Hi all,

Well, my wife surprised me for our anniversary tomorrow with a 2005 XLR with 11,000 miles on it, looking like showroom new. She purchased it while visiting her brother in Atlanta, and drove it back to Virginia to wow me. She's awesome. BUT -
As soon as she pulls in the driveway, she goes to put the top down to show me and it doesn't work. Cycle gets to the point where the trunk should close and that's as far as she goes. Tried a couple of times, but no go. She is distraught. Apparently it worked fine for the week she was in Atlanta. Only message I see is Top is Not Secure.

Anyone have any ideas before I immediately spend more money at the dealer on a vehicle I've only experienced as a hardtop at this point?

Thanks.

Racing in the Rain

Hi all,

Just realized I need to post here first, so...

Well my wife surprised me yesterday on our 21st anniversary with a 2005 XLR that is, well, in a word, awesome. Crimson pearl, 11,000 miles, perfect. In fact, she flew from VA to Atlanta GA to get it and drove it back. Gotta love her.

Look forward to learning and sharing with the group. Already have a top question, so will post in the tech section in a bit.

Regards,

Racingintherain

Hi all,

Just realized I need to post here first, so...

Well my wife surprised me yesterday on our 21st anniversary with a 2005 XLR that is, well, in a word, awesome. Crimson pearl, 11,000 miles, perfect. In fact, she flew from VA to Atlanta GA to get it and drove it back. Gotta love her.

Look forward to learning and sharing with the group. Already have a top question, so will post in the tech section in a bit.

Regards,

Racingintherain
Welcome to the XLR Forum.

I think you will find almost everything you need to know about your new "ride" here. If not the members are very experienced in XLR Technology and issues and are more than willing to help.

Regarding your Top issue, please go to the Technical Section and scroll down to the top area. I will be surprised if what you need to know isn't already posted there. If not, thats the place for it so the resolution will help others.

Also, please use the Search function to pull up everything available on subjects you have a interest in.

Best Wishes.

Jerry

Please see my reply to your introduction post.

Also, while you are doing research, check the following:

1. NEVER put the top up or down without the motor running. It draws too much battery power and oe ver a very sort period of timcan either cause the car not to start or the top and other electronics to not work properly. AND you will end up needing another battery.

2. Open the trunk and make absolutely sure that nothing is in the way of the top or the hinge mechanisms. Be sure to look all the way in the back too. Nothing can be stored below the top at all when it is in the down position.
3. Pull open and reseat the package separator. There are two switches there that if not seated properly, will stop the top from going all the way down to protect it from damage.

Once this has been done then start the car and try the top down process again. If it stops and doesn't complete the cycle, reverse the process and put it back up immediately, turn the car off and wait a minute or so and try again.

It should work, if not you just may be heading to the dealer to get a sensor replaced.

If it does, Happy Anniversary!!

Regards

Jerry

Thanks Jerry.

Ran through most of your suggestions last night, but will cycle back one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything. My searches suggested a "reset" using the windows up/down switches. Might this procedure apply in this case (if indeed it is a real procedure)? Since the top appearently worked well for the week preceding her delivering it to me, I assume the sensors are known for sudden failure?

Appreciate the welcome.

Racingintherain

I know your frustration! Here are a couple of suggestions that have worked for me in the past along with some suggestions for preventing this in the future.

If you are to the point of the top down in the trunk, but the trunk will not close, try pushing the 'trunk close' button at the base of the trunk.
Yes, cycling the windows may help as this rests the system, but I doubt that the top would have moved at all if this wasn't already set.
Try releasing the top down button and the pushing it again - mine sometimes seems to stick at the point of the trunk closing and doing this seems to complete the cycle.
Make sure your battery is in good condition and fully charged. Many of us use a Battery Tender too keep it fully charged if the car is not driven regularly or used for short trips. I have found that since I got a battery tender last fall, all my systems seem to work better - especially the top and trunk.
When you have a chance to visit a dealer, have them check to make sure you have the latest top programing downloaded to you car.Hope some of these suggestions help and enjoy your new ride!!:cheers

WINDOW RESET-- It's easy to do this and YES it is very important for the top to work.

For each window individually, push the window DoWN button and allow it to retreat into the door. Keep holding the DOWN button for 10 seconds and then release it.

Then push the UP side of the button and let the window travel all the way up to the top until it stops. Hold the button in the UP position for 10 seconds and you are done.

