360 Spider: top would not open ? help !

Today during the Ferrari club get together (Saturday Breakfast) , it started drizzling, so i went to my car to close the top and it would not move and the "top" light was on in the dash.

Recap of the day: In the morning i washed the car, opened the top normally with the 3 beeps and drove to Breakfast. Over there, after parking for few minutes, i cranked the engine to rev my new Capristo , opened the engine hood to take a look, turned the car off, then closed the hood... the problem showed up after like 30min when it started raining and i turned the car on again to try to close the top...

I tried turning off then on few times, pushing and wobbling the top covers, the kill switch,... same... i drove back home under a drizzly rain, a little fast so as not to get wet I waited for the car to cool, removed battery cables and hit them together to drain any capacitor(s)... still nothing... I researched FChat and found nothing similar... found light on but top working fine... any other ideas ?

Thx

 

You are probably missing one of the signals from the micro switches that the roof is all the way down and/or your hydraulic tank needs to be filled up some. I would check the level of your hydraulic oil for the roof pump. Do a search. Plenty info here. Let us know your findings. Good luck !!!

 

Ensure your engine cover closed switch is making good contact. Mine was a little corroded and I was getting the compartment open light with no top operation. I cleaned the contacts with emery cloth and ensured the cover was closed securely to fix the problem and restore reliable top operation. The contacts are right at the latch on the engine cover. One is stationary, the other goes up with the cover. Polish them up!

John

 

Plus 1 !!! Good idea. After cleaning them put some WD40 on it !!

 

Try to hold the top switch to the open position first for few seconds and then try to push the switch to the close position.

Do this while you have the engine running, extra electrical juice sometime may help too.

 

Thanks guys for the guidance... Cleaned the switch of hood... still the light is on and the top is stuck in open position. I checked the fluid level and it is right above the circle: Is this a valid level with top open ?

 

I don't think your fluid level is the problem as the pump was not even running. Since the sequence does not even try to put the windows down, I would start by checking the switch. I am pretty site if the trunk sensor was bad you would get a different display image. I thought this accidentally happened to me once and the display showed a open engine bay picture. You might be able to try this and see what happens. I am out otherwise I would try it and let you know.
Jim

 

...for what it's worth, the exhaust sounds awesome!

 

Jim , which switch are u referring to ?

 

I would check the switch you push to put the top up and down. If I recall correctly nothing is happening for you at all (no sounds, windows not going down, etc.) when you pushed the switch in either direction.

I just checked my car and if I try to open the top with the engine lid open, the windows roll down, but then everything stops. So I would not think it is the sensor for your engine lid, because your windows don't roll down. You should also check to see if there are any bad fuses. but I assume you already checked that.

good luck

-Jim

 

Switch was good (i swapped with another one), fuses are good...

This afternoon i had to go meet a friend at the mall. I left the house in the Ferrari and i was a little late... when i reached the mall, i tried to close the top and it worked fine !!!

So what happened between home and the mall ?
When i reached the high elevated bridge parrallel to the dam i pushed the car to 135mph !
So if u ask me what fixed the top, i would say : "Altitude" !

I Love Ferraris' auto cure system !