Wicked828

New to the Mustang family. Just bought a beautiful 2001 4.6L Cobra and extremely happy with it with the exception of one thing and it's a scary one.
My convertible top drops like a champ no problem. Coming up on the other hand... Not so well. Coming up the vertical line before it can flop on over is a serious struggle. It takes about 1 min, 15 seconds from the time I push the up button to fully close and 45-55 seconds of that is the initial vertical part. Someone just please tell me this isn't a motor issue and possibly something simple. Thank you very much. -Wicked-


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2001 Ford Mustang Cobra 4.3L

Wicked828

And trying to figure out how to edit post to resize image. My apologies.

Wicked828

Thanks for the assistance. Thanks to another forum, I figured out how to fix it, and I will post this for anyone else that ever rolls across this with the same issue:

I did this: 1. With the top up pull the fabric top compartment 'bag' off of the dozen or so round top nuts at the rear base of the top glass. This allows access to the motor without removing the rear seat. 2. Unclip the plastic tubing in three places to allow the tubes to be free. 3. pull up on the motor thus freeing the four rubber feet below the motor which hold the motor to the bracket. 4. Tip the motor up to about 45 degrees to see the one-fourth inch diameter rubber plug in the driver's side end of the motor. 5. pull the plug out with your fingers - OP's process was to drain with syphon and fill with Mercon V. I skipped straight to just refilling.
7. Pump in as much Mercon (ATF) as you can while holding the pump up as much as you can. I used a ink printer cartridge refill syringe. 8. Replace the plug. It does not want to go in, so I rubbed some atf on it and popped right inI used Dawn dishwashing liquid to lube it - better than oil. I also used a bamboo skewer from my wife's drawer about the size of the hole in the plug. Round it off at the blunt end to avoid damaging the plug. Push the plug in with the skewer - it will actually be pulling the lower end of the plug. 9. Soap up the four mounting feet (ATF or I ended up using Dawn liquid soap) and push the pump back into the bracket. 10. Reclip the plastic tubing. 11. Replace the top compartment 'bag'. You may need Dawn again. 12. Cycle the top up and down a few times.

After cycling 3 or 4 times, I checked it again and refilled it once more. Now raises in 9 seconds. MUCH BETTER! It sounds a lot harder than it is and once you get back there, it's actually very simple to do.

98 svt

Sure beats buying a new one! Thanks for the write up.

Tipsy Bojangles

So it was just low on fluid/had crappy fluid in it? Mine takes probably 11-15 seconds going up

mmmdaddy57

If your pump motor need refilling, the fluid went somewhere (leaked out). It is either leaking at or from one of the tubes going to and from the motor and the cylinders, or more likely from one of the cylinders that is leaking from the seal and the cylinder shaft. to remove one of the cylinders you will have to take out one of the side panels to access the cylinder. They cost about $120.00, I suggest a wrecking yard. If you don't fix one of those issues the fluid will leak out again. I do not suggest taking the top off at the rear window as suggested, It is never a good item to mess with the rear window if possible. It only take 2 screws to take out the rear seats.
The procedure to fill the pump reservoir is to lift it up from the left side, with the top down fill until the fluid is at the top of the hole on the reservoir, cycle the top up and down about 6 times, add more fluid and repeat, that should do it. If you over fill the reservoir the fluid will come shooting out of the hole and you will have a mess to clean up.

Sandmanbjj

Im not sure why you would want to undo 12+ nuts in a cramped spot, when pulling the back seat off requires you to pop two clips on the bottom of your seat and 2 bolts on the back. It comes out in less than 3 minutes.
Also I agree with MMMdaddy. You need to fill the pump and cycle it to get air out or it will still be an issue. hydraulics do not like air. But the bigger issue for the OP is where did the fluid leak from in the first place. If you had to do this once, you will have to do it again if you don't find and fix the leak.