My coupe has an annoying rattle / squeek coming from the front drivers side latch area of the removable top. When I push up and hold the roof, the rattle goes away. If I pull down on the roof, it gets worse. Any suggestions for solving this?

 

Phil, several things you can do...

1) Remove the top and lubricate all the weatherstripping (use GM's di-electric grease) and also lubricate the weatherstripping on the top itself. Lubricate the latches and plates that they touch.
2) You can adjust the front latch plates attached to the top of your windshied frame using a 10mm wrench...loosen them and tap them down gently just a little bit, no more than an eighth of an inch (this will increase the latching force), be sure to re-tighten the bolts (two per latch plate).
3) Adjust your rear "J" hook latch...with the top still on but all latches released swing the "J" hook down and you will see a small allen type set screw which you will need to loosen (do not remove)...use an allen wrench, loosen the set screw and turn the "J" hook one complete revolution to the right (i.e. tightening), then re-tighten the set screw and re-latch your top. By re-tightening the back latch this will pull the top a bit towards the rear and can reduce or eliminate the rattle.

One or more of the above should help to minimize and/or get rid of the rattling noise.

In my case, I did all the above (I must have removed and replaced the top about 50 times...and test drove each time) only to find out that it was my shifter (the shaft) which was rattling against the metal ring at the top of the leather shifter boot. I went ahead and put some leather conditioner all over the leather boot and used a little bit of di-electric grease on the shaft where the metal ring was touching and the noise disappeared.

Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

[Modified by Mark S., 1:02 PM 11/6/2003]


[Modified by Mark S., 1:03 PM 11/6/2003]

 

Thanks Mark. Those sound like good ideas.

 

Griff,

I had the exact same rattle/squek/annoying noise coming from the left side of my glass top. With the solid top on it was all quiet. I tried lubing the seal, shimming the latch with pieces of matchbook cover, you name it, all to no avail. One day I removed to top for some reason, and discovered there is a cone shaped piece on the latch itself that contacts the windshield frame when lowering the front of the top onto the frame. There is supposed to be a plastic/hard rubber piece over this cone that provides a tight fit when the latch is secured. This plastic/rubber piece was missing from the left side, but was installed on the right (passenger) side. The dealer replaced the left side latch and...no more rattles.

Hope that helps.

 

Also, the front latch "bolts" are Torx 30's. To get to one on each side the plastic caps on the handles need carefully to be pried out and a hole in the handle aligned with the bolt underneath. And, the Torx's can be gawd-awful tight, they have Loc-tite on them. Finally, the Allen-head set-screw in the rear is metric (natch).

All the best. :yesnod:

 

I lubed the latch plates in the front, and gave the rear J-hook one turn. It did the trick! :yesnod:

 

:lurk: