355 Ferrari 355 Spider Top Roof Mechanism ALL Common Issues & FIXES

I don't own a spider.. but that was a great and helpful video..

whatever team at the factory, who sat at a table over 20years ago.. to decide how to design an automatic roof.
should all be shot for designing the most complicated/archaic room system on earth..

it is simply mind bungling, how they came up with this, as if on purpose to make it as complicated as possible.

 

It’s amazing what engineers can come up with after 3 bottles of red wine in the morning for breakfast

 

And after all is said and done, you still have to get out of the car to put the Tonneau cover on or take it off.

 

Excellent work and kudos for making the video. I’ve long been a proponent of fixing the top and an opponent of making it manual. This will certainly help if folks have issues with their system.

Thanks

 

I'm not sure if the Dutch are known for their wine-drinking. The "Power-Packer" hydraulic control system has its origins in the Netherlands. Oddly, the F355 shares its roof control system with an Opel Corsa.

 

I honestly don't know why they had to change it from the 348's manual roof. It works perfectly, is way faster, and no stupid sensors or hydraulics to break.

 

Thank you for taking the time to do the video. I had the fork not connect on mine, and it took me hours to figure out where those adjusters were and how they worked. your video will be very helpful to people.

 

I purchased a new controller, but it does not work. Ferrari says it has to be programmed with it installed in the car.

 

Thanks for the update. Interesting. How is it programmed? SD1?

 

Yes it will need to be hooked to the computer to tell the controller what resistance on the seat pots is correct for full forward and aft positions.

IMO it's an over engineered POS I removed. 4 Bosch relays for the 2 seats and the top switch is connected directly to the top relays. No worrying if it will work, when will it fail... now I move the seats up, top down, seats back. Peace of mind.

 

Thanks for the vid and the write up. I’m having a problem with my top, and one thing I noticed is that the passenger seat doesn’t come as far forward as the drivers seat. Should they both come forward evenly??

I’ve checked the middle bar, and the straps pull them into position, and the previous owner replaced the pumps earlier this year. I’m thinking it’s the passenger seat position or it’s low on hydraulic fluid. Any help is appreciated.


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As long as the roof doesn't hit the seat, then a few inches difference between the seats won't matter. You can get the seats recalibrated using an SD1 tool at your local Ferrari garage. Note that the seats are electric, not hydraulic.

There is a possibility that the passenger seat position potentiometer has a broken or loose drive. Since potentiometers are no longer available, repairing them is the best option. I tested a few repair kits with some 3d printed parts recently with great success (produced by forum member Nileseh). These should be available to the general public shortly, but if you can't wait, just search the F355 forum for "seat potentiometer repair", you should find 3 or 4 different ways to repair them. You will probably still need to have the seat recalibrated however.

 

Sounds like my best Bert is to just take it in and have it done.


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Worth a try and relatively easy to do. Of course, something might be broken and it's unlikely the average tech knows how to fix a potentiometer. That's what the forum is for

 

So we found the culprit, turns out the gentleman that installed the stereo system punctured a hydraulic hose. And in his all mighty wisdom decided to try and patch it instead of replacing the hose.

We filled the pump resi and as soon as we ran the system hydraulic fluid started to spray everywhere. New hose ordered and hopefully we’ll have it working again.

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What a mess. Hope the hydraulic fluid was cleaned up promptly. That stuff can really mess up paintwork and leave your car smelling like a garage. Will you try and find replacement sound/noise insulation and have the carpet dry cleaned?

 

On top of it being a mess, it’s highly flammable. Fortunately it was concentrated in a small area, and not near any paint or leather. The plan is it take it all apart anyway to trace the hose, so that’s the perfect time to have all the carpet shampooed and replace the foam sound deadening.


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This diagram by Krazykarguy (Matt) might help you trace the hoses:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/146752483/

It looks like the line to the left main actuator. P/N 177716

 

Hello,
I followed some of your Videos and had a learning experience, very nice of you sharing your knowledge.
Yesterday I added hydrohalic fluid and cycle the top while bleeding, during this process I started having a major leak and the reservoir lost oil fast after few cycle.
I have noticed leak through the carpet on the driver side next to the top mechanism. I did not get a chance to lift the top manually and see where the leak coming from. I am suspecting I blew the seals of the primary cylinder during the bleeding process. If that the case then my plan is to change all the aging O ring seals on the primary and secondary cylinder.
I would appreciate if you know where I can get the seals, perhaps a cross reference to a Mercedes parts.
Please advise.

Thanks


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My parking brake light doesn’t go out but it sounds like the hydraulics are still attempting to work. Will the faulty parking brake sensor prevent operation in totality or at the half way mark like I’m experiencing?


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Not sure I understand. The parking brake must be on (light illuminated) for roof operation.

Whether it stops the roof half way (with the parking brake not set), I'll have to check.

Note that the book says that the parking brake must be set (on) for emergency/backup operation, but for some reason it doesn't stop my roof from working (in emergency mode).

 

P.S. What do you mean by half way? Normally, you should pull back on the roof manually until it beeps (either telling you that the roof operating logic has been satisfied or not). Do you mean half way between this (beep) point and fully down?

Other reasons for the roof sticking half way down is not folding the roof properly as it is manually pushed back.

If your roof elastics are weak, make sure that you push up on this bar when pulling back the roof

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Now that you mention it, I think the park brake not down will make the fault beep sound, preventing the motorised movement of the roof (It may even stop the seats moving).