Guest KirbyP Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I haven't tried to raise the top on my '74 Eldo for over a year. Tried this weekend and got nothing. Not a sound. It used to work fine. Where should I start checking first? Could the switch contacts be corroded or is the problem more likely with the motor? Thanks, Kirby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_padavano Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I haven't tried to raise the top on my '74 Eldo for over a year. Tried this weekend and got nothing. Not a sound. It used to work fine.Where should I start checking first? Could the switch contacts be corroded or is the problem more likely with the motor? Thanks, Kirby This is electrical troubleshooting 101. Start by seeing if you get power on the motor connector when you operate the switch. If not, figure out why. If you do, jump power directly to the motor. This isolates the problem to either the wiring/switch/power source or the motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Agreed, it's an electrical problem. Start with the fuse and work forward from there to the switch and the engine. The switches were a bit fragile and the wires run under the rocker sills and sometimes you can access them by removing the sill plates at the doors and peeling back the carpet a bit. In my '76 Eldo, I had a rear window fail and it turns out that one of the wires running under the carpet had worn through and was grounding to the floor. How this happened, I can't say, but it happened. The tops on these cars are purely electric, not electric/hydraulic, which makes some of the troubleshooting easier. The motor in the back pulls on the cables which retract and raise the top. It's insanely complex and mine never worked without a little helping hand going up and down, but the motor never failed. Get a shop manual, I believe there's a big section in there on the convertible top system, plus a wiring diagram. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry W Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I have the same problem with my '75 Olds. I haven't tried to trouble shoot it yet, but I talked to a fellow '75 Olds convertible owner who fixed the same problem on his car. He told me that electrical information is sorely lacking in the factory shop manuals, but he discovered the source of his problem to be a box adjacent to the fuse panel, possibly some kind of relay. That's all the information I have, let us know what you find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KirbyP Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Thank for the suggestions. I'll keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkyardjeff Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Pull the rear backrest and see if you are getting power to the relay while moving the top switch,the relay is the weak link in that top system and usually goes first but I have run into bad switches too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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