Fuel Door Solenoid - Where no one has gone before (or at least posted about it)

So finally, I got some time and had gotten tired enough of the stupid $500.00 solenoid that doesn't work... Specifically, part number 65424200.



So, I have seen the low tech solution to work it back and forth until it would free itself and then resume operation. Naturally, I tried this, and it sort of worked... Sorta. However, my Ferrari being the difficult ***** that she is, would open the door, but would not reset to allow me to close it... essentially making me look like I was that moron who forgot to close the door. For a while I just worked around it, popping the engine cover and pushing on the cable to nudge the stupid little latch forward, but recently that trick stopped working... once again, making me look like that guy.

I couldn't bring myself to pay $500, or even $250, for a stupid solenoid that I knew was worth all of about $20, at best... So, I am going to share with you my adventure into the inner workings of the F355 fuel door solenoid. Join me, and learn how to potentially save yourself the heartache of buying a new one or bothering with working it free by moving it back and forth (which is fine for those of you that it works for).

If you are going to pull the damn thing out, you might as well completely disassemble it, it's not hard, but it's not obvious how to rebuild it either.

Here are the steps and the photos for those of you who would like to do it once and do it right.

Step 1. Jack the rear of the car up safely... Search elsewhere if you don't know how to do this. Open the fuel door (using the emergency release inside the engine bay, if necessary, left side handle inside bay near fuel door.)



Step 2. Remove the left rear wheel, and inside fender wells. This too is somewhat self-explanatory. If you cannot do this on your own, please call someone who can or your Ferrari dealer.

Step 3. Assuming that you have the fuel door open, find an adjustable wrench and remove the nut holding the solenoid in place next to the gas cap, it appears to be 20mm, I found an adjustable wrench before a 20mm wrench, so I went with that. Tape the inside to avoid scratching the paint using painter's tape... there is little room to spare and slipping off can result in a nasty scratch otherwise.

Step 4. Back in the wheel well you will find that the fuel door solenoid is connected by an electrical connector of dubious quality, pull it apart.

Step 5. Still in the wheel well, you will see the connection to the emergency door release, remove the nut holding it in place (I don't remember the size, but it's small, somewhere around 5.5mm or so. Once again, I just used some pliers to be expedient. There are two nuts, so you might have to hold one while loosening the other, both need to come off the back of the solenoid, so just get them both off now... once broken loose they should move easily by hand.

Step 6. Remove the solenoid from the car and prepare to disassemble it.



Step 7. In order to properly secure the solenoid for disassembly, I used an old license plate I had lying around as a means of securing the solenoid in the press. I used a 0.625 inch mill bit to cut through the license plate



Step 8. I used an arbor press and a 3/8ths inch to 1/4 inch adapter to press the fuel door latch towards the back of the device. I just pressed down until it popped like a teenager with a massive zit.



Step 7. Make sure you have all the parts... see below, this is everything (there are two washers however). Don't loose that spring... that's the toughest part to keep track of.




Step 8. Clean and repair. This will vary. As you can see, the coating on the solenoid had delaminated on mine and there is crud everywhere. You should use whatever means needed to remove crud from the surfaces, I primarily used a dremel tool and dental picks for this.

The actuator should be clean like this.


I used a 0.625 mill bit to hand ream the inside of the somewhat melted plastic which the coil was wrapped around.

Below you can see that there was also damage inside the coil from excessive heat (I assume). Where there was a real risk of current arching to the internals had the coil failed and the rest of the insides continued to degrade.



I ended up repairing the inside and outside coatings... See step 9.

Step 9. Repair the coil and coil covering, if needed. Reinstalling it like this is just asking for trouble.



I had two choices at this point... what to do?!?!? Duct Tape or JB Weld?



I opted for JB Weld, seems not far from what they used in the first place. I almost felt bad about using JB weld on a Ferrari until I remembered that it was just an overpriced Fiat.

This is how the night ended, 24 hour cure on the JB weld, ream the inside one last time tomorrow to ensure that the actuator travels freely and re-install.



If I didn't mention it before, you will need the following tools:

Beer (Don't skimp here, this is very important!)
A Jack
A Jack Stand
22 mm 1/2 inch socket
1/2 inch impact wrench
#2 Phillips head screwdriver
7mm socket wrench
pliers
adjustable wrench
Arbor Press
3/8th's to 1/4 inch adapter or other suitable punch
Sanding and cleaning materials as needed
dry lubricant for re-assembly
JB Weld/Duct Tape


All in all, this is a pretty simple job. Don't be afraid to get in there and disassemble the solenoid.

Mark
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LMAO... I will attempt to remember that!

 

Well, it's in and functions so well that you would think it was brand new. It has zero resistance to opening and closing. The spring felt a little weak, so I did shim it 0.050 with a small washer... Seems to have worked out perfectly. I couldn't be happier with the fuel door switch now.

Now on to the next project... This beast will get sorted or scrapped (No, I would never scrap her). On today's list, RH Radiator fan no beuno, no voltage to fan... Seems like the relay is ok and the fuze is ok, which means one of a few things... bad wiring to ECU, doubtful as the negative wire has good connectivity. (I should just jumper the relay, now that I think about it, and see if that fires the fan up - It did, naturally). If so, then it's likely bad sensor, or bad sensor wiring to the ECU. I am betting on the bad sensor.

Have a great day and hope this thread helps someone out...

Mark

PS - Post here if you have any questions about this and/or PM me.

 

Given the recent problems my Ferrari is giving me, lol, probably not... I have enough on my plate. Sorting a F355 is not always as easy as I would like.