We have had this car for two days, this afternoon I was showing a friend - who had never seen one in person and couldn't believe how cool this car is and wanted to see what it looked like with the top up. That's when it wasn't so cool.

The top went through its gyrations but the clasp underneath the rear window that goes into the slot in the deck lid didn't catch and pull the back of the top down tight. There remained about a half inch gap in the back of the top.

I tried it several times but no change. Anyone else have this problem? I checked the owners manual and it appears that I was doing it correctly. Is there an easy fix for this?

So I had to drive home with the top down. Still not the end of the world.

 

Make sure you hold the button until you hear a "beep". If you release the button to operate the top early, the motion with the top and the rear deck stops.

 

The clasp goes into the hole in the deck lid pretty firmly but doesn't seem to match up correctly, so no matter how long you hold the button down it never beeps.

One thing that I noticed when we test drove the car was how difficult it was to get the front handle to line up correctly so that it would latch. Unfortunately I just thought it was us having to get used to how it worked. Now I'm getting the impression that since this car was at the dealer for probably more than a year, where I'm sure the top was raised and lowered on very test drive, the top looks like it may have been "sprung" so it doesn't quite line up correctly.

I imagine the tolerances for the mechanics of this thing are fairly tight but its not obvious if there's a way to adjust it. I was hoping someone had experienced this before and it was something like "you just loosen this bolt, kick the left rear tire, tightened the bolt and everything works fine."

 

might be something that simple. if someone else stands outside the car while you're pressing the button, can they guide the rear latch into its hole and press it into place (until it clicks)? if so, the catch might be out of adjustment, and needs to be moved up a little.

how confident are you in your dealer? its definitely a warranty item; i just hope they don't break something else while fixing this.

good luck!

 

I tried having a friend give it a little assist by pushing it down but it didn't work. If its out of adjustment its not by much but enough that it won't work.

I was going to attempt to adjust it but thought better of it since it is in warranty and I don't want to give the dealer plausible dinaibility for not fixing the top if anything else goes wrong with it in the future.

I'm not sure about our local dealer and I guess the only way to find out is by taking the car in for service. Is there anyone else in Westlake CA that uses West Oaks Chrysler Dodge?

 

I took the car in for the radiator fan recall and to fix the top to the Chrysler dealer in Westlake CA, which is a different dealer than where we purchased it. We purchased it from a small dealership that although they were certainly one of the more helpful and just plain nice car dealers I've ever had the pleasure to buy a car from they didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy when it came to having a mechanic who has actually worked on a Crossfire before. The Westlake dealer is a huge 5 Star dealership.

So when I took it in I asked for the service manager, I thought it would be nice to associate a name with a face and introduce myself. He was immediately suspicious of me, said hello and pointed me towards a service guy who checks cars in. I wanted to ask the service manager a few questions about the service I could expect, how many mechanics (if any) do they have that work on Crossfires, after all if they didn't have any Crossfire specialists I'd rather go back to the dealer where we purchased the car, at least I like them.

Well the service guy was friendly and reassured me that they indeed had two Crossfire specialists and started gathering all of the pertinent information from our car. After going on a bit about how they could take care of me, immediately after I told him about the problem I was having putting up the top he informs me that they can't fix that and hands me a card from a shop up the street.

That little dealership is looking better all the time. So not wanting to rock the boat I take the car to the other shop where they inform me the dealer has to fix this. This is quickly becoming an episode of the Twilight Zone! Anyway, I ask that guy to call the dealer and explain the problem to him and I head back to the dealer. Now I'm thinking this is all just a little to odd.

When I arrive the service guy continues to schedule the appointment to bring the car in on Monday when one of their Crossfire guru's walks buy. The service guy asks him to take a quick look, he looked like he was in a hurry and I was thinking this whole thing was a big mistake. But to my surprise the mechanic was very funny was able to diagnose the problem in about three seconds, with a completely different conclusion than everyone else had come up with and asks if I would like him to fix it right then and there - it would take about ten minutes.

Since I was bringing the car back on Monday for the recall and it was obvious that before we derailed him he was busy I decided not to turn this into a fire drill and just have it fixed on Monday. Well on Sunday we're out and about and it's threatening to rain so I decide I'd try to repair the top myself. So I did exactly what he suggested and it worked like a charm. When I brought the car in on Monday I told them what happened and asked them to check and make sure the top was working correctly and about four hours later the car was done, no scratches, everything was clean and worked fine.

So from what I've read about other Crossfire owners experiences I feel pretty lucky. Although I have to admit I feel like I betrayed the dealer where we purchased the car.

 

Mine is doing the exact same thing, however, I am able to get it to latch in the back by giving it a little push then continuing to hold the button until it draws itself down. I have had it into the dealer two times and they can not replicate the same problem. I find that it latches by itself more often when it is cold outside. What was the fix that he told you so I can try and do the same thing?

Thanks,

Jason

 

Loosen bolt. Kick left rear tire. Tighten bolt.

 

There is a TSB for a "difficult" convertible top. When I had my recall work done my mechanic allowed me to browse their 5 star computer for all TSBs relating to Xfires. I recall reading one for this issue. I will repost with the info as I am going back in for a few small misc warranty issues (Tonneau rub strip, back up light lens - over torqued and cracked etc.).

I will let you know.

 

It appears that it doesn't have to be very far out of adjustment for the latch not to catch. There are four hex-head screws that hold the male part [post] of the latch to the bottom of the top below the window. I loosened them just enough so that I could move the post a bit lower so it would like up with the latch in the tonneau cover. Then when the top was lowered it pulled the post down tight into the latch and aligned the post where it should be. I then opened the top again, stopping it when the back window was vertical so it was easy to reach the hex-head screws and tightened them. I also placed a few "slip" marks with white paint so I could tell if it moves in the future.

It was actually very easy to do. One thing I found interesting about this experience was that everyone, including me, looked at the mechanical latch assembly located on the inside of the tonneau cover to see why it wasn't functioning. The mechanic that helped me looked immediately at the post and checked the alignment and when he pointed it out it was obvious that was the problem. But I had previously looked at it and did not notice it.

Hope this helps.

 

This may be the TSB number you need...

 

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/12/051252fh.html

looks like you have to subscribe to see the tsb's?

 

I am experiencing the same issue. My husband tried to loosen the bolts and he wasn't able to get them to budge. There is an obvious mis-alignment on the latch. I'm going to run it by the dealer to see if they can do this as I don't want my husband to tug and pull on the screws and run the risk of damaging the glass window...
Thanks for this advice!