Ever had your car parked somewhere with the top down, and it starts raining suddenly and you dont have your keys handy? Or just dont feel like going into the house to find the keys but you have to put the top up for the night?
The convertible top motors and convertible ECU always get power from the battery. The only thing keeping it all from working without the key in the ignition is the top up/down button. When you take the key out the 12v power source to the top up/down button loses power so when you put the switch the signal never gets sent to the converible ECU. Solution: run a 12v "always on" aka battery power source to the switch, and you can put your top up or down with or without the key.
A convenient "always on" power source is the backup power source to the radio, so you dont lose your clock or preset settings. It happens to fairly close to the top switch also. Remove the center console side panels so you can get to the radio wiring, or more work now but easier splicing later, pull the radio to get to the wiring easier. Now remove the panel that holds the top switch (and the center vents and the hazzard/defrost button). Use a small flathead screwdriver to slowly and carefully pry around the panel. Its held in by 4 plastic tabs and will pop out. It may be hard to pull toward you because of the small vent lever to the right of the air vents, be careful. Once its hanging by the wiring to the buttons unplug the harness to the top up/down button. It should look like this:
1##23
45678 (## is where the harness clip is)
Pin #5 should be blue with a white stripe, thats the power from ignition to the switch (and onto the convertible ECU once you push either side of the switch. Cut the wire, and solder a new wire onto the lead going into the switch harness. Tape over the cut end going into the car. Now you need to get the other end of the new wire you just soldered down to the radio. Use a weight or a coat hanger to drop it down to the radio area.
The radio harness looks like this:
123##456
7890ABCD (## is where the harness clip is)
Pin A (actuall 11 in the shop manuals) should be a red wire with no stripe. Thats constant power. Tap into that wire (please solder, vampire clips suck) and now your convertible top switch will always have 12v to operate the top (the motors and everything else will still use their own fuses and wiring, so no risk of popping anything).
On all my cars I always wire the windows to work without the ignition key, if you do that mod also the windows will work with the top. I'm not sure if the convertible ECU is able to lower the windows without the ignition key. If you want to do that mod as well, I wrote that one up in 1996. Its on vfaq.com.
The convertible top motors and convertible ECU always get power from the battery. The only thing keeping it all from working without the key in the ignition is the top up/down button. When you take the key out the 12v power source to the top up/down button loses power so when you put the switch the signal never gets sent to the converible ECU. Solution: run a 12v "always on" aka battery power source to the switch, and you can put your top up or down with or without the key.
A convenient "always on" power source is the backup power source to the radio, so you dont lose your clock or preset settings. It happens to fairly close to the top switch also. Remove the center console side panels so you can get to the radio wiring, or more work now but easier splicing later, pull the radio to get to the wiring easier. Now remove the panel that holds the top switch (and the center vents and the hazzard/defrost button). Use a small flathead screwdriver to slowly and carefully pry around the panel. Its held in by 4 plastic tabs and will pop out. It may be hard to pull toward you because of the small vent lever to the right of the air vents, be careful. Once its hanging by the wiring to the buttons unplug the harness to the top up/down button. It should look like this:
1##23
45678 (## is where the harness clip is)
Pin #5 should be blue with a white stripe, thats the power from ignition to the switch (and onto the convertible ECU once you push either side of the switch. Cut the wire, and solder a new wire onto the lead going into the switch harness. Tape over the cut end going into the car. Now you need to get the other end of the new wire you just soldered down to the radio. Use a weight or a coat hanger to drop it down to the radio area.
The radio harness looks like this:
123##456
7890ABCD (## is where the harness clip is)
Pin A (actuall 11 in the shop manuals) should be a red wire with no stripe. Thats constant power. Tap into that wire (please solder, vampire clips suck) and now your convertible top switch will always have 12v to operate the top (the motors and everything else will still use their own fuses and wiring, so no risk of popping anything).
On all my cars I always wire the windows to work without the ignition key, if you do that mod also the windows will work with the top. I'm not sure if the convertible ECU is able to lower the windows without the ignition key. If you want to do that mod as well, I wrote that one up in 1996. Its on vfaq.com.
