[wenmdw]

Has anyone experienced many problems with their top not wanting to go through the whole cycle down and then when closed DIC saying top not secure I have had mine in dealer several times keeps acting up. Any Suggestions?

 

[harrysxlr]

Has anyone experienced many problems with their top not wanting to go through the whole cycle down and then when closed DIC saying top not secure I have had mine in dealer several times keeps acting up. Any Suggestions?

I had one time the message "top not secure" when it was very new but after a restart it was OK. No, never any problems with the top, just push the button and hold it for up or down, that`s it!

Hans

 

[Caly]

I get that fairly regularly. Seems to be associated with water; the only times have been after washing the car. I've taken it in several times for that, the service guy always chuckles about the idea of an XLR owner washing their own car... I remind them I don't want THEM to wash it, and they check it out and find nothing.

Yesterday, I washed both cars, the XLR first. Got the expected "Top Not Secure" message when I pulled it back into the garage. Went out a little later to the store and had the message again. About 2 miles down the road it cleared itself... as usual.

I've never seen the message in the rain. Only when I wash the car. Unless GM has some idea... I guess I'll live with it. I"ve had worse problems with cars.

 

[Guest]

Maybe it's a button on your shirts that not secure. Sorry, I couldn't resist

I get that fairly regularly. Seems to be associated with water; the only times have been after washing the car. I've taken it in several times for that, the service guy always chuckles about the idea of an XLR owner washing their own car... I remind them I don't want THEM to wash it, and they check it out and find nothing.

Yesterday, I washed both cars, the XLR first. Got the expected "Top Not Secure" message when I pulled it back into the garage. Went out a little later to the store and had the message again. About 2 miles down the road it cleared itself... as usual.

I've never seen the message in the rain. Only when I wash the car. Unless GM has some idea... I guess I'll live with it. I"ve had worse problems with cars.

 

[Caly]

Maybe it's a button on your shirts that not secure. Sorry, I couldn't resist

I guess I didn't really say it, but it has nothing to do with actually operating the top... back the car out to the driveway, wash it, start up to put it back in the garage (I always dry the car too)... and have that damn "Top Not Secure" message. It goes away on its own.

 

[Mr XLR]

Top not secure message

There are a few different things that can turn that message on, but the most common is the tops "Pententioniometer" is out of adjustment. It is an adjustable linkage that is mounted at the hinges of the top.
I would recomend your dealer look into that area, most of the time if you make an adjustment on the early models the issue returns. have them look into replacing it.

The cargo panel coming loose during operation can cause that message, besides "Cargo divider not in place:

www.Cadillac-XLR.com

Thank you
Allen

 

[bumbleent]

Mine malfunctioned several times-it would get to the last two phases of going down but would stop with the back shelf in a folded position and the rear deck open. By jiggling the contact points while my wife pressed the switch it would finally complete its cycle. One morning the jiggling didn't didn't work so I drove it to the dealer with the deck stuck in the open mode like a giant spoiler. They ordered some parts( probably micro switches) and reprogrammed everything . No trouble since except I sometimes get the "top not secured" message. My XLR is a 2004 model with 52000 miles on it.

bumbleent

 

[XLRcited]

Mine malfunctioned several times-it would get to the last two phases of going down but would stop with the back shelf in a folded position and the rear deck open. By jiggling the contact points while my wife pressed the switch it would finally complete its cycle. One morning the jiggling didn't didn't work so I drove it to the dealer with the deck stuck in the open mode like a giant spoiler. They ordered some parts( probably micro switches) and reprogrammed everything . No trouble since except I sometimes get the "top not secured" message. My XLR is a 2004 model with 52000 miles on it.

bumbleent

Well, I have had a problem with the top many, many times -- the car (2005 model) has been in the shop approximately 8 times try to fix this process. The dealer has already replaced micro switches and other components but every now and then the top refuses to complete the cycle. Once I was caught at a restaurant attempting to put the top up where the trunk would not close and roadside assistance had to be called to manually crank down the trunk. The top was certainly not secure driving back home as we could hear it rattle with a loud wind noise. When I got home I cycled the top down and then back up and everything seemed to work fine, surprisingly.

I am becoming somewhat frustrated with this because I cannot trust the top working fine every single time and I surely don't want to get caught someplace where there is no quick roadside assistance or Cadillac dealer that knows what they're doing with this complex mechanism. I am about to write a letter to General Motors to at least document the many times that the car has been in the shop to try to resolve this issue.

Does anyone know the proper address at General Motors for recording such an issue?

 

[Guest]

Mr LXR would be the one to ask on this, but having been in for 8 times certainly puts into the category of a buy back with no questions asked. I wouldn't' keep that car for two more minutes.
You could get an 07 for free or wait for the 08 to come out, then contact your regional rep.

