Hey Guys, Anyone had issues with the engine lid latch on their F430? Recently the lid popped open when I was at a stop light and I was unable to put the car into gear. I don't see anything missing and the cable is not tight or in anyway the issue. But the lid does not latch normally, the only way I can get it to latch is to do the following: Open the lid and whilst pulling lever the cable is connected to, towards the release direction, depress the hook with my finger. Whilst i depress the hook, i then push the lever in the opposite direction as far as it can go. At this point the hook is locked. Then, I again push the lever towards the release position an thee hook releases. Once this sequence is done , when i close the lid it locks and does not release If I don't follow this procedure, the hook does not lock and is easily sprung open by a little touch or vibration. Any advice would be helpful, especially if anyone has had a similar experience.
Sounds like cables are incorrectly adjusted. See pic for the adjustment area. Its in the engine bay. You need to take cover off first and then use a small allen hex head to loosen the dowel and then the cable can be adjusted as required. Image Unavailable, Please Login
This can be a nightmare, can happen in extremely hot weather or if you disturb the cables in some way, silly but true, if you just move the bend in the 2 Cables without adjusting anything it can solve the problem
I recall it's the same issue on 360's too, the straightening of the insulated cables works as a quick fix but it's still better to cable tie in place to stop movement and then adjust cables as appropriate. Stops it happening again and again. Crappy system really..
I once wasted a whole afternoon on this, changed the whole part etc only to find out that just physcially moving the cables solved it
Spent a couple of hours on it, with constant adjustment and either it would not latch most of the time you would need to press down on it several times before it locked. If you dropped the lid shut as you would usually, it would just bounce and not catch. Then when fiddling with the latch, no further adjustment i found the strange routine that would allow it to lock so I am somewhat puzzled. I was wondering if a spring was missing possibly. The lever the latch connects to seems to have free play in the opposite direction from which the cables would pull, and in that position, is when I am able to get it to lock. Hence my wondering if a spring was missing. As per drawing 1) Pull lever/cable for opening the latch and hold it 2) Depress lock as though the lid was pressed down 3) While keeping the lock down push the lever in the opposite direction to the cable, it seems to travel further than its resting position. Once this is done the lock remains latched and would not release easily. (In the regular scenario, the lock would disengage with a slight tap, touch.) 4)Pull the lever or cable as you would to release. 5) Close the lid and it would lock with no issue. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Although I did not have my engine lid pop open at a stop light, I did have an issue with it not latching. After taking apart the mechanism I noticed that my emergency latch located in the fuel door was "folded" and therefore holding the latch open, hence why my lid wouldn't shut. As an FYI, make sure that there isn't anything going on with this part also.
honestly just move the 2 cables (4) about on the right in to a different position and usually thats all it needs, without doing anything else
I believe we have tried every adjustment possible. I think that in the procedure we now use to get it to latch, that it is worn out. Unfortunately, the RHD latches are out of stock/discontinued. Only option for a replacement thus far is a used one from a 430 Spider from the UK
I went to the trouble of replacing mine temporarily with the one from my SCUD which is as new and worked perfectly, but would not work on my 430 Spider so I realised it wasnt the latch and then I just moved the position of the two cables without adjusting them and it worked fine
U can also disconnect the Micro switch while you're there. U wont get any F1 errors for the hatch being slightly loose
Hey everyone, ended up installing a used latch which was functioning better, but had to replace the cable as it was stretched. Now it works perfectly! Got the adjustment on the second try so both interior and backup releases function!
Thanks guys. I was having same issue (cables too tight - don't know why after all these years) and the slightest touch / bump would open the lid. Released the cable adjust with allen key, adjusted accordingly and all good.
do you instructions on replacing engine lid cable? i was going to put in cable engine lid release and change cable as well..thx! MAtt
