Apparently the hose for my convertible latching mechanism is leaking. I noticed a couple small drips of greenish oil coming from that screen behind the rear view mirror.

Having installed that resistor kit, I didn't think I'd have this problem. Maybe it helped to keep the leak small instead of turning into the shower that others have described.

 

I'm afraid there is probably more trouble coming. Neither the resistor nor the relief valve has turned out to be 100% effective at preventing a leak. It will probably get worse.

Best to start planning for replacement hoses. There are a couple of recent threads, and some FAQs, dealing with that.

 

I wouldn't get too up set. Mine had the same oily screen. I cleaned it up and operated the top though 8 to 10 or cycles. It's been a couple months, and no more oil is leaking. I am hoping it was oil from before the pressure reduction valve which I installed. How ever, I am prepared for the worst , should it start leaking again.

 

Most folks get a drip. The terms 'the green shower' and 'the green shower of death' are a bit of an exaggeration.

 

As I thought about this more, I realized that if the factory hose was rated for less pressure than it was experiencing then it was likely being weakened by the excess pressure even if no leaks had yet occurred. Meaning that by the time someone installs something to reduce the pressure, the hose probably can't handle as much pressure as it would have been able to when new.

If that is so, any solution which involves using the factory hoses is probably going to be only a temporary fix, assuming that some damage has already been done.

 

My leak started exactly the same way. It happened a few months after buying my car from a private party who kept the car mostly garaged and unused. I noticed a drop or two of greenish fluid on the top of the middle console after using the top and immediately knew what the problem was. The dealer changed hoses (I was lucky to have this fixed for free under the Select Warranty) and shortly thereafter I installed the pressure relief valve. I was a happy camper for a while until 2 years later when the pump died. Again this was luckily covered under the warranty.

This run of bad luck with the convertible top ended up spooking me into dropping the top only infrequently. I keep trying to convince myself to just bite the bullet and enjoy the top down but the anticipation of problems always lurks at the back of my mind.

Doug

 

SeismicGuy, I think there's a post somewhere in this forum about a car cover made just to cover the interior portion while the top is down. If you're that hesitant to use the convertible mechanism, maybe you could just leave the top down and install that cover as needed.

 

I think I also came across this before by CoverCraft (called a Sunbrella?). Not really my cup of tea but what I thought would be slick was a tonneau cover that is something like my dad had on his old 1957 MG when I was a kid. Those were pretty slick where you could have the entire interior covered or just the passenger seat or none. I think I posted this idea a few years ago for our cars and it was concluded that designing something like that was just too involved.


Doug

 

This kind of thing?

This is what always jumps into my mind when I think of tonneau cover.

 

Absolutely--EXACTLY that kind of thing!

Doug

 

Consider also that you may have a leaking seal in your latch cylinder. The cylinder can be rebuilt byTop Hydraulics (Top Hydraulics | Rebuilt Convertible Top Hydraulic Cylinders - Top Hydraulics, Inc). I had exactly the same leak and I replaced my lines with the Colliflower hoses and installed a new latch cylinder as well.

 

My mechanic has never had a replacement factory hose fail, and he's done bunches of them.

I closely examined the part that failed. The outer jacket of the hose appeared to suffer torsional damage near the fitting. On mine, the failure point was where the hose showed some torsional bulging.

So I'm not sure what to think because I have seen a sample size of exactly one to compare against.

 

Thank you.
Was it obvious where the leak was coming from on yours? I haven't had mine apart yet to inspect the assembly.

 

I believe you are correct because that was exactly my situation.

 

This is the same path I ultimately went down - hoses and latch rebuild. I installed the pressure relief valve earlier in an attempt to forestall the problem but the original hoses were simply too old. They almost always leak right at the fitting to the latch so it's hard to tell which item has failed without disassembly...

Now I think I have a pretty bullet proof system. Top Hydraulics and Colliflower are both quality products/services and provide a serious upgrade to the OEM system.

 

We have been down this road several times before. You have two situations related to the original hose 1- the hose that failed and 2- the hose that is going to fail. With the install of a pressure relief valve system on a system that was operated and stressed prior to the install could and most likely will fail. The install of a pressure relief system will in this case extend the life of the hoses. If you install new hoses at the same time as the pressure relief valve chances are high that you will not experience a hose failure or a seal blowout. Please note I said your chances were high that you would not experience a failure in no way could anyone say it prevent all future failures. Based on the testing and the information available both Walt and I feel it is the right thing to do. I should also note that I am speaking of the Pressure Relief Valve system only.

All findings and testing can be found on my page at www.jagrepair.com