I have had a '91 Testarossa for a couple of weeks and have some queries: Do both radiators have cooling fans? The offside on mine custs in ok but if it has one on the nearside, this doesn't work. Is this likely to be the fan itself or a sensor? The car feels 'twitchy' on fast bends. This afternoon I was doing around 100 on the motorway {freeway} on a bend my '96 Accord {!} will go round happily flat out - 115+ - and the Ferrari felt very nervous. It felt unstable and was difficult to keep in the lane. The bend is only very gentle - bend is an overstatement. Are aftermarket brake discs any good or does it have to be genuine Ferrari. I think one or both of my fronts are warped and I've never had any success having discs skimmed? TIA Andy
The both radiators have their own fans. The R/H side also has two smaller fans for the oil cooler which is stacked aft of the radiator and it's fan. My buddy had the same problem with his L/H radiator fan. The thermal switch (also mounted on the L/H radiator) was fine. The problem was traced to melted connectors on the back of the main printed circuit board in the front of the car. A little cleaning, realignment and resoldering fixed the problem. The melted connectors are a common problem on TR's. Your handling issues point to a number of possibilities. Worn suspension bushings, worn steering rack, the wheels front and rear are out of alignment or your tires are "Tired". There shouldn't be any reason why a competent person can't grind and true your rotors. If the brake pedal still pulses then either the rotors weren't ground far enough or you have a jammed caliper or loose mounting. There is a limit to how far you can go with this though. Grind past minimum allowance and you lose integrity and heat disapation.
Andy -- Unplug the "j" white connector at the bottom of the fuse panel (lower left of the 4 as you face the fuse/relay panel -- and you have to unplug the one above it too to get enough access). Check the condition of the 2nd from right and 5th from right terminals -- if they look like those in the attached photo they could be the problem. You can also do a fairly easy functional test beforehand (with everything plugged in and ignition key "on" but engine not running) to better confirm the problem. Remove the corresponding water fan relays (H & L) and touch a jumper wire from the 30 terminal of the relay socket (the top middle vertical slot) to the 87 terminal of the relay socket (the bottom middle horizontal slot). When the jumper is added at each H or L relay socket the corresponding water fan should run. Unfortunately, as DJ said, not an uncommon TR problem... PS Give your location in your profile, and your TR version if you know it (although I think all TR versions are the same with respect to the water fan electrics)
I believe the 92 TR should have 1 fan for each rad,most likely a switch gone bad As for your handling problem, its probably needs an alignment cus mine never does that On the brake issue, dont bother buying Ferrari brake parts, they are too much $ & not nearly as effective as other brands. Brembo has a brake upgrade kit for your car If you nly want to replace rotors & pads try http://www.porterfield-brakes.com
"Do I need to disconnect the battery before I unplug any of the connectors. It has a 'Toad' alarm fitted and I'm paranoid about screwing it up." -- No, you don't need to disconnect the battery to unplug the white connectors.
hey steve (91 tr) you are the best! i had the same problem and followed steves instructions and fixed it. i also replaced both relays to be safe @ $6.00 each. only thing i didn't do was re-wire connections because i did'nt have confidence to get that far in. my plastic was melted around the connectors so i just scraped, cleaned, filed and retightened all connections. hey steve do you think i still should get back in and re-wire? my freind who is much more mech. inclined said he would supervise.
That's very kind of you to say tommy. I wouldn't be surprised if you have the same problem again eventually as you're really just back to the original conditions (and maybe a little worse off since the protective plating on the male and female contacts is probably gone now), but as long as it's working I wouldn't futz with the re-wiring yet. My guess is that the air quality (moisture content, pollutants, etc.) might have a big influence on this problem (corrosion of the connector mating surfaces due to the current heating) so maybe not every TR everywhere will exhibit this (bad) effect. One thing you might try as a possible preventative measure is using some copper-filled conductive paste (if you can find it) on the contacts. Many moons ago I bought a small tube of such Cu paste thru an ad in "Old Cars Weekly", but I've not come across it recently (but I haven't looked either). Are all of your other white connector contacts in good shape? I had to rewire not only the water fan connections, but also the AC and fuel pump connections (and I should probably do the oil fan connection too since it's in the same family).
actually steve, i noticed 2 other areas that were a little burndt on the upper white connector. i also cleaned and tightened those up. hey steve while i have you on the line, i noticed my a/c wasn't blowing too cold last time out so what could i troubleshoot for that? thanks
Well, the easy things are: 1. Check the sight glass on the top of the dryer for refrigerant flow, and 2. If that seems OKish, feel the airstream exiting the condensor in the LH front wheel well -- should be a strong hot blast. The good news is that the TR AC system isn't anything special and any AC shop should be able to easily make some high side and low side pressure measurements to confirm/deny health -- good hunting...
