technoweenie

ol' yeller, thank you very much for that post. Excellent advice. I will indeed buy a copy of that convertible top manual. I'm definitely not one to tolerate something being "out of whack".

The damn thing is up! Here's what worked: With two people, one on each side of the vehicle, we started lifting the top up and stopped lifting just before the interference was about to occur. Then while holding the top in that position with one hand, the other hand was used to grab the trailing edge of bow 5 and push it forward, towards the front of the vehicle. There was enough play/looseness in the linkage to allow the bow to move forward slightly. Not much, probably less than a half inch. But that was just enough to provide the needed clearance and allow us to raise the top the rest of the way. If this were to happen again I don't see it being a two man job. There were two of today cause I didn't know what was going to work, wanted to be careful and wanted a second set of eyes to spot anything I was overlooking. Now that I know the trick that works on my car I think I could push forward on one side then walk around to do the same on the other side. Obviously that's a "maybe" for right now. I didn't have the courage today to lower the top again and try it solo.

Two days later and four different people giving it a try we're still collectively stumped on how to raise this top. I can find no way to lift the top out of the compartment in one piece as padgett suggested. It immediately begins to unfold. Bushwack, your suggestion hasn't worked yet, but I'll keep trying. I initially hesitated to post this problem anticipating I'd feel foolish when I was told how simple it was. Apparently I needn't have worried about that happening. I can't imagine how furious I'd be if caught in the rain when this happened. All I want to do now is store the car for winter and the car cover doesn't fit well with the top down. Color me frustrated.

When I attempt to lift the top out of the storage compartment the rearmost edge hits the opening. What happened or am I doing something wrong?

There are manual release levers for the tonneau cover. This allows you to manually pop the cover and raise the convertible top if your battery goes dead (the electric release switch obviously won't work). Frankly, I didn't even know the car had them until I discovered them by accident. They are inside the two storage compartments. An orange release lever is located at the very top of each compartment. The first thing you'll notice when you find them is how much slop there is. And, how much noise that slop produces, which explains the rattle I often hear. The release levers are bouncing up and down on the release electric solenoids. Easy fix. Open the tonneau cover and look down into the carpeted openings. You'll see the orange manual release levers and the source of the rattle. A little piece of foam between the lever and the solenoid takes care of it.

raleets, that's a great link. Now if I get a passenger complaint, "Hey, where do I put my drink?" I can suggest they buy their own damn holder.

Here's my solution for adding a cup holder to my '90 Convertible. It even has a production look to it. To use it I merely lift out the ash tray and cigarette lighter and pop this in. It's extremely stable. I made the entire base from lumber using a table saw.

Tada! I am one happy camper. I got the new TPS installed this morning and the engine purrs like a kitten. It now idles smoothly at 750 rpm and no longer hunts. Thanks to all that contributed help and advice. The least I can do is return the favor by writing up my trick for the resistor network I used to verify it was the TPS causing the problem. I'll make that this weekend's project.

Good news, bad news. First the good. Instead of plugging in a new TPS, and being the electrical geek that I am, I created a resistor network (voltage divider) to simulate a TPS. I plugged that into the harness. TPS voltage was 0.46 (both by measurement with a multimeter and as displayed by Ed01). I held my breath and started the engine (cold). The idle was stable around 1000 rpm. When the engine warmed up and went closed loop the idle dropped down to 750 rpm. So far so good. 5 minutes later the idle was still stable. No hunting whatsoever. Outstanding. The experiment was a success. If the ecm sees a stable TPS voltage the engine idles just as should. That definitively points to the old TPS being erratic. As further confimation, I turned off the engine and plugged the harness back into the old TPS. I restarted the engine and the idle speed hunting resumed. Now for the bad news. I cannot get the old TPS off to replace it! How can two little screws be so stubborn. A half hour of fighting with them and I've got skinned knuckles but haven't been able to break either of them loose. I haven't given up but thought the followers of this thread would appreciate the update.

Ronnie, I like your idea of substitution. Here's what I'm thinking. Before removing the existing TPS, simply plug a new one into the harness. With key on, engine not running, I'd move the lever to achieve a valid TPS voltage corresponding to idle, e.g., 0.40 volts displayed in Ed01. This would mimic a fixed TPS position/value that isn't going to change due to vibration, binding or temperature. I'd then start the engine and observe what happens. If after the engine warms up the idle speed settles to a normal and stable rpm then I'd be confident that it is indeed the TPS. If, however, I still have rpm hunting we can safely say it's not the TPS. Should be an interesting experiment. Stay tuned. This is tomorrow's project.

padgett, you're reading my mind about pushing the throttle closed by hand. Tried that, didn't make any difference. I also checked to make sure none of the cables were so tight that heat expansion might lift the throttle off stop. Nope, I can rock the shaft that the cables are connected to ever so slightly (indicating at least some play). Sigh.

padgett, the rpm is going up with the IAC, there is no lag. If I understand the operation, that suggests the emc is causing these changes in rpm by commanding the IAC to do so. Am I correct? I just ran another test. Engine was cool, not cold (60 degrees C). TPS reading was 0.44 volts and the rpm was 760-780. I never touched the accelerator. As I was cycling thru the diagnostic readouts to get to Ed22 to see what the IAC reading was, the rpm was already starting to increase. I went back to Ed01 to look at TPS to make sure it was still at 0.44. It wasn't. It was bouncing around between 0.60-0.80.

Ronnie, with engine off TPS reading does increase smoothly as I slowly press the accelerator. The initial value, however, is not the same depending on how warm the engine is. If I run the test cold the reading is often in spec (around 0.40 volts). If I warm up the engine and then turn it off, the TPS still increases smoothly as I slowly press the accelerator but the initial value is way too high (0.78-1.00 volts). wws944, it hunts whether the engine is cold or hot. However, it's not as apparent when cold since normal idle speed cold starts higher to begin with. Cold start idle is initially stable at 1050 rpm. Then as engine warms up the idle speed slowly drops to 900 rpm and then drifts upwards to 1500 rpm, back down to 1000, then it's anyone's guess where it will go.

1990 Coupe. Symptom is an idle speed that hunts and is often high (1000-1500rpm). Throttle body has been cleaned and IAC replaced. Here's why I suspect the throttle position sensor (TPS): If I go into diagnostic mode and monitor Ed01 (TPS voltage) it fluctuates greatly. With engine off, foot off accelerator, it varies between 0.40-0.46 (not bad). But when the engine is started it jumps around from .48-1.04. I'm guessing engine vibration is causing the wiper within the TPS to move around on a worn spot. The hunting rpm would then be a result of the ecm falsely thinking the throttle has been moved and commands the IAC to react accordingly. If I monitor Ed22 (IAC position) it is indeed rising and lowering as the TPS voltage fluctuates. Am I on the right track here? The TPS looks a bit tricky to replace but if that's what it takes to get a stable TPS voltage at idle I'll tackle it. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

After the second short-lived rebuild of the sunroof I need to make the choice between several options. I won't rebuild the existing mechanism again, it's too far gone (trust me on that). Option 1 is to manually close the sunroof and leave it that way. That's certainly the easiest but admits defeat. Option 2 is to start over with an RX-7 mechanism, rebuild that and do the necessary modifications. Option 3 is to eliminate the mechanism completely, permanently mount the sunroof panel in the roof opening (so it simulates a non-sunroof vehicle) and install a flip-up moonroof. Has anyone gone the route of Option 3? It seems like a viable alternative since the existing headliner is already shaped for a roof opening. Instead of the troublesome sliding sunroof it'd be a fixed/flip-up moonroof.