Cheers, My friend and Neighbour who has 35 years Circuit Board experience has decided to assist me in building a new Circuit Board for my 89 Testarossa. To make it worthwhile for him (and me) I was wondering if any other Testarossa owners out there have been frustrated to this point. I have had lot's of repairs on mine in the past by other people and for once and for all wanted a clean one that is well built. Are there any other people out there that want this as well. I have not been able to find new ones anywhere and was reluctant to ask my neighbour for assistance till now. I showed him a Bosch Circuit Board for my A/C which he repaired and quoted for a complete new one. This led to the idea for the actual main circuit board. Any comments or advice is appreciated. PV908
I cant tell from your thread which circuit board in particular that you are talking about. Do you mean the fuse and relay boards??? p
I agree! A reasonably price option is need. As the cars get older, more problems will occur. A lot of guys do work around solutions because they have no choice. If they had an option, especially a plug in solution. They would go for it.
Gentleman, for related information on this, please read the 400/412 catagory, and read the "burned wiring thread". Gary Bobileff
Although the PWB often suffers damage, the real cause of the trouble is the I^2*R heat generated at the (tiny & few & lightly-loaded) connector contacts points of the high current items. IMO, this is what the "fix" needs to address, not a "better PWB", unless, by a better PWB, you are already including a new connector system in your thoughts -- but sending you the maximum positive mojo regardless
Good day All, Indeed, what Steve is saying makes a lot of sense. Instead of trying to "solve" the symptom, one must investigate and solve the actual problem. Before I would run out and spin a PCB, I would analyze the offending circuits to determine where and what point these circuits fail... Having actual current measurements of the loads as well as losses across the connectors (i.e. how much voltage is lost across the contacts) will shed a lot of light as to the failure point of these circuit(s). Only then will you be armed with the right information to make a suitable replacement PCB and/or connector arrangement. Cheers, Sam
Steve is right, the problem isn't the board but the tiny male connections on the board and female lugs from the wiring harness. There are very tiny fingers on the female contacts that overheat. The heat is conducted down the male pin and reflows the solder on the board and burns the epoxy board. The board is an epoxy base with 4 or 5 mylar layers indexed by solder connections. There are lots of posts about the circuit board and pics. The high current circuits are fuel pumps(2), rad. cooling fan (2), inside heater/air.con fan and maybe oil cooling fan? I repaired my board a couple of years ago and it is easy to do. EVERYBODY SHOULD INSPECT THE WHITE CONNECTORS ON THE CIRCUIT BOARD. Jeff Pintler 89 348tb, 86tr
I agree with all/ most of the comments made, many of the electric components connected to the main circuit board are poor that do require modification as the car ages. However, many circuit boards have suffered from poor repairs or work arounds. I am determined to make some boards up for the Testarossa community. So now I need to know if there are any/many differences from the 84 Testarossa to the 91 version. We think the only way to clearly define this point is to see various samples. Is this a valid way to test, or the only real way to test. If anyone has a board they could loan for this project, it would be needed for 3 weeks. I was hoping to get made the first 20 boards at a break even price of around $400 US or less. Could I buy one cheaper elsewhere? I know the quality from my neighbour would be extremely good. He is wondering if there was a market for older Ferrari's for this type of product. Once again, I appreciate any valid comments.
This is a great idea. I posted a similar thread about three years ago and a forum member in canada explained the that I was unaware of the amount of testing that needs to be done. There is a pdf file with all the connections. I have also posted a couple of pics showing the mylar layers and the epoxy base. I ran into problems with melting the mylar when disassembling the layers and would distroy my boaard in the process. It would be easy to xerox the mylar copper traces and reproduce them.....my thought. But pictures most post are of the melted connectors. So the solution should include connector contact replacement. Also note the schematic is incorrect on one of the circuits that fail. Send me a PM with an email and I can share info. Thanks and good luck. Jeff Pintler 89 348tb, 86 tr
I was thinking the same thing...PC boards themselves are seldom the root cause of a failure, especially big thick ones with robust leads like the relay board. Of course, they are definately in the line of fire if a failure should occur. Just as an amusing side point, on old Blaupunkt radios (as in my 1969 Porsche), the PC Board was made with a "pc fuse" to save the radio as much as possible if a dead short or internal component failure should occur. It had a very thin little connecting lead in the main 12V+ bus (which was at least 1/8" for its normal gauge), as a kind of fuseable link. When mine blew out I had to solder a 3AG fuse in place over it - could not bring myself to bridge it with a wire even if the car itself had it's own fuse. BTW, I didn't see anybody mention it, but for the new board program - was there to be that so-called conformal coating on top of the board runs everywhere except where components are to solder in?
Hi, I just replaced my fusebox by an other one that I prepared with wires only. Mondial is using fuseboxes similar to those Testarossa is using, only the circuits are a bit different. See my thread at http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209843....Ultimate fusebox repair. Everything is working fine. I even discovert things working now that did'nt before.... Greetings, Guido Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi, Mel - passenger window motor is working normaly. Before I connected the incoming contacts from the fuses that are going to driver and passenger window motor, together. The passenger window would not work before. Fuse (passenger window motor) next to fuel pump fuse did always get hot also even that it whas not working. - the switch on the console for parkinglights never worked before. Now the parkinglights are working and gives me a green warning light on my instrument panel. - wiper function with pauze is working now and did not before. Only low/high wiping speed worked before. - the fuelfuse is not getting hot anymore. Before I could not touch it with my fingers. - All the lights seems to be brighter...I did not check this at night so far....and every thing is working normaly, like opening fuel lid, glove box. Before they always needed several attempts before opening. Guido
So after you good work: real enhancements ! Great ! Good posting, we like to learn ! Can anybody tell me if the TR and 512TR boards are fully compatible ?
There is definitely a small difference between and early fuse box and a later one. I bought a perfect fuse box on ebay a few years back out of a 90 tr and it has some differences from the one in my 85. I can email pics if you need.
Great thread and really required reading, but........the boards are not the problem. The contactors are the issue, and the aging equipment attached to the other end of the wiring, like pumps, fans etc. We have seen these appliances getting old and drawing crazy amperage, which in turn causes the crappy connectors to **** themselves, and then the pins on the boards and the associated mylar layers burn. Reduce the heat to the pins by replcaing the connectors and ensuring that high amperage loads are rectified and the boards will have no issues. I applaud the manufacture of another board, but it MUST have different connectors and make allowance for the white female plugs to be cut off and new plugs fitted to meet the new board. If done very carefully, there should be enough wire length to do this job, although it will be tricky. In the end, you might manufacture a new board, replace the connectors and still have issues with either excessive heat or blown fuses if you don't fix the cause of the problem which is generally high amperage draw from the appliances. I did tests a couple of months ago, and my two radiator fans were pulling 17 and 19 amps. Now these are attached to a 20 amp protected curcuit which was designed at factory to run brand new fans which draw 12 amps. I have repaired the board and replaced faulty connectors, but have now purchased two new fans to ensure that my repairs are not being stressed by these high amperage drawing old appliances.
Post your pics up here Jay for us all to see. I'm most interested in the differences between early and later boards.
Good day Robert, Did you try to rebuild your old fans? I ask, as usually one only needs to change the brushes, clean the commutator, and re-lubricate (or replace) the bearings and your old fan would be as good as new. Excessive drag on the bearings and/or high resistance on the commutator/brushes usually accounts for the extra current draw. Cheers, Sam
Woudn't it be possible to remove all the pins and have them replated (maybe even gold plated) before refitting? A lot of work for sure, but I'm sure it would make a better contact, last a lot longer and preserve originality
