Manual boot release cable broken... Now what?

[Intrepid]

Hi all,

2009 2+2.

Parked up this afternoon and the boot wouldn't open. Never had a problem before. When I press the button on the fob I can hear the boot release mechanism move like normal, but the boot does not pop up. I went for the emergency handle but it looks like someone has pulled it too hard previously - the conduit is exposed and damaged and no matter how hard I pull (in the correct direction, across the car), nothing happens.

I have tried both manual release and fob release with someone else lightly pressing and lifting on the left, right and centre. 

I have not tried putting 12V to the relay on the basis it's already actuating, just not releasing. 

Any ideas?!

Thank you!

[EuropaSman]

I've heard that the tailgate hinges need to be undone to lift out the tailgate if both the electrical and emergency release mechanisms fail.

Funnily enough the boot release on my Launch Edition played up two weekends ago. The collar that holds the release rod in the boot catch lever fell out. I could hear the actuator working but the boot didn't open.It had been an extremely hot day and the collar was covered in grease. I cleaned up the collar then clipped it back in but decided to put in a preventative measure using a hot glue gun. I don't think the rod had cut through the collar. Whilst the hot glue gun fix looks to be a bit of a bodge it will stop the rod falling our again. Also, if the rod fails the glue is easily removed. I also added a dab of grease to the rod where it passes through the collar.

[EuropaSman]

Photo of a better view of the mechanism is upside down and my phone refuses to save it the right way up.  

[EuropaSman]

Wide shot of the boot release mechanism (the right way up this time).

[Doug Ashley]

How well charged is the battery?

In the early days I hadn't realised how old my car's battery was, and the charge fell to a level low enough that the boot release mechanism was making a noise, but wasn't actually moving much.  Hooking up a power source to the fuse board gave it sufficient voltage to release.  New battery immediately ordered/fitted after this!

Similarly, the manual cable was next to useless, so I've fitted the mysterious backup option (I'm happy to DM for details, but it requires the boot to be open to actually implement).

[Intrepid]

Thanks @EuropaSman! Very useful. 

@Doug Ashleybattery is good for sure, it's pretty new and I've been driving the car since - never any battery problems and even after a long drive it's no better. The backup option is definitely number one on the list when I get it open!!!

I have seen another thread where the owner managed to get access to the cable further rearward by removing the filler neck. May try that as a 'non destructive' option before the vents come out... 

[Phaeton91]

Just on the offchance that it’s a simple issue, was the car relatively level when you were trying to open the boot.  I’ve found that the boot is sensitive to flex in the body, eg if one or two wheels are on a kerb.

[Intrepid]

Unfortunately not, I've been driving the car since and have probably tried opening it in ten different locations now, including the driveway, garage and my parking space at work - no problems at those places before. 

[Intrepid]

Well on what must have genuinely been the 300th try of applying differing pressure in all places and directions, it opened. So now to work out what has gone wrong, fix it, and importantly, install the backup option! 

So if anyone finds this in the future and has the same problem, I would KEEP trying whilst "massaging" the boot lid in every direction and with varying pressure... I assume the 'hammer' was missing by a fraction and I managed to get it to line up. 

[Phaeton91]

Good shout.  Your neighbours must have thought you were stroking the car.

I sprayed a tiny bit of WD40 into the boot lid mechanism, which also seems to have helped.

 

[Rambo]

I find with mine that sometimes you need to press the 3rd button on ghe key fob (boot release) at the same time as pushing the rear wing down and up. It always works for me.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rambo

[hml_xy]

And here comes another Evora 4xx owner with boot release troubles. After getting my clutch replaced, the fuse in the CTEK connector was blown, which prevented me from putting the car on the charger. I made the silly mistake to close the boot even though the battery was dead (trusting that my emergency opener was working fine in the past). Came back with a spare fuse to realise that the emergency mechanism probably wasn´t reattached correctly on the engine-out clutch replacement job. #!"§$)="")§ Argh!

Reading all the helpful tips in old threads here on TLF, I started hooking up 12V to the fuse box in the passenger foot area, puling one of the 40A fuses on the top and hooking power directly to it. Ground attached to one of the bolts in the same area.

I managed to get some of the electronics in the car to come to life, but no matter which one of the 40A fuses I tried, none brought the boot release switch to operate. 

Does anyone have any other ideas? I was thinking about removing the fuse box and trying to hook the whole thing on 12V instead of just some of the fuses. But before I do this I thought I´d ask for some tips. Maybe the motor and relais that unlocks the boot isn´t even powered by the front fusebox?