Repeat for the other window.

To see if they are properly indexed, open the door and see if the windows "drop" if so then close the door and see if they return to the full UP position.

If so, then get into the car and try the top down again.

Please let us know how this works out for you.

Regards

Thanks all. Taking my lovely wife to dinner and show tonight. Will try the suggestions and keep you posted.

Racingintherain

Thanks all. Taking my lovely wife to dinner and show tonight. Will try the suggestions and keep you posted.

Racingintherain

Alot of us have been through this. Mine did the same thing. Worked perfect every time at the dealer. brought it home it stuck once than worked later. Next, I took it to florida, 1000 miles and it stuck and would not work at all. Same as your's. Went about half way and stopped. I heard all the suggestions. Engine running, level ground, all the tricks. These cars came out with faulty sensors. In 06 or 07 they redesigned them and fixed the problem. I had all 4 sensors replaced. Dont let them replace only one. They were a faulty design. why replace the bad one and have another one go out in 6 months. They are relativly cheap and relativly easy to change. After all were replaced the top has worked great ever since. Engine off, unlevel ground, it always works great. They are a great car, the early one's just had some bug's. they have engineered fixes for all the problems and once there fixed, they seem to be fixed.

Thanks for the encouragement monepit. Some excellent advice. I've driven several exotic cars over the years. Took this one to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last night, and i can honestly say none of my earlier esoteric rides attracted anywhere near as much attention.

Not sure that's a good thing, but a reality nonetheless.

Hope to meet and greet my local Cadillac dealer sometime next week to address the top sensors.

Regards,

Racingintherain

Hello Racingintherain,

What part of Virginia do you live in?

I lived in Nokesville, VA. which is in Prince Williams County from 1981 through 1985 while on a field service assignment in the D.C. area.
We loved it there as we lived in the middle of Beaver's Forest. It was soooo peaceful there except for the summer nights when all the tree frogs and other critters would sing their nightly songs.
As the state motto says, " Virginia is for lovers."

I have a 2006 Star Black Mettalic Xlr, #165 out of only 250 that were built that year. Just recently I found the source of a lot of my problems was a loose battery connection.
I would suggest that you check your connections and make sure they are clean and tight. You probably have the original battery in your car as you said it had only 11K miles on it, I had to replace mine at about that many miles because of quick charging (I think). That was before I learned about the Battery Tenders that were recommended by GM while at our RIII get together in Bowling Green, KY. in 2008.
If you have to have your battery replaced and you have some one do it for you, make sure the cables are solidly attached to the battery posts afterwards. Mine was replaced by a dealer that should have been the most experienced in the WORLD with these vehicles, (I figured because of their location) and for two years I drove around with a loose negitive battery cable and would get strange messages on the DIC and weird performance issue. The most disturbing performance issue was lose of the accellerator. Stepping on the accellerator pedal would not increase the engine rpms from idle and I had to limp across two lanes of traffic to the right side of the road and shut off the engine, wait about a minute or two and restart it and everything worked fine. This procedure seemed to correct all of the weird performance issue I've had with my XLR.
So far, I've had no problems with the top except for a couple of times back in 2008 while driving from my home in Lawndale, CA. to visit my youngest daughter in WI., I did get a DIC message, "TOP NOT SECURE". The top was up and my lady friend and I tried to jiggle it and it DID NOT move at all. I pressed the DIC RESET and the message went away. It appeared a couple of times later during that trip with the top up but resetting the DIC cleared it.

These vehicles seem to have their own individual personalities as you will find out in time.

By the way, did you get any GM warranty with you XLR (GMPP extended for instance)?

Enclosing, I would like to welcome you to this forum as there is a wealth of knowledge about these vehicles here.

Jack, ARS: WB6BBZ

Hey there bud! Good to see another new member on the forum! 2005 XLR with 11k on it? That's a pretty good buy if you ask me. Very low miles, but then again, I'm somewhat used to Camaros and us camaro enthusiasts love to drive them around. :) Welcome!

Glad to meet you both. Located in Loudoun County wb6bbz.

There are two other Crimson pearl XLR's living in Loudoun Cty, maybe we will meet each other. I live in P'ville and love mine

Hello William, ARS: K4XT,

And they say hams are cheap.:cheers
Atleast there are three of us on this forum that enjoys the finer things in life.

