Convertible Question - Need Help Narrowing It Down

[CaptainVictory]

Hi gang. Brand-new forum member here. I was lucky enough to have grown up with a 61 convertible 'Bird in my family. This week, my uncle gave it to me. It's a really nice black one, with red interior and a white top. When I saw it a week ago, the top worked fine, but now I can't get it to go down.

I have an original shop manual, so I know the troubleshooting steps, but I thought I'd call on your collective experience to see if maybe I narrow it down?

Here's what happens. I can hear the neutral relay clicking when it's supposed to. And when I engage the "Top" switch, I can hear a click back in the trunk. But that's it. No motor noise, no pump noise. And I only hear the click when I push the "Top" switch up; there's no noise when I push it down.

Any likely suspects? Thanks in advance!

 

[tbird5866]

You say you have a shop manual.. Have you looked in there to see what to check when the top will not go down? Have you followed the recommended steps? Sounds like you may need to remove the back seat and get to the relays to start your diagnosis..

 

[CaptainVictory]

Harley -- I'll start all that tomorrow. No need to remove the seat; there's a pretty easy way to open the deck lid by undoing some bolts under the trunk.

The manual and other sources suggest that the problem lies with the tray retract limit switch. Hopefully I just need to adjust it and I'll be done.

Still, I wanted to look for other likely suspects. Since this car has been around 49 years, I figure there's a good experience base out there to supplement the manual.

Thanks and cheers.

 

[CaptainVictory]

Just FYI, indeed it was the tray retract limit switch. I had to move the switch and bend the little tab that presses the switch down. Opening the deck lid was an adventure, but not too difficult.