Well, I have had a problem with the top many, many times -- the car (2005 model) has been in the shop approximately 8 times try to fix this process. The dealer has already replaced micro switches and other components but every now and then the top refuses to complete the cycle. Once I was caught at a restaurant attempting to put the top up where the trunk would not close and roadside assistance had to be called to manually crank down the trunk. The top was certainly not secure driving back home as we could hear it rattle with a loud wind noise. When I got home I cycled the top down and then back up and everything seemed to work fine, surprisingly.

I am becoming somewhat frustrated with this because I cannot trust the top working fine every single time and I surely don't want to get caught someplace where there is no quick roadside assistance or Cadillac dealer that knows what they're doing with this complex mechanism. I am about to write a letter to General Motors to at least document the many times that the car has been in the shop to try to resolve this issue.

Does anyone know the proper address at General Motors for recording such an issue?

 

[elfred]

Well, I have had a problem with the top many, many times -- the car (2005 model) has been in the shop approximately 8 times try to fix this process. The dealer has already replaced micro switches and other components but every now and then the top refuses to complete the cycle. Once I was caught at a restaurant attempting to put the top up where the trunk would not close and roadside assistance had to be called to manually crank down the trunk. The top was certainly not secure driving back home as we could hear it rattle with a loud wind noise. When I got home I cycled the top down and then back up and everything seemed to work fine, surprisingly.

I am becoming somewhat frustrated with this because I cannot trust the top working fine every single time and I surely don't want to get caught someplace where there is no quick roadside assistance or Cadillac dealer that knows what they're doing with this complex mechanism. I am about to write a letter to General Motors to at least document the many times that the car has been in the shop to try to resolve this issue.

Does anyone know the proper address at General Motors for recording such an issue?

The address and 800 numbers are located in your owners manual. Best of luck in your repair.

Regards,

Elfred

 

[unhappyxlr]

top not secure

I had the same problem with 12 repairs done and had gm come out to check out top was told top was taken care of drove car home and top would not go down
called the a lemon attorney they got me all my money back.

 

[dug-mac]

unhappyxlr, what year was your car? You had 12 repairs? I thought they just replaced the mechanics of the top when this becomes a chronic problem...

 

[XLR28]

The one time I had difficulty with my top was when the smaller portion of the trunk lid tried to make its appearance and didn't. The over extending 'locks' that should 'pop' out of their locked position were stuck. Hindsight being what it is all I needed to do was to walk back to the trunk and find the two little 'rollers' and 'pop' them out from their stowed position then get back in the car and push the button again. All the highly technical descriptors that I used are explained in the 'manual operation of the top' portion of the manual(pg 2.45 for the 2005). (okay after looking at the manual it is almost a vague as I was but it called it the rear tonneau and just mentioned the linkages)

The tech rep said it would be a good thing to lubricate those locking linkages every once in a while to prevent them from becomming 'stuck' in the future. While I admit I have yet to lubricate them, neither have I had any other problems with the top.

Ben.

 

[qgsm33]

I bought a pre-owned '05 XLR and it's been to the local Caddy dealer about 6 times regarding the top. The first time was about 2 weeks after I bought it. Went to drive home from work and as I tried to put the top down, it got "stuck" in the position where the top was disengaged from the windshield, and the trunk lid was hanging up in the air. The computer burped out the message: "top not secure" and wouldn't proceed". That's when I learned that after a few minutes, the hydraulic pressure in the top/trunk mechanism is released...letting you pull the trunk lid down. You can pull on the top's hinge mechanism from inside the car to pull the top down secure onto the windshield. I wouldn't recommend driving fast since the top latching mechanism didn't seem to engage. End diagnosis: potentiometer had gone bad and the computer got confused as to the position of the top.

A few weeks later, I would be driving on the interstate and after hitting a little bump, I'd get the "top not secure" message even though the top was clearly secured. End diagnosis was both replacing ANOTHER of the potentiometers (I think there are a total of 4+) AND since it did it a few more times after the pot replacement, the top "calibration" had to be rerun. My personal view is that the calibration software the tech's use isn't robust. It measures the output of the potentiometers during the full up and full down motion and records the measurements. There needs to be a little more "tolerance" in the pot measurements so a small piece of movement doesn't signal the computer that the top isn't locked down. The tech and I ended up doing multiple cycles of: a) run the car over some rough terrain to get the warning to fire, and b) rerunning the calibration .... till we finally got it to work fine. Worked for several months...

In the last month, I got the top not secure alarm again and the root cause was a DIFFERENT one of the potentiometers being "bad". This time we got the regional Cadillac rep on the phone and he "let it out" that there's a new software upgrade coming for the car sometime late 2007. He couldn't swear this would improve the situation, but it's supposed to address some bugs in the entertainment system (radio setting etc) also.

I've got my calendar marked...and will be making a visit then...