Del Sol - Broken Transtop

Hi Guys,

I have a UK 1994 Honda CRX (Del Sol) It has a broken transtop.. Honda have quoted me mega bucks to fix it does anyone know of a resource where I can get parts?

The bit that has jammed is the motor that lifts the roof. The boot will rise, However, when the roof rises it jams.. The only way to close it is to disable the system and manually wind it back.. Has anyone had a similar problem as this?

Thanks..

I would like EVERYONE who has said that the transtop is foolproof to read this.

Check the gears for the motor.. they break extremely easily, but aftermarket, stronger gears are available for it. Good luck.

Thanks for your help... I did not know that you could get better gears for the roof.. Is this a main dealer job? or is there a cheaper option?

Cheers

To be quite honest I am not sure... In the US we didn't get the transtop, so aside from knowing what it is and a general idea of how it works, I haven't spent a lot of time studying it. Do a web search for some British/EDM/JDM del Sol forums and/or clubs. I actually think that www.clubsoluk.com is one of the sites... not 100% sure. Go to www.teamdelsol.com and look around, too.

OK, Thanks Emily... I got the car booked in to a local place here in the UK, they say they can fix it for a lot less than Honda... We shall see. I will let you know the outcome..

I'm also surprised that you guys in the USA never got the transtop.. Probably a blessing in disguise after the problems I have had with mine.

Once again, thanks for your help..

Cool. Good luck getting it fixed. There's a couple of things that we didn't get in the US that EDM/JDM people got. Some desirable (glass auxiliary lights.. those are beautiful). Some not so desirable (You couldn't pay me to drive a sol with a TT as a daily driver). Sure the TT is a cool show trick, but IMHO, it's like getting a 4x4 truck if you're never going off road. More stuff to break and freeze up and leave you up shit creek, you know? Good luck getting it fixed though. :)

Strange that you guys never got the transtop, as you got the weather for it over there.. It's either too cold, or it rains too much for us to utilise it.. Trouble is, I’m stuck with mine as the transtop is the big selling point of the car, and a broken one means a sol with not much value...

Anyway, the car has gone in the garage this morning, so hopefully it will be OK.. Fingers crossed and all that..

News Update from Pigdog:
The Transtop is now fixed.. Had to have a new tilt motor in the end and cost over £700 ($1000) to fix which is quite expensive, but at least it's fixed..

lol cool that it's fixed, sucks that you got raped getting it fixed. I'm kinda glad we didn't get it..

you guys are crazy, transtop is coolest thing ive ever seen. I wish i could see one in real life.

but ive heard you can put them on u.s. sols, where could u get the complete assemply and how much would it cost?

Its a waste of money and its added weight to the car. Nmot worth it. But it shure looks cool:)

Tim

TELL ME CINDY DIDN'T SELL HER SOL!!!! NO!!!!!! dammit....

Yup, she did. Im the proud new owner. She was not happy to see it go but its in good hands:)

Tim

Hi Guys !!

New member with problems !!

I'm having similar problems with crx del sol (uk). Bought car with such problems !!

windows wind down, boot lid lifts up, tilter moves up and then it jams !!

Should titler move down slightly after reaching maximum height ?

Could you let me know who fixed yours and whether the transtop ECU needs resetting ?

Live in Birmingham.

All suggestions welcome !

thanks

What do you mean by tilter? You just mean the main boot mechanism or the wee one in the rollbar that lifts or the roof?

Nothing goes down again though, once its up it only goes down once its job is done.

You probably wont find alot of help on here as most people are in the US. I fixed my broken transtop by removing it completely lol

for the other guy who asked apparently you can get a kit but I wouldnt advise it, it was hard enough removing it, my car still has some of the extra wiring but I wouldnt even consider trying to reinstall one. It would cost you a fortune for an autoelectrician before you even tried to start getting everything else to work

go to the team sol international pages and look for british/japanese del sol clubs.. that's gonna be your best bet on getting help.. we didn't get transtop, and while I'm familiar with the logistics of how it works, and know that those gears usually blow, yeah that's about the end of my tt knowledge..

TELL ME CINDY DIDN'T SELL HER SOL!!!! NO!!!!!! dammit....

Didn't we already cover the fact that he doesn't own Cindy's car? :sly:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155447

And yeah, the transtop is cool but I'm glad I don't have one. Car costs enough to fix as is without something that expensive attached to it.

