It appears to be all about the fluid.
Update: Tonight after work I messed with it some more, cycling switch up / down, manually pushing open / close, numerous times trying to see if it would "engage". And at one point I actually heard the sound of air passing through liquid like the hydraulic fluid was making its way past air in the system. But still, no movement.
I then notice signs of fluid on the floor in front of the right rear tire (clean drains helped point that out). Sure enough, hydraulic fluid. So, the new motor, with a fresh fill of fluid, was able to push it through the system and then it
leaks out! That brings me back to the concern with the original motor having so little fluid in it. A closed system could not just have the fluid evaporate, so it had to leak out, right? I now have a general idea from where. And I'm now pretty certain the original motor is fine.
Next step is need to figure that part out; which of the two lines on the right hinge actuator, or the actuator itself (don't think that's even replaceable?). No way to tell off the bat because the whole thing was wet, but
Q: how loose are those lines suppose to be anyway? Seems like the driver's side are pretty much the same with no leak.
{edit} Answer is they're ok to move a little (swivel) as that's by design. As noted below, mine are fine, it's the RH actuator that's leaking.
Of course, I need to top off the reservoir first to do replace. To get to all this, the top has to come back out.
Which, after getting it back out allowed me to look for and inspect those Hall Effect senors. Come to find they're both still there but one of them is "broken" off of it's screw mounting point, so I'll need to glue it back down for it to stay.
Was wondering if powering the motor's electrical points will in fact open / close the top while it's on the floor. Seems like it would, according to this chap's experience in replacing these same lines (
last post on page 3). Interesting approach on "bleeding it" too. May have to try that.
BTW, the window drop thing was "fixed" by removing and reinstalling Fuse 31 (found that out by chance).
{edit} Ok, figured out the "bowden line" (pull handle below the trunk shelf floor switch) is to emergency release the top's down lock/latch but not sure that device has properly reset itself so i'll deal with that later. Pic for ref:
So that's where things stand, sit, whatever. Get fluid, run the motor/pump, identify leak, replace lines (or skip the first part and just replace them), get it to work on the floor, re-install, and hope for the best. If not fixed, then she's becoming a damn manual soft top car and I'm done!
