Any thoughts on what is causing the main radiator fan to be on all the time ?? Also the check engine and slow down lights for 7-12 flash quickly ever 5 mins or so, and the engine is down on power. Any help would much appreciated, thanks.
I had a similar simptom to your cutting out 7-12 cylinders. It turned out one of the connections in the engine bay was loose. I suggest you go through every electric plug in the engine bay you can get at, unplug, clean with the appropriate electrical connection cleaner and plug back in. See if that take cares of the problem. Cheap, and easy and you cannot screw anything up. Alberto
When you you say the engine is down on power - "is it like running on half the bank on Cylinders?" - check the to exhaust at the back and see if one side is Cold? Also if that is the case do not drive it too long! get it to you dealer, can cause more issues. I have seen this and initially thought it was the wiring loom to the sparks etc., but in the end turned out to be one the "expensive" ECUs was not fully functioning. Sourced a second hand unit and all was well. Also noted that there was a clicking noise coming from the passenger footwell which was not present previously to the issue, this is where the ECUs are located, not sure if you picked up on it. I hope it is just a question of cleaning some electrical contacts - but worth checking the pointers above. kindest regards Aamir
Thats good advice and a possible cause. Also check the leads to make sure they are not cracked or damaged. For the fan I think I remember experiencing something similar on a non F car, and it turned out to be a fuse or something. Basically it wasnt sensing the temp, so the fan ran all the time. Its worth a check and a cheap option. Thanks.
The slow down engine light could be a number of things, therefore I suggest you start from the easiest and cheapest possible problem and work your way up. If the problem is real, it indicates that the catalitic converter is overheating, but it could be also caused by the malfunctioning relay that is connected to each temperature probe. As they are exposed to some water sprays this is not unusual. To test if that is the cause, you can switch the right one with the left and vice-versa and see if the warning light also changes side. If that is indeed what happens, then you know the problem is the relay and nothing else. The relay are located at the top of the side vents and right below the attachment of the struts that hold the hood open. To switch them from side to side is a 10 minutes job. The relay are inexpensive to replace and you can do it yourself. If the light does not change side with the changing of the relay, then it could be the temperature sensor that is bad or it could indicate a combustion problem with that bank of cylinders and an exhaust gas analysis would probably be your next best step to point you in the right direction. As for the radiator fan being on all the time, it could be a number of things again, but you should check that you have no air in the cooling circuit, that your thermostat is opening all the way and that your radiator is clean inside and out. However, since you are experiencing both problems at the same time, chances are they are interconnected and if your engine is overheating on one bank that could trigger both the fan to run all the time and the overheating of one catalitic converter.
I remember a radiator thread here that said the first indication of a radiator problem would be the fan running.
I don't think that should be entirely true, especially if he's getting a slow down light. That excessive heating in the Cat area might be a water colling issue and it could be even a tuning issue, or even a head gasket leaking which plays havac with mixtures in a lot of areas, not to mention the usual suspects noted above: think it's time for a REAL expert, and that is someone who can sort it out. Even the dealers are sometimes remiss on this...which is why I not exclussively go to someone who knows more about those cars....seems I went back to dealer a couple three times for same issue only to redo some of their experiments. Time to get it checked out. The radiator issues on a 456 are reported as a common item.
Thanks for your ideas guys, but I don't think the two things are connected, the fan problem was happening before the flashing lights !! I'm taking the car to a specialist wednesday so will let you know what he finds- if anything !! I think the slow down and check engine lights may just be a faulty connection/bad earth as the cats do not seem to be getting hot at all. I have tried swapping the cat ecu's and the problem stays on the 7-12 side. I have also checked/reseated the afm plugs and a few other plugs in the engine bay with no success. It's a real pain not being able to get some sort of SD1 reader for the car as that would make checking all this stuff so much easier. If anyone knows of a cheap SD1 reader that will work with the car then let me know !! Last week the specialist did get the fan to turn of by resetting the ecu but it's back on again and we ran out of time to check further, hence taking it back on wednesday to let them check stuff when its cool and with more time. Just when I thought things were going well ..... !!!!!
Good luck with your car. I hope it all gets sorted out. It might be worth taking it to a specialist who has the SD1 so that they can have a look.
my maserati cooling fans started running all the time. turned out to be failed relays (2) must be repaired quickly, will ruin alternators, by overworking. if cat is not stopped on one side could be fuel pump/fuse. that happened on a 400i all the best
Would love a 355, but no back seats so wouldn't go down well with the 'trouble and strife' !!! If I give up the FF2000 I will get a 355 as a trackcar !! Update: the rad fan on all the time is a short in the wiring, the lack of power is due to a duff fuel regulator on the 7-12 bank - just waiting on parts so will get the car back next week hopefully and as it is p*ssing with rain here in the UK I don't mind waiting!!!!!
Just got the car back and all is fixed. Rad. fan was an u/s pressure switch in the A/c system, check engine/slow down and lack of power all tied in with the way the alarm had been fitted, basically each banks' ecu is wired via relays to the alarm/immobaliser and this was causing the fuel pump to cut out and hence the lack of power on bank 7-12 and the lights coming on, in addition the 7-12 bank fuel regulator was u/s. The car is now running better than ever. Unfortunately these issues took the specialist quite a bit of time to find out where the faults were, hence it cost me quite alot of money- oh joy !! So the first year of ownership is starting to get pretty expensive !!! This car is starting to get more expensive than my racing car !!! This is the downside of having a car with OB1, as it is just beyond the diy'er to fix/trace faults without an SD1. I'll just have to carry on sorting the other easy jobs like the drivers seat back motor and the passenger seat return not working !!! One upside though, over the weekend I traced to dirty fuel/blocked idle jets, what was causing my race car engine's intermittent pick-up/lack of power issue, started both races from the back (16th) and finished 7th in each race !!(my best result this season)
Yes, it is a TOAD alarm fitted before my ownership, so will probably upgrade it in the near future as it seems to have not been fitted very well.
In my Mondial T I had an after market alarm with 'alarming' problems: Took it out right away, whomever wired it, just took over fuse spots and hoped for the best......garbage.
I also had a problem with 7-12 cutting out. It turned out it was the Catalyst Temperature Control Station. I found the solution to the problem here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=208064&highlight=running+cylinders