Hey! There one on eBay if anyone's interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2457614321

I think I'll just get a tank top for my GF with "transtop" written on it. ;)

~sniff~ if I had any kind of money I'd buy the one on ebay...

Thats all the parts almost...

Its missing the extra bracing that is spotwelded into the boot (and I doubt you can get out whole cause I destroyed mine getting it out). It also appears to be missing all the cables and the fittings that go in the RHS bin behind the seat to manually crank the roof.

Plus there is obvioiusly alot of wiring differences between transtop and non transtop models. (On a transtop model if you unplug the computer the windows stop working)

I gave all of that stuff away, its not worth anything over here

i still wish the US had gotten the option

Yeah it would have been nice but I still wouldn't have got one with it. I think that 'cause it's so rare over here it's actually cool that some people get them. Never saw a 'Sol I didn't like!

Hey, I found another transtop setup. See:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33638&item=2459674247&ssPageName=STRK:MEBWA:IT

Here's what he wrote to me:

"I will be removing: tail lights, spoiler, bumper, license plate light,
filler, suspension, interior panels, speaker cover, power antenna, brake
LED, wheels. After items has been removed, the whole rear clip is shipped to
you. Trunk panels will remain with the clip. Targa top also included. Sale
price is $800 plus shipping of $300 to $600. Local pick up is fine, or if u
want to setup your own freight company, I can pack it for you."

Cheers!

Hi all !

Replaced the titler unit on the transtop and all I get now is clicking to the rear when Im press the button to open ! Any suggestions ???

dhattman did you open the lock in the center of the roof after the 2 pins goes in the roof from the boot, if you dont open that the roof wont go any further!if that doesn't help call Derek in DS Auto 07796268848 he's very good with the transtop and he's in the out skirt of london, I'm in Ireland myself so too far from you, I also have a UK spec transtop VTi!!!

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=501/75130modified2.JPG

Hi,

thanks for you last message.

Got roof working and now it's packed in again. It froze after tiler got to top poistion and before lowering itself and the slides operating and pulling the roof in. Wound roof down and bootlid manually. Now boot won't lift when the key is inserted ! Anyway I can reset the system ? Help would be appreciated. I live in Birmingham so London appears far !

Love the sideskirts on yours !

didn't read the last post before I replay the email. forgotten I already gave you Dereks number!
theres a few possible reasons, maybe your sensor inside the tailgate is gone or loss wire so it doesn't know that your roof has been pull in to the tailgate! or your motor just happen too fail there or maybe jammed.
if it wasn't any of that, reset the system should fix it!I actually wired up a 3 way switch to that and have it mounted behind the ashtray so I don't have to use the keey at all, when you switch it to open and as soon as the boot open you can switch it back to off and get whatever you want in the boot with out turning off your engine! but off position must be on till boot is locked! I'm going to wire up a remote for it soon actually so I will have remote start, remote roll up windows and remote boot open and close! Ain't that cool for a 93 car!anyway but if your boot still not open with the key, then there is a possibility that your motor is gone or jammed thats why when you were using it the last time it stops in the middle of it! if its the sensor then thats easy to replace, if its because of the sensor then your roof or boot will not work untill you reset the RCU memory!and after you reset it all may work again because it could be just a computer error! if not atleast you know that its not your boot motor if it does raise up and stop at the same spot, its got to be the sensor then! but if the boot doesn't open at all electroniclly, then its either the motor or a Solenoid is gone or stuck!or could be a loss wire even!

Re your roof problems
I bought a Non Working Transtop Del Sol for my wife from a dealer who did not want the hassle of getting it fixed.
Searching thru the net i came accross the recommendations for Derek in DS Auto 07796268848 and rang him.
He is based in Newbury, Berkshire and took the car down to him today.(Just over a 2 hour run from Telford)
Within 15 minutes he had identified broken gears and a faulty microswitch in the Tilter mechanism. All were fixed in 2 hours at a labour cost of £70 plus £25 for parts. This guy knows these roofs inside out-get your car down to him-he will check it all out properly!

The guy that paid £700 for a new motor repair was robbed big style!

For £95.00 the value of my car has gone up over £500 on the price i paid for it!

Dave

New telephone number now for bookings

01635 297979

Hello, how can I contact this guy by email (Derek)??? im from Costa Rica in Central America, and own a Del Sol JDM transtop, buy the reverse option isnt workin... thanks!!!