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Bruss]

I don’t have a workshop manual in front of me but check the rear fuse box behind the pax seat to the side of the rear seat. 

[hml_xy]

Thanks! I´ll do that and will have a look in the workshop PDF...

[Rambo]

My advice is to try the manual bowden cable toggle again but squirt some WD40 at the toggle end to help the cable shift more freely.

Gett an extra pair of hands to rock the rear lid whilst you pull at the correct angle on the toggle. It might just be a sticky latch.

It worked for me, so give it a try.

[hml_xy]

@Rambo Yes, in fact I only tried it on my own so far. Will give it another try with a 2nd set of hands 🙌

[Rambo]

Did it work?

[hml_xy]

I'll give it a try tomorrow, haven't been back to the car just yet  Will keep you posted! 

[MrBlueSky]

Don't mean to hijack you're current boot problems but I had a major panic this weekend when mine (2021 GT410) wouldn't open regardless of the pulling pushing and massaging. Had closed it carefully with my daughters hockey bag inside, no slamming and no loose straps over the latch, (I've done that before and became very familiar with the emerging pull cable mechanism)

Both the door switch and the key fob were working the solenoid and could hear it activate nicely. But the boot was fixed solid even when pressing and pulling. 

Them tried the pull cord. On first pull the cable moved as had expected it to, some slack then felt like it was about to open, then it just went solid. Really thought I was going to break something pulling so hard.

My neighbour, a prestige car recovery guy who is an expert at opening McLaren's with flat batteries came to help.

We pressed, pulled, activated, massaged for 15 minutes. Nothing.

Finally he was using such force that the car rocked back and forwards, while was pulling the cord, and it popped open

I took a photo of the culprit. A plastic tab on the end of one of the bag straps was sitting between latch and hammer. Perfect fit to slot in and somehow prevent both the solenoid and pull cord from activating the hammer. I  think his rocking action must have made the bag roll forward slightly, just enough to release.

In conclusion, beware of anything getting into the gap in the latch.

[Rambo]

Another tip... when using a CTEK or just not using you car for a while, manually spring the locking mechanism (a pencil or your car key will do) and leave the boot down.

That way, if the battery or CTEK goes down, you will still be able to get into the boot without requiring to access the inside of the car.

[DH2]

17 hours ago, hml_xy said:

Does anyone have any other ideas? I was thinking about removing the fuse box and trying to hook the whole thing on 12V instead of just some of the fuses. But before I do this I thought I´d ask for some tips. Maybe the motor and relais that unlocks the boot isn´t even powered by the front fusebox?

Thanks for any help in advance!

I can't remember on the 400, but on the Evora S1, there is main battery cable point available next to the fuse box.

Or remove left rear wheel arch liner and there is main battery junction box available.

Dave

[hml_xy]

Thanks @DH2!

This is what I see in the passenger area fusebox, where would you connect the battery to? Maybe this photo looks similar to what you know from the S1? I am a bit lost as none of the 40A fuse sockets brought the boot unlock mechanism to life.

 

 

[DH2]

19 minutes ago, hml_xy said:

Thanks @DH2!

This is what I see in the passenger area fusebox, where would you connect the battery to? Maybe this photo looks similar to what you know from the S1? I am a bit lost as none of the 40A fuse sockets brought the boot unlock mechanism to life.

Ah OK.  On the S1 the end of the big red cable is accessible, so you can jump straight onto that.   Releasing the fusebox should give you that, and that is direct to battery, so will power everything up.  I think you'd need to power up both sides of Fuse 1 to have the same effect (might not be wise to do this unfused, you'd need to make up a fused jumper lead).

Also be careful of powering up the systems through your small gauge croc clip wire.  You may not be powering much to just release the boot, but easy to overload it.

Dave

[Bruss]

Peel back the red cover and carefully attach the positive red charger lead. Do not use thin gauge wire.

Attach the black charger lead to a close by chassis earth point.

If the solenoid clicks but the boot doesn’t open, its not a battery problem.

[Elite 4.9]

When restoring my Elite and during the process of finding things that needed to be changed or modified, and because this cable still opened the boot but was a great effort put on it for it to work, I made an emergency door on top of the spare tire from underneath a which is connected to a plane inside the boot just in case. 

Just my two cents on a possible future problem

Cheers,

Richard

My simple fix: