I received one of ketel's old cat TCUs today which he had agreed to send me. I wanted to tear it apart to see if I could rebuild it and possibly clone the circuit so that a cheaper replacement could be fabricated. Before I started to tear it apart I tested it and found that it was working perfectly. So I wasn't about to destroy it and will return it to him. Some good did come out of this as I was able to test it with my $28 replacement thermocouple which also worked perfectly. To uses these thermocouples it will be necessary to use the old connector from a bad thermocouple and to get some fittings to allow mounting in the exhaust. Still, at $28 plus a few dollars for mounting hardware it's a lot cheaper that the $200+ at Ricambi. I'll post the source when I get around to making sure it can be mounted easily.
Ernie - No real progress here. I haven't had a ton of time to mess with the 355 so I'm pretty much getting the 4-5 codes that I left with in LA: 1448 0134 1115 1119 I am taking it to a local independent who's respected in the Fcar circles around here that seems to think he can smog it with a workaround despite these codes. He says he's never had a 355 fail, so we'll see. I'm skeptical but I'll listen to his approach. It's not that I've given up trying to do all this myself, but FBB felt I needed to go back into the ECU and re-crimp a lot of the connectors. That job was daunting enough the first time so I am not persuaded that re-opening that nightmare is going to add much value. As we have all learned, this is a 2-steps forward, 1-step back process. In other words, you fix one problem and in the process cause another problem. So it never ends. I must say as much as these cars are so fun when they run right, MY GOD does Ferrari have a lot to answer for. On the plus side, I did have a fun drive through wine country yesterday. She ran well (relative to what I know given my car has never run as it should, so I have nothing to compare it to). She still cavitates at idle and she's has trouble cold starting, so I will likely need to investigate whether new ignition wires and plugs may be in my future. ketel
But a bunch of codes went away after I replaced a handful of the worst crimped pins. We ran out of time to tackle the rest but we know the solution. You just need to implement it. Make sure the tech knows the history otherwise he is going to be chasing his tail and you are going to have a nice big bill for shop time and no progress which will just reinforce what a pita these cars are in your mind. FBB does not feel you need to recrimp connectors. FBB ABSOLUTELY SAYS YOU NEED TO RECRIMP EVERYTHING I SAW. There are probably more. In your defense the beer was flowing pretty good by the end of the day and maybe something got lost in trasnlation. This gold connector kit is not for everyone. For some it is an extremely difficult task. It says nothing about how smart or skilled you are. Some are just not suited to this task. My mom is 75 years old a great cook and still burns toast in a toaster! That's just life. My Mom just should not make toast. The foundation of good running is the electronics. You got cross talk among pins, wires not connected, pins not well seated in the connectors, and male pins not making full contact with female pins. You have not "fixed one problem and created another." You have started with problems and failed at the fix. So you still have the original problems plus a whole host of new problems with inadequate new connections. New failures are just waiting to happen. Throwing good money after bad is new plugs and new ignition wires when you can't even assure decent communication from the ECU to those wires. My friend I do not think your car is never going to run right until you fix all those connectors or have someone else fix those connectors. I only changed about the worst 8 of the 70 ECU pins and like 6 codes disappeared. Then one wire fell off the 02 sensor someone else was working on. What are the rest of the connection like? Yes it is possible that the code lie somewhere else but you got to start at the beginning and work your way out. Look at the work gothspeed is doing. He is finding simple crosstalk between plug wires and weak coolant temp sensors in otherwise good running cars is totally screw up fuel mixtures. Dave Helms is finding connection problems screw up fuel mixtures. Mixture control problems are killing cats, headers, and valve guides in low mileage cars that "feel" like they drive fine. You have already put on at least 1000miles with bad mixture control. Don't end up with a $20,000 repair bill.
