Boot Lid Popping Open

[PatHeald]

My boot lid ocasionally pops open.

It has been suggested to me that the solenoid might be faulty. It seems unlikely to me. Has anyone experienced this?




Rather than just pressing the lid closed, mine presently requires slamming before the latch will lock.

If the catch on the lid is adjusted so that the boot can simply be closed by pressing down on it, it leaves an unacceptably wide shut line.

I suspect that the latch is not fully locking, allowing it to pop open from time to time.



Has anyone experienced these problems and found a solution?

Cheers

Pat

[Big Al.]

Make sure you have some grease smeared on the mechanism, "NOT WD40" and make sure the latch is free moving. If that latch is OK then would suggest that the solenoid is on it's way out.

[nibor]

The boot lid on my Griffith had the same problem last year.The last time resulting in the boot opening along the pit straight at castle combe A new solenoid was fitted haven't had a problem since

[icb]

Had same problem with mine and told at Gorners not to slam it shut as bouces back a bit on the seal. Now just push it down firmly and no problem.

[simon.b]

I had the same problem, still do from time to time.

It’s one of those TVR quirks I guess we all just live with, I can now tell by the sound and feel if the latch has fully engaged. If you just slam it shut, it doesn’t stay that way for long.

Cheers,

Simon.

[Ian Lewis]

It's all to do with ajustment of the latch itself.
I had to replace my solenoid when the operation button jammed in.

When fitting the new solenoid, I had to adjust the latch so that it would lock correctly.
When you open the boot the solenoid releases the latch. So when you close the boot the latch pulls the solenoid back to locking position.
I was told to close the boot, then push it down firmly.
Never slam the boot shut.

Hope this makes sense

Ian

[SteveGRF]

Its happened to me a couple of times, embarasingly just after putting some high speed distance between iritating tail gaiters. Indicate, pull on to hard shoulder, push boot properly closed, whilst avoiding eye contact with passing tail gaiters

Steve

[PatHeald]

I have finally fixed the problem.

After many fruitless hours adjusting the catch and the hinges on the bootlid, I had reached the point where the bootlid could be pressed closed, but the shut line was too wide.

The solenoid seemed to be fully functional, so I was reasonably confident that this wasn't the problem.

I then took the lock itself off.

In time honoured TVR fashion, it is a nasty piece of work.

It is peened together, rather than assembled with screws, so it cannot readily be taken apart. Mine wasn't sufficiently tightly assembled, so the two opposing parts of the mechanism had loads of lateral movement, allowing the lock to snap open.

A few deft blows with a hammer tightened up the pins that hold it all together.

It has now been reassembled and works a treat. The boot can be gently pressed closed, the shut lines are as good as they ever can be on a Griffith and a long blat on a twisty and bumpy road has failed to pop the thing open.

Ideally, the pins could be drilled out and the whole thing reassembled with machine screws holding it together, and the spring that operates the lock replaced with a slightly stronger one, but I shall see how things progress with the current fix.

Cheers

Pat