Fulvia sport tailgate mechanism

[Spider2]

Hi
Trying to get the tailgate motor working. Now established all electrical parts working OK. The problem lies in the screw jack and surrounding structure. It is so worn and wobbly the motor simply jams.
Does anyone know if this part is available, new or used? Or maybe somebody has overhauled one in the past and can give me some hints
Thanks.
Simon.

[andyps]

Mine wasn't moving far due to a build up of pretty solid crud over the thread, I cleaned it up a little and used my favourite penetrating fluid/lubricant (Bulldog BDX - https://lubricantsuppliers.com/bulldog-bdx/ ) and it works very well now.

[Spider2]

Thanks Andy
Given mine a thorough clean with no effect. In fact it is worse as I think the ‘crud’ was holding it all stable.
When I look down the hole at the top end, the screw jack is not central with the hole so the screw jack is askew and the sliding portion of the mechanism has a lot of slop. Going to take it all apart today and see if I can fix/shim/bodge the whole assembly. At some point a previous owner took the limit switches out of the circuit so over time the motor had been overrunning and I think put strain on the whole mechanism.
Am looking to find a used one if anyone has one lying around their garage.

[lancialulu]

Are we talking Series 1 or 2. The limit switches were wired differently in S2. I do not have my parts book handy so I dont know if there was a change of the jacking unit as well?? Have you tried Omicron for a spare unit?

[Spider2]

Have emailed omicron and waiting for reply.
It is a series 1. I have disassembled the screw jack and can see exactly what the problem is. There is an H shaped receptacle that the screw of the jack screws into and the H frame is kept central and inline,  but with just a minimum of play, with two hard rubber/Bakelite inserts that go down the sides of the H. Both have disintegrated and a PO tried to bodge with pieces of rubber. This causes the H frame to be out of true and jam the motor. I may be able to manufacture something but getting the right texture of material could be tricky.

[Spider2]

I have finally got my series one sport tailgate motor and mechanism working well. Firstly, the screwjack mechanism needs to be re-assembled fairly carefully. The casing screws of the worm drive and the end shaft nut need to be tightened carefully and not too tight. To loose and the worm drive jams, too tight and it binds. That is why there are anti vibration washers on all those.
Now to the motor. I believe the series 1 is different to the series 2. On the series 1 they use a Ducellier motor quite  often used as early Ferrari and Maserati window motors. They can be very powerful and high torque motors. I say can be because they can be wired up two different ways depending on how powerful you want the motor. The motor has dual opposite wound field windings, so reversing the motor dimply uses the other field winding. That is why there are 2 positive wires coming from the switch. There is a third positive wire coming from the switch that goes direct to the brushes and a negative earth wire from the motor. Using all 3 + wires makes the motor too powerful for the job and the micro switches will be rammed hard.
The not so powerful method is to use the two field winding positives and use the wire from the motor that would have connected to the third + from the switch as the earth on the frame of the screw-jack. That leaves one unused wire from the switch and one from the motor (the original earth wire).
I have found an electrical workshop in South London who are experts in fixing/re-building these motors so if you are having problems with yours PM me. As you probably have found out replacement motors are as common as hens teeth.
It is also essential that the limit switches are adjusted correctly otherwise the whole mechanism could overrun and either jam or overload the motor.
Hope the above makes sense

[roddy]

Very worth while putting in a relay so as to avoid the full current going through the lovely Ducellier dash switch. The contacts in the switch can and will burn out but the switch comes to bits and new contacts can be created with solder.  By using the Ducellier switch as simply the earthing circuit through a 30amp delay, it delays the inevitable.  The relay can be hidden on the side of the glove box casing, under the dash, and it means the best possible current is going to the hatch motor mechanism.

Regards - Roddy

[lancialulu]

I have just submitted an article on fitting interposing relays to both S1 and S2 so hopefully will come out in VL in due course.

[Spider2]

Hi Tim
I was contemplating putting relays in for both the headlights and the tailgate. The headlights are quite straightforward but the tailgate is slightly more tricky because of the way the S1 uses a dual wound motor. I had worked out that 2 5 pin relays would be needed with the central earth pins of the relays joined together to provide the earth via the relay not in use. But I will wait until your article comes out for the professional solution ! It will be interesting if our two approaches are similar. In the meantime I tend to keep the tailgate cracked open to save the Ducellier switch, that I agree is a beautiful piece of 50’s design albeit rather delicate.

[lancialulu]

Hi Tim
I was contemplating putting relays in for both the headlights and the tailgate. The headlights are quite straightforward but the tailgate is slightly more tricky because of the way the S1 uses a dual wound motor. I had worked out that 2 5 pin relays would be needed with the central earth pins of the relays joined together to provide the earth via the relay not in use. But I will wait until your article comes out for the professional solution ! It will be interesting if our two approaches are similar. In the meantime I tend to keep the tailgate cracked open to save the Ducellier switch, that I agree is a beautiful piece of 50’s design albeit rather delicate.

Sent you a PM
Tim