So my F355 is winking at me non-stop

Hey guys,

Just when I thought I had seen it all in my 12+ years of owning and working on Italian cars...

I don't know when exactly, but at some point either last night or this morning, my right front headlight entered what appears to be an unending series of up-down cycles. The key was not in the car, and the car was locked.

The car just had a big engine-out service, and I just picked it up yesterday afternoon! I had it detailed, too, so I wonder if some moisture got into the headlight motor connections. Couldn't find anything on this forum, but I found a post on the Club Scuderia forum, and the same thing happened after a guy had washed his car:
https://www.clubscuderia.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?15694-F355-headlight-problem

Here's a video I took, for your amusement:


Anyway, obviously I disconnected the battery. Next week when I have some time I'm going to clean out the connectors. I'm thinking that maybe it took some time for some water to get trickle down and cause this to happen.

 

The way the connector boots and seals on these cars have deteriorated the idea of water around these cars is scary.

 

Check the relay as well. I'd probably check that first...
Either way, should be a simple fix.

 

If you want to drive the car (in the daytime), pull fuse #2 in the forward luggage compartment or remove relay C.

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The graphic is for an earlier car, but the relay and fuse numbering/lettering is the same as a '98 car.

Possibly relay C is faulty. Try interchanging it with relay B to see if the problem swaps sides.

Relay D is involved in the headlight lifting process, but I would think that that would affect both sides.

 

+1, but the 355 WSM copy that I have has relay B controlling the LH headlight motor and relay C controlling the RH headlight motor (so it would be relay B being bad -- if you are lucky ). (I think) the schematic also shows the headlight lifting motors have some built-in cam-driven switches to detect when up or when down -- so a bad contact there could cause some weird behavior. So if swapping the relays has no change, the next step might be swapping the headlight lifting motors (which would give you a chance to inspect/reseat their connectors). However, (I think) they mangled the headlight lifting motor symbols on the schematic a bit so am a little unsure about things.

 

Ooops... I read the text rather than looked at the video...

 

Not your fault -- the OP misdescribed it (which is why I pull my hair out when someone uses "front bank" or "rear bank" when talking about a 308 engine problem).

 

No cams per se, just a dead spot in the conductive surface (3 metal fingers run across the conductive surface).

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The contact fingers are hard to see in this photo because of the grease:

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Rusty surfaces are common on the conductive surface. Also, broken fingers (causing shorting and other problems).

 

Diagram for 5.2 USA (non-F1) car here:

https://www.dropbox.com/t/ASxbfhFDMkpsjKje

 

As per Steve's corrections... pull fuse 3 or relay B

 

Not a displacement cam, but still something that could be considered being in the cam family IMO (i.e., something changes with shaft rotation position). Not sure how to best show something like that in a schematic symbol, but I definitely don't like what they did show in the schematic symbol -- which is nothing at all to show that there is a physical relationship between the rotating shaft and the switches. Good photos and explanation -- thanks for posting.

149134, 172534, 149133, 172535

 

What if the car is simply possessed by a Demon that thinks he's hot?
There, fixed.

 

Lol, my bad

 

Same issue with my 456. Actually sold this video to a "Viral video" company and they offered me several hundred bucks for it LOL. Pretty hilarious to look at but also very very dangerous. My daughter who was pretty small at the time was super intrigued and went very close to it before I even realized it was happening. Could have mangled her hand or taken our fingers. The car was turned off, no key in ignition, lights off, locked and had been parked for several days. Crazy stuff

 

Pretty sure that's the high front speed air brake mechanism, it alters sides to keep the pressure even.

 

A forerunner to the active aero on a Pagani Huayra...

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One flap lifts up when cornering.

 

Hahahahhaa that was amazing. Love it.

 

UPDATE: The problem went away on its own. Headlights work normally now. Put the fuse back in the other day, and there was no more winking.

 

Glad it's working.

A reference point to consider: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/355-headlamp-pod-going-strange.393013/

 

Maybe this video will help. I can answer any questions you might have.