FBB - OK, you've motivated me to want to wade back into that gnarly ECU project. One concern I have is how to get those small pins back OUT of the ECU that appear to be crosstalking with the other pins. I am happy to recrimp them but felt that once those suckers go into the terminal plug they are in for good. You obviously proved that that is not the case because I saw you retract several of them, recrimp them, and re-insert. I don't have the surgical hands you have, so please enlighten me on the best way to retract those faulty terminals so I can address the poor crimps. ketel
Can anyone advise me on how long it takes to do the entire Gold Connector Kit for a 355 in terms of overall hours? Ketel, if you had to do it all over again, would you have installed this kit? Thanks
FTanner - As to time commitment, since this is such a fiddly job most people (including me) would recommend spacing out this project over a series of weekends or whatever your schedule can accommodate. You absolutely need to take your time and be methodical. Some folks have suggested doing GCK as a winter project when they know the vehicle will be off the road for the season and they can utilize that down time to address all the bits and pieces that the kit requires before the spring thaw. I definitely took longer than is typical but, then again, I had some atypical problems to contend with when I began. My 355 was not running well and I had a flurry of CELs. My hope was that the GCK install would clear some of these phantom running issues. Because of that, I took the approach of doing only a few sensors at a time and then driving/clearing the faults to see if the new terminals solved the issue. In this manner, if a "new" problem or CEL arose, I could more easily identify which sensor of the ones I just swapped out was to blame. As to whether I would do it again, I'd say that if I had to answer that right now, I'd say that I probably still would do it, but perhaps would have done other things first. This is a tough call. In the process of doing GCK I learned a TON about my 355 and it's safe to say that had I not undergone this baptism by fire, I would not possess this knowledge now. That knowledge, ironically, has helped guide me to solutions for some of my running problems. So, in retrospect, had I not done GCK I would have likely ended up even more frustrated with my 355 and ended up at the mechanic's earlier with my tail between my legs and my checkbook out ready to take the pain. I know this is a long-winded answer but I still believe that ULTIMATELY my 355 will run better because I did GCK. That said, this is an explosive topic -- see my earlier thread that went 47 pages and was shut down due to all the flaming. Hope that helps. ketel
Ketel, I agree 100% that you will learn a ton about any car by working on it. I'm sure this experience has been as frustrating as it's been educating. But, with all due respect, and I mean that very sincerely, I think you are in denial with the expectation you have for the GCK. It's human nature to feel some benefit to spending a bunch of cash and time and not admit it was a wasted effort. Trust me, I've been there. My Leatherique experience is not that far different....
All I can say dave is that you are out to lunch. And I mean that respectfully. You are so hung up on condemning the GCK kit that you cant see the forest for the trees.
Well like I said that day (you guys drinking too much beer). The best option is to buy 50 cheap tin pins from moser and practice until you can crimp a pin as good as the factory pins. If you can't do that then send the car out to someone who can. Assuming you can crimp as needed then look in your gold kit box. I took the old ECU plug apart for you. It is in 3 pieces. There are still some pins that need to come out of there. Put it back together and now you have a clean blank plug to start over. The problem now is you are worse off than factory. So you want to at least get back there. That means you can use tin pins, or gold pins or get more SRI gold pins. I do not believe that a tin pin is a tin pin and a gold pin is a gold pin just like we see huge variations in quality of bolts. You can decide for yourself but I know SRI pins work. For my own project I could have bought the cheap mouser gold pins but I spent the money for tried and true totally tested not only by others but in my other maranello. It is funny a few years back people where saying that some were idiots for paying more for dayco belts that said Ferrari on them. Later we all figured out why the Ferrari Dayco belt is better.
Bold statements from someone who has never seen what condition Ketel's car is in. Have you ever had a SRI gold kit in your hand or are you just talking? You started a very nice thread on your need for 15 minute idle to warm your 355. Please make sure you open your garage door so you get some oxygen to your brain.
Once again, FBB or whoever you are, from where ever, you need to insult people to make your point. Believe what you want but facts are facts. Ketel thought this magic kit would solve his problems and it did not. Perhaps you are the one that needs some clean air....
Sorry I'm not insulting you. Facts are facts right? You have never had a gold kit in your hand. It is hard to talk about something you only know through website pictures? A brochure? We are all ears to hear of your experience with the gold kit. You haven't seen Ketel's car right? You condemn the gold kit and talk about the "magic" not working. Is there anyone here that thinks a crimp like these are going to work well? Now this picture is fact and I got more. Fact is, it is pretty hard to fault the gold kit with crimps like that. In defense of Ketel, this is no easy task. There is technique involved in getting a good crimp. There is at least one Pro on here I got on for a picture of his bad crimp. So no one is immune from making bad crimps. In industry it is known that the last thing you want are hand crimps because of the high variability in quality. But sometimes that is the way it has to be done. Image Unavailable, Please Login
FBB, as discussed to death in the other thread, I believe (yes, I, if you don't agree, I respect that), the benefit comes from a fresh connection and the same results could be had with new OEM connection and gold has nothing to do with it. I know you don't agree even though others has provided facts from the manufactures and experts in the connector industry.
WOW!!!!!!! I was going to stay out of this but those pins are identical to the ones I sourced from Mouser (part number 571-2-964286-1) for $0.28 sense each. At this point I really don't care if you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Good Witch, that cows can fly, that Elvis is alive and the GCK. At $1500, the number I have heard kicked around, this is one colossal ripoff! That kit should come in a yellow box with black jackasses on it and the yellow should be gold foil. Kettle, if you harness is that F'ed up there is one solution that will assure you good new connections with good crimps, Ferrari Part # 170657, $2900. Not only do you get all new pins, all new connectors, all new boots, machine crimps, and new wires too! Also kettle, I still have the TCU. It's packed and ready to mail but I haven't gotten to the PO. Juts letting you know it's not lost in the mail. And you are doing the right thing by taking your car to an indy to diagnose and correct. Sorry you were hoodwinked by GCK bullies here a FChat. After all, if you heard it on FChat, it must be true. Ha! Image Unavailable, Please Login
God almighty Cerberus has risen! FEB they can't leave it alone. 2 heads have spoken, can the 3rd be far behind?
