October Has Proven To Be An Exceptional Month For Driving With The Top Down. It's Also Been Great Weather For Pulling The Car Apart To Figure Out Where That Screetching Is Coming From! Let's Find And Inspect Those Electric Motors That Raise And Lower The Convertible Top.

It didn't take a genius to figure where the noise was coming from and it doesn't take an ASE certified mechanic to figure out how to get to it...just some simple tools and about 15 minutes.  Click through to watch a video of how I got the drivers side convertible top electric motor out of my 1999 Eclipse Spyder and gave it a good once over inspection.

I'm sure that these videos won't be for everybody, but I sure wish I had some to watch before attempting to tackle some of these projects.  My hope is to help the next guy or girl out there with the same or similar problem.  It's easy to set up my phone on a tripod and shoot each step.  Then a quick edit on the computer and viola...instructional video!  This actually took about 15 minutes and there is one screw that I did not show being removed.  It's one of the two Torx screws that hold the motor to the frame.  It's tough to get to because there is a tab blocking it.  You'll know it when you see it.  Some people bend the tab out of the way.  I did not and it took me a bit longer than it would otherwise to get it out.  I'll let you decide how to get yours out.  Note how easy it is to remove the back seat to access the fuel pump and the convertible top control module.  Also, note all that unused space behind the seat.  I'm thinking about placing a powered subwoofer in there.