73, Jack

HI Jack,

Been a Ham for over 50 years so I know they aren't cheap. Just a rumor based on one fact. they now a good thing when they see one. especially when it comes to nice auto's, especially car's like the XLR.

That's right about the fine autos William.
I have a 2006 Star Black Metallic Limited Edition #165/250 and she sure is a head turner. She shows her colors best in the sunshine. She's not the V series but I have added two electric superchargers and a ninth fuel injector to her standard 4.6L Northstar VVT V8 engine.

I too have also been a ham for over 50 years, in fact, my first call sign was WN6BBZ. I still have my first transmitter which is a Heath Kit DX-40 that I bult. The last time I used it was back in the early 80s while living in Virginia and was on a 160m net with some older hams that wouldn't talk to you unless you were running Heath Kit gear, that you bult! When I first came across them I started talking to them using my Drake Twins on AM and when I told them what I was runnig, they explained about the Heath Kit equipment only on their net. So I told them about my DX-40 and said as soon as I could grind a crystal to their freq I'll put it on the air. Which I did a couple of nights later. They were really impressed by the Clamp-Tube Modulation to the extent that they came over to my QTH the following weekend to check it out.

Again, welcome to the forum and I hope we can get together at R-IV in Bowling Green, KY. next month.

73, Jack

Well my wife surprised me yesterday on our 21st anniversary with a 2005 XLR that is, well, in a word, awesome. Crimson pearl, 11,000 miles, perfect. In fact, she flew from VA to Atlanta GA to get it and drove it back. Gotta love her.


Just wanted to say: you've got a great wife! Congrats on the anniversary and the great present. And your wife came to the right city for the car. :)

Just an update for those who offered so many helpful suggestions.

1) Turned out there was GMMP for this car that was transferrable. Took some doing, a little cash, and waiting, but luckily, I now have a GMMP through 2013.

2) Top is functioning normally after a reprogramming at the dealership. Lobbied for sensor replacement but no go as of yet.

3) While waiting for the warranty to transfer, I experienced leaking radiator and growling rear end. Read about both these conditions elsewhere on this forum and both were repaired by the dealership. Also had very noisy steering wheel. Turned out to be wires rubbing against some part of air bag.

So far so good. Nice to get the top down.

Racingintherain

That's terriffic!!

Now you can finally enjoy the car as it was designed.

Thank you for posting your update. Your feedback on issues such as this is vital to the members and the success of this forum.

Regards

Jerry

Well, let's hope this thread doesn't get much longer.

After 3 cycles of the Top Up/Down it failed again. This time in the down position. To add to my delight, the trunk would no longer open either. Since top failures only happen on special occasions, in this case my son's birthday present was in the trunk. So I got to use my key in the bumper for the first time to retrieve his gift.

Wife took it to dealer this morning and they scanned it while she waited and ultimately replced a top position sensor.

We soldier on.

Racingintherain

Racingintherain:

I am real sorry to learn of your problem...again. Did you think to ask them to replace all of the sensors with the newer versions?? I would if I had experienced all that you have. They aren't that expensive..for them.. If it happens again I would request it.

Regards

Jerry

Jerry is right. If you have a Folding Top position sensor on the ragged edge of the specs called out by the software, it can cause the rear decklid to operate incorrectly --as a self-protection measure. It can be thermal, mechanical, or electrical. A Tech 2 look-see of the sensor position counts will isolate/confirm this in a few minutes. There was an update to the FTC module software that "loosened up" the specs awhile back to cut down this same type of problem. Have the dealer ensure your Folding Top software is at the latest rev as well. Good luck!

CCC :seeya

Thanks for the comments all. I did try to get all sensors replaced but they have not been very interested in discussing anything beyond immediate, least effort, solutions. This dealership used to be quite wonderful, but seem to have slipped on the customer interface front since the time they used to service my STS. Maybe being the self-proclaimed "largest cadillac dealership in the world" they don't need my aggravations.

Anyway, one top position sensor was replaced, and top is working at the moment. Does make me a bit cautious though on when I'm willing to put the top down.

Well, if it fails a again, I guess I'll have to take a different approach.

Racingintherain

My suggestion is to put the top down as much as possible to ensure the sensors are working properly after frequent use.

If it fails again then you should be able to get them to replace the rest of the sensors under the GMPP Warranty.

The dealer is going to soon tire of the repeat visits for top problems and want to be done with it.

