CEL 1/4 light

Well, the first day the new spider arrived by delivery the sun was out, the body was shinning the top was down but...... Started her up to let it warm up before the victory drive and noticed the CEL 1/4 light remained on. The idle was stable at 1000 but the light would not go out. Shut it off before the drive and thought about it for an hour or so. Started it back up and the light was on, then a few minutes later the light went out and the idle started acting up from 1000 to 1800 back to 1000 a couple of times, then from 1000 down to 700 and back to 1000 then down to 700 or so and stalled but the CEL 1/4 light remained off. Now I'm completely confused and needles to say frustrated. How can you have a beauty and not be able to drive. Any suggestions before I call a local dealer and have it towed in for what I'm sure would be a huge expense (it always is right?) Im a fast learner but inexperienced. The car had been driven only infrequently prior to arriving, had a major done about a year ago, 2 new fuel pumps recently installed according to previous owner. There was also a slight whine sound going before the idle started moving around and stalled, and a double ping each time the engine is turned off. I don't think it's an alarm, maybe the stereo ??? not even close to sure what that is or if it's related to anything...... ANY HELP would be grealy appreciated!!

 

You have come to the right place - tons of info on here. The first thing I would recommend is reading No Doubt's 348 primer, specifically the section on pulling your error codes. That will get you started in the right direction, and the real smart 348 Brotherhood guys will be along shortly...

http://www.club348.com/technical/Tech/348.html#ECUcodes

Edit: Your 95 348 has the 2.7 Motronic system. From memory, some candidates for your symptoms might be crank sensors, phase sensor, throttle position sensor and/or degraded connection terminals at those locations.

 

Steve - first off, don't worry, cels and irradic idle are common issues and easily fixed. But.... you are at the stage (new Ferrari owner) where you are going to have to decide where you belong - are you a DIY'er or will you be taking it to a tech. The only reason I say this is because if you are going to be doing most of the work yourself you are going to have to start reading the 348 data resources. Sooner or later you will have to bite the bullet on this necessity. As just posted, No Doubt's primer is the place to start.

I was a very green 348 owner a year ago but the amount of good info on this site combined with the integrity of the fellas here will bring you up to speed quickly if you have the time, desire and aptitude for it.

I never imagined that I would get as much satisfaction working on the car as I do driving it - but I do....!

Good luck.

Troy

 

Eric & Troy, thank you both so much for your comments, it's easy to feel lost at first. I plan to become as much of a hands on person as I'm able and look forward to learning my way around. I've read the primer on club348 and it is a HUGE resource. One stupid question, when it says the right or left bank for the ECU's is the left behind the drivers seat and VV? Depends if you're looking from the front or back ?? Does it make sense to try to reset that particular ECU rather than replace it straight away? I'll print out the primer portion and run the checks and then come back to post what I find. It really is wonderful that this forum is here and that people are generous enough to share their thoughts. Hopefully one day soon, I'll be able to return the favors. Much appreciated

 

just for future info, where/who did the car come from. Was PPI done before purchase??? and if so by who? based on the description the car sounds familiar

 

PS. odds are 90% this is a cheap and easy fix. Might be as simple as picking up some Stabilant 22 on your lunch break!!!

 

Right and left from viewing the car from behind - so 5/8 bank is behind the driver side (left-hand drive vehicle) and is the left bank; 1/4 bank is right side. Also note that your CEL lights are set up the same way in the dash pod - 5/8 is on the left, 1/4 on the right.

Before replacing anything, follow the directions from the 348 Primer to retrieve your codes from the ECU's - don't reset or disconnect the battery beforehand, this will erase your codes. Check both ECU's and post the codes you get; there is also a guide in the primer for what the codes mean, and common faults (and solutions) for the codes.

The electrical systems in these cars can cause a lot of headaches until they are sorted out. Before going out and replacing anything, check your ground cables, battery quick-disconnects and clean the connector pins and terminals with a wire brush and electrical contact cleaner on your main sensors (MAF, igniters, coils, TPS, crank sensors, etc.) It goes without saying, but be safe and disconnect your battery before unplugging sensors, ECU's, etc.

Again, step one is to pull your error codes.

 

sadly I have some knowledge of this car. The new owner and I can discuss that behind the scenes. The trouble shooting advice he gets in this thread is still the best info he can get.

 

I used to be big on Stabilant, but not so much now. While it initially seems to provide a favorable result, with repeated use over time it builds up a varnish-like layer on the electrical terminals and may actually make the problem worse. I recommend cleaning first with wire brush and electrical contact cleaner, and if that doesn't work the terminals may need replacement as I had to do on my car using Dave's connector kit.

 

That does not sound good. They can all be made "good cars" as long as it hasn't been crashed/abused/neglected badly. Good luck to the OP.

 

Sounds like a new brother might be in need of some big time help everyone - Steve let us all know what you need. I hope all works out for you.

 

spoke to the OP via PM, he has driven the car a little more and the CEL has gone off and stayed off. Possibly a dirty O2 sens. I did strongly encourage him to pull codes and post them here so we can be sure all is well

 

With a little niave tinkering (and lots of time with Rollol on the phone) I pulled the connectors apart and pushed them back together on the two ECU's and under the hood pushed in any plastic connectors pieces I could see. There didn't seem to be any residue or moisture on any of them. Since it had not been driven nearly at all over the past year and it was on empty I went out and put 5 gals of premium in the tank. Opening the gas cap the first time there was a significant release of pressure (to me, more than normal but what do I know yet). With gas in the car it started up, the lights came on for both banks and went out straight away. Took it for a 45 minute drive and no surge in the idle, no lights on the dash, and a big grin on my face Another short drive yesterday afternoon, shut it off when hot, and it started right back up no problems or indicators. IMO it needs a little highway time at speed (legal ?) to clean it out a bit too. One curious thing which may have nothing to do with anything.. The clock was flashing 00:00 when i got it, so I set the time and at next start up the time was correct but flashes. maybe it's just a button to push ?? Thank you again for all the help and encouragement so far.. I'm sure thre will be plenty of more rookie questions as we go along but I couldn't be happier to have the car and a new member of the brotherhood !!

 

Steve, the pressure release from the gas cap is normal. These cars were built to be driven - letting them sit for long periods of time is worse than putting lots of miles on IMO (seals can dry up, batteries drain, etc.) A long drive through all the gears and rev range is called for!

Another 348 owner had the blinking "correctly set" time recently; I can't recall if he found a resolution, but doing a search in this sub-forum may yield some results. With the age of these cars it would be unusual to encounter a problem that somebody else hasn't already had to sort out.

It sounds like your 348 is behaving now - enjoy a great drive this weekend and (on behalf of Ernie) welcome to the Brotherhood!

 

You mean on behalf of all of us...............................welcome to the 348 Brotherhood.

 

Great news!

One thing you may not have been informed about yet is the issue of water and the 348. Our cars are not good swimmers. Washing your car with a hose or getting caught in a heavy rain can easily cause CEL's and limp modes if you have any poorly sealed electrical connectors.

Best of luck.

 

I have the same thing going on with mine 1/4 came on but went off after a while then did it again. this morning it acted as if it did want to stay running but smoothed out...unfortunately i dis connected the battery so now i have to start from scratch

also, my idle is high 11,000 and it fluctuates

anyone with any ideas? i do have test pipes and X-ost

 

The two main connectors I checked the seating on were the two Cat ECU plugs on each side and the cam idle connector on bank 1/4. Maybe it was these or just plain luck but it's smooted out nicely.