F430 Removing F1 Actuator to tighten bleed screws?

My 2007 F430 loses F1 pressure and runs the pump increasingly more often as the car's temperature increases. This is until the pump is running much too often at every 20-30 seconds. There are no evident F1 fluid leaks. I use Launch X431 for basic F1 diagnostics. Here is what I have done so far:

• Accumulator bulb replacement
• F1 Fluid change
• Bleed cycle

I have seen the question about tightening the bleed screws posted on Fchat before, but without much detail. Is this the next logical step for me?

 

Thank you for that picture. It makes this concept much more clear.
I ruled out the relay because I wasn't experiencing long or erratic priming from the pump, just frequent priming. When the car is cold the pump primes normally. It kicks on for 5 seconds after a couple of minutes. As things warm up, the frequency of the priming increases significantly but the duration increases only slightly. Eventually, the car is priming every 30 seconds for about 7 seconds at a time. This behavior is consistent and repeatable.

Good question. I didn't run the full bleed cycle with the bleed screws. What I did was an air purge like what Juri did in his video on a 360.

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Your experience with the bleed screws letting air in but not leaking fluid, is exactly what I am thinking about. As I move forward with removing the actuator. My first question is:

Does the heat shield need to be removed to properly access the bolts on the actuator? Pictures below.

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Mark! This is excellent information. My knowledge of the F1 system is Novice at best. I am ultimately looking for more technical information just like this, so I can be confident in my next troubleshooting steps. I believe that removing the actuator is still the next step for me and that a proper bleed cycle and tightening the screws is in order. My next questions will be about the best method for actuator removal.

Sadly, my WSM is missing the Actuator section D6.05. So at this point, I am eyeballing the actuator and determining the best way to get to all the bolts. All advice is welcome!

 

Thank you, Matt. I owe you one. Ediff control valve is on my hit list.
I do have stock cats and removing them definitely seems required. I am glad to get confirmation on that.

There is one last item on my mind before I remove the cat, heat shield and actuator.

Is the F1 Actuator Alignment Tool necessary for reassembly? I have seen off-the-cuff responses that it is not required. I tend to suspect this is true, as long as I am only tightening bleed screws. Any input on this would be highly valued!

 

Fantastic! That is the level of detail I was looking for. I will conclusively not worry about the alignment tool.

 

My mission to reach the actuator continues. As posted earlier the heat shield protecting the actuator needs to be removed. This means that catalytic converter needs to be removed, because there is just no room otherwise.

Removing the cat should be easy, right? All you have to do is unclamp the inlet then unclamp the outlet and twist it out.
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LOL! NO! I am quite naive about decade old F430 exhausts. There is no way in hell my cat is going to budge from the outlet clamp. Plus there wasn't enough room to try and twist it around. So getting to the actuator was going to be a lot more involved than I was expecting. I was going to have to remove the bumper and pull out the cat and cat-back together.

I followed Voicey's awesome guide on rear bumper removal.
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Unbolted the last of the exhaust brackets and pulled the exhaust.
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Removed the heat shield and FINALLY the actuator is accessible.
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Next... I need to learn the proper bleed procedure with the bleed screws. Any insight to some good references on that topic would be much appreciated! Hopefully, this will lead to the end of my F1 troubles and back to enjoying the car on the road, where she belongs.

 

Thanks, Dominick. I will follow those torque values when reinstalling the actuator.

In the WSM pages you attached, I don't find reference to the bleed screws on the actuator. I only see clutch draining steps (section D3.04). My manual is missing the very important sections relating to the F1 system. I suspect the details on the actuator bleed screws were in those missing pages somewhere in sections D6.03 through D6.05.

This is why I am looking for some advice on the bleed screws. I think the way to do it is to loosen the screws during the bleed cycle for a few seconds and tighten them down hard.

I use a Launch X431 for the bleed. Here is my thread on that kit I bought for $775.

 

I didn't shear any exhaust bolts. I was lucky. That exhaust flange has two studs on the muffler side and two studs on the cat-back side. It holds together with two nuts on top and two nut on bottom.

 

Dominick, that page is precisely what I needed! Many thanks.
The bleeding shall commence...