings from Spain
Send me the link for the replacement seals to rebuild the cylinders … thanks !! Great video I’m doing mines now after you show me how !! 😅
Found them on ebay - search for "911 hydraulic seals" or similar
i wonder if once you pull the first linkages if you could have just manually pulled top top up and back ?
Probably - except you would need a way to trigger the roof latch to unhook from the windscreen. I guess pushing the roof retract button until the latch unhooks, then manually retracting would work.
Hey do you think you could do this with the top starting in the down position?
You can access the lower end of the hydraulics through the rear speaker grilles inside the car with the top down. However getting them out at the back will be difficult., Try manually raising the roof to access the cylinders.