Replacing the door latch cable in my Ferrari 348-the rest of the story

On my last post, I was adjusting the sound on my new radio and, when I was finished, I could not open the driver's door. Actually, it opened partially but would not release. After climbing out the passenger door, I discovered that the door would open and close from the outside.

After removing the tan door panel and then the black one above it and cutting the plastic, I could see where the cable attached to the handle. I pulled on it and it started to come out. After continuing to pull on it, I found that it had broken due to corrosion.

This was on a Thursday. I called Ricambi and they had the cable the next day. Since I wanted to install it this weekend, I drove to Winston-Salem to pick it up on Friday. The cable on my car had been superseded by a new one. The big difference was a rubber bellows on the end where it attaches to the lock latch assembly at the rear of the door. I would assume the bellows was added to prevent moisture entering the cable sheath thus preventing the issue I had with mine.

It didn't take me long to realize that I was not going to be replacing the cable from the door panel side. After looking at it, I decided removing the door strake would give me more access, which it did. The strake is attached with four Allen head bolts on the side, two nuts at the front inside the door at the hinge area and one screw in the rear opening. At the front of the door the cable goes though a threaded metal end and then is secured to the door handle mechanism by slipping a right angle end through the mechanism hole and then securing it by snapping a plastic latch onto it. The latch was fairly easy to remove and soon I had the front part of the cable loose.

Getting to the rear proved to be more challenging. After studying it I decided that I needed to remove the three bolts that hold the door latch to the door. With the latch loose, I could finally see where the cable attached. To get more clearance, I unhooked the door lock arm which was secured in the same manner as the latch cable. Now I could pull everything out far enough to removed the cable. To do that you must pull down on the ferrule to allow the cable to slide though the slot thus creating slack. Now that I had slack, I could removed the cable from the latch.

Installation was basically the reverse of the removal process with one added complication...the cable was now all one piece. This complicated the installation as I had to try to get some slack to attach the cable. The rear needs to be installed first (ask me how I know). It was fairly easy attaching the cable to the latch but pulling down on the nodule was complicated by the rubber bellows which was slid over the nodule. It took me awhile to separate the bellows from the nodule but it was still difficult to pull down on the nodule as the bellows would snap back. Finally I was able to slide the cable into the slot.

At the front, you must feed the right angle end of the cable thought the threaded hole for the front nodule. Then the nodule must be threaded all the way in. Doing this still did not give me enough slack to slide the right angle part through the front door latch. I could see that if I pushed in the exterior door handle I would have some extra slack. After trying to do this with the two hands that I have, I finally gave up and called my buddy Reese for help. With him holding in the door handle I was finally able to get the cable inserted. Then it was merely a matter of adjusting the front ferrule so the door opened properly and tightening the lock nut.

I did clean up the door cavity from the outside and replaced some of the small seal on the backside of the strake. Before installing the strake I also used some black duct tape to patch up the plastic I had cut to gain access. My inside door handle had some paint chipped off of it so I bead blasted and painted it.

So what started out as a simple radio installation became much more. I could not have done it without the help of our new puppy!!!
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I have driven the car at least 500 miles and opened the driver's door countless times in the time since the cable was replaced. However, after driving home Sunday morning from Cars and Cappuccino in Charlotte, I could not open the driver's door from either the inside or outside. I did a search here and tried everything I found. I also sent a private message to Ernie to see if he had any ideas. I could see that the cable I had installed was hooked up properly and appeared to working as it should. The power door locks also seem to be disengaging. I pulled the door lock fuse and pulled up on the door lock but I had no luck in opening the door. I jacked the car up at various points to try to pop it open. I even tied up the inside door release to the windshield post and drove the car over the most undulating roads I could find to no avail.

After fussing with it for the past three days, I took the car to a bodyshop I have used. They primarily work on high end cars. Their lock expert (The owner says it is a good thing this guy is a good Christian as he can break into any car anytime.) shined a light into the door opening and says he thinks he found the problem. I had too much tension on the cable which would not allow it to totally release. He popped the cable out of its retainer. pushed the outside door handle and the door opened like normal.

Now I get to take everything apart again so I can re-attach the cable and then adjust it. I am just so happy to have the door opened that this work is a minor irritant.