[rarest_spun_heaven_metal]

Hey y'all,

Proud owner of a 2020 V6 convertible here. I'm at about 58k thousand miles. Unfortunately, back in July 2023, when I was putting the top down one sunny afternoon, it stopped halfway. I was unable to get it to go any further, there was no apparent blockage. I was able to put it all the way back up, but I have not been able to put the top down since then.

I took it to the dealer in August, and they determined that I had a faulty sensor and that they would need to replace the whole top. When the replacement top arrived, it was faulty (apparently, it was some sort of return), and so they needed to request another top, but it's currently on backorder with GM. It's part number 85636529, for reference.

So it's November 1 now, and my top has been not functioning since the summer. I'm starting to feel like maybe the convertible days for my camaro have come to a close (we had a good run. 4 years, 50k miles). Any advice on how to navigate or workaround the backorder with GM would be appreciated.

Also, I'm getting frustrated about not being able to experience the fall foliage in all its glory, and I read online that there's a manual release of the hydraulic system for the top that I might be able to utilize to the top down manually. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Or know where this is located?
Or is this generally a bad idea?

[Mark114]

The instructions for manual top operation are given in the Camaro Owner Manual. You can download a copy from the Chevrolet web site if you don’t have a copy. The instructions seem to be for getting the top back up if it’s stuck. They don’t seem to give you a way to put the top down manually.

[beowulf556]

A faulty sensor = a whole new top? That's crazy!