Boot problem again

[S6 Devil]

I had problems a while back with the boot not opening so I changed the solenoid. Now when I press the badge there is a faint noise. I have to press the badge several times to open the boot. It seems as if it is warming itself up on each progressive push until finally, at full power it opens the latch.

However, typically at the petrol station the other day it wouldn't open at all and no solenoid noise.
It has since gone back to its slow warm up procedure.

I have the obligatory 2p glued to the back of the badge to ensure it activates the switch.

Any ideas?

[nawarne]

Mike,
My boot release seems to get lazy every 3-4 months.

What I did was to release the solenoid from the 'void' in the boot. (Do this by carefully pulling carpet back to expose 'roofing' type screws (2 off) and unscrew)

With the screws off, you can extract the solenoid itself via the rubber 'bung' visible on the inner skin. I then lubricated mechanism and sprayed electro magnet with electrical spray. This seems to recover unit for a while, actually must be a good 4 mths since I last did this and so far so good.

Basically the push button completes the circuit to earth to energise the electro magnet...its all the cranks and rods with the bowden cable to the lock that start to seize-up.
Nick

[S6 Devil]

Thanks. I was thinking of changing the mechanism and bowden cable but will give the spray option a go first.

[tvrjay]

S6 Devil said:

I had problems a while back with the boot not opening so I changed the solenoid. Now when I press the badge there is a faint noise. I have to press the badge several times to open the boot. It seems as if it is warming itself up on each progressive push until finally, at full power it opens the latch.

However, typically at the petrol station the other day it wouldn't open at all and no solenoid noise.
It has since gone back to its slow warm up procedure.

I have the obligatory 2p glued to the back of the badge to ensure it activates the switch.

Any ideas?

Try changing over the door relays, I did this with mine and found that it was then ok and so bought a relay and it was fixed. No cost to prove it!

HTH Trevor

[Basil Brush]

If you need a new solenoid Maplins do one that fits for 8 quid. My boot one packed up a couple of years ago.

[T350 Al]

nawarne said:

...its all the cranks and rods with the bowden cable to the lock that start to seize-up.
Nick

Not quite, in my experience at least: the problem with the solenoid is that, as it's wired into the alarm system, it only gets a short pulse of 12v when you press the button (holding it in doesn't extend the pulse); strange but it seems to be the way the controller does things. This isn't enough to get the solenoid firing again. My way around it was to wire in a seperate supply from a push button mounted on the transmission tunnel, with a feed from the cigarette lighter. This allows you to apply the 12v for a much longer time and seems to get things moving again without having to strip everything down to get it manually moving again by hand.

[tvrjay]

tvrjay said:

S6 Devil said:

I had problems a while back with the boot not opening so I changed the solenoid. Now when I press the badge there is a faint noise. I have to press the badge several times to open the boot. It seems as if it is warming itself up on each progressive push until finally, at full power it opens the latch.

However, typically at the petrol station the other day it wouldn't open at all and no solenoid noise.
It has since gone back to its slow warm up procedure.

I have the obligatory 2p glued to the back of the badge to ensure it activates the switch.

Any ideas?

Try changing over the door relays, I did this with mine and found that it was then ok and so bought a relay and it was fixed. No cost to prove it!

HTH Trevor

Sorry for the naff description I meant door control ECUs.
Rgds, Trevor