About to go on vacation. Plan on much top down/up. Should be a good testing period.

Thanks.

Racingintherain

Please see my reply to your introduction post.

Also, while you are doing research, check the following:

1. NEVER put the top up or down without the motor running. It draws too much battery power and oe ver a very sort period of timcan either cause the car not to start or the top and other electronics to not work properly. AND you will end up needing another battery.

2. Open the trunk and make absolutely sure that nothing is in the way of the top or the hinge mechanisms. Be sure to look all the way in the back too. Nothing can be stored below the top at all when it is in the down position.
3. Pull open and reseat the package separator. There are two switches there that if not seated properly, will stop the top from going all the way down to protect it from damage.

Once this has been done then start the car and try the top down process again. If it stops and doesn't complete the cycle, reverse the process and put it back up immediately, turn the car off and wait a minute or so and try again.

It should work, if not you just may be heading to the dealer to get a sensor replaced.

If it does, Happy Anniversary!!

Regards

Jerry

Jerry sorry to be such a noob, but do you have pictures of the package separator and location of the switches? this would greatly help me. Thanks.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the package separator BUT it is the one that is real near the front of the trunk (rear of the car).

The tabs on each side are inserted in the slots in the two towers which is where the switches are.

There may be pictures in the owners manual that you hopefully have.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the package separator BUT it is the one that is real near the front of the trunk (rear of the car).

The tabs on each side are inserted in the slots in the two towers which is where the switches are.

There may be pictures in the owners manual that you hopefully have.

Ok. So this was a duh moment. Anyways, thanks. Also, now that I have manually lowered my top, the hydraulics no longer engage. I did close the release valve, but still no sounds indicating any action.

To a search and pull up the hydraulic top refill process.

As another member mentioned the fluid may be low and ALWAYS raise and lower the top with the motor running.

Regards.

To a search and pull up the hydraulic top refill process.

As another member mentioned the fluid may be low and ALWAYS raise and lower the top with the motor running.

Regards.

Here's a stupid question, do you recommend the motor on when manually lowering as well? Also, my fluid is a little bit past full and still no action.

I am wondering if the system has air in it. The fluid needs to be at the mark not above it.

I don't know if it will correct the issue but at least it will eliminate some of the isues.

Jerry,

XLR8R360's problem is now spread over three threads, which makes it tough to follow, --especially later on, if someone has a similar issue and seeks a resolution. It might be more helpful for all to get this thread back on track, since racingintherain started it. These symptoms are different from his. The only commonality is the top is making both owner's lives miserable, and consequently, anyone trying to make sense of it all.

XLR8R360: I know you're new here, so just to keep this as informative and easy-to-follow as possible for any other interested members, once you start a thread, please don't start a new thread for the same problem with a differerent title. Just keep replying to the same thread as it evolves with each reply. We've got "Hardtop Issues Par Deaux", "Hydraulic Issues" and now this has bled over into, "Top Problem Runining Our . . " all co-mingled. Please pick one you started and let it run it's course.

Whew! --I'm not trying to take over, --just untangle so we get the most relevant info for all.
CCC :seeya

Jerry,

XLR8R360's problem is now spread over three threads, which makes it tough to follow, --especially later on, if someone has a similar issue and seeks a resolution. It might be more helpful for all to get this thread back on track, since racingintherain started it. These symptoms are different from his. The only commonality is the top is making both owner's lives miserable, and consequently, anyone trying to make sense of it all.

XLR8R360: I know you're new here, so just to keep this as informative and easy-to-follow as possible for any other interested members, once you start a thread, please don't start a new thread for the same problem with a differerent title. Just keep replying to the same thread as it evolves with each reply. We've got "Hardtop Issues Par Deaux", "Hydraulic Issues" and now this has bled over into, "Top Problem Runining Our . . " all co-mingled. Please pick one you started and let it run it's course.

Whew! --I'm not trying to take over, --just untangle so we get the most relevant info for all.
CCC :seeya
CC:

Your are correct as usual.

Let me try and combine/merge the threads and put them in the Top Section.

Regards

Jerry

Thanks not not making this newbie look too lame... I am sure I will beat this soon...

Thanks not not making this newbie look too lame... I am sure I will beat this soon...
Well where are 'we" on the REAL ISSUE--your top working correctly and the "bride" with a grin or her face as you guys tool around town with the top down.

Regards

Jerry