F1 light blinking on dash?

I have no other symptoms of a bad battery and when i use my CTEK it goes to green (ie fully conditioned) with regularity. Not sure if this is a totally reliable barometer, but previous bad batteries i've tried to charge wouldn't ever go green

One other interesting quirk that has only happened recently is that the odometer on the car randomly switches to trip computer mode (and seems to flick through miles (?) really damn quickly (??). This happened today with the blinking f1. It also happened yesterday when the car somehow stalled on me when i was moving off. Just more weirdness to add to the party!??

But yeah, as for the battery the car always fires up healthily and i've done 4+ hour drives getting the car home each time etc

 

Is the new problem similar to this?
Also, thinkin about it alittle more (i have a 1999 aswell) and the cars originally had an electrical harness that connected to the alternator which tended to come apart at the alternator. There was an update for this which had an conneciton at the alternator that had more area to crimp more of the cable and reduce the problem of coming apart. How does the cable connected to the alternator look?

 

yeah I spotted that. in and of itself, if that was the only issue i had i wouldn't be too perturbed. what interests me is why does it happen at the same time as the other bigger issue..? i can't help feel that they're happening simultaneously for a reason? lord only knows

 

I would assume all this is happening at the same time because there is an electrical storm somewhere in the system. The peaks are in my mind causing problems with the Odometer while the valleys are causing problems with the transmission. Maybe something similar to this guys problem (which seem to never have been resolved) but your symptoms are much worse due to having the f1.

 

Yup. Endlessly complex..

Another issue that compounds things is in North England there are so few people that can actually help. The few Ferrari specialists around are just snowed under.

I'll write more later but it feels to me that older Ferraris - especially from the 90s era (when cars became less "classically mechanical" in nature) - are just like nightmarish Pandora's Boxes that you might either get lucky with or that might completely consume you.

All I will say, as has been said endlessly, is that manual cars will, by default, remove a host of these imponderable problems

 

This should be easy to diagnose.. But not with traditional diagnostic plug in computer. It's clear that voltage spikes are your cause and the Dtc trouble codes are your result, not the cause...

I've been seeing weird issues with huge voltage spikes measured from a failing immobilizer and alarm units recently which also cause blinking hazards and can even erase settings inside dashboard... Got to be something simple like that.

Thankfully there aren't actually that many ecus in a 360 so it could be pinpointed manually...

But not by your typical point a diagnostic computer at car and press diagnose..

Has anyone even measured voltages yet during running ?

 

I fixed my car ('04 Modena) by removing all the wiring loom Ground connections to the chassis and cleaned and refitting.
Sounds easy, but there are multiple points, the service manual has a good drawing in the wiring section. Good Luck.

 

Could be failed rectifier diode(s) in the alternator. ECUs don't like AC ripples.

 

Thanks.. So you had sporadic f1 blinking and no gears when your car got up to temp?

 

The way the TCU works is that it communicates some messages on the CAN bus of the car and measures sensors such as position of clutch also attached. Many sensors are the older type which don't communicate over CAN but actually generate analogue voltage signals between 0v and 5v. When you get spikes of voltage rather than the real readings (common earth and power) then what happens is those sensors read incorrectly, or more correctly the Analogue to Digital conversion process gets values its not expecting to see. In Bosch speak you have whats known as;

1. Minimum Error (minimum voltage, i.e. below what the sensor is calibrated with).
2. Maximum Error (maximum voltage, i.e. above what the sensor is calibrated with).
3. Signal Error (signal itself is wrong, e.g. fluctuating beyond what a normal sensor would)
4. Non Plausible (signal itself is exhibiting behavior indicating its not possible, eg. due to knowing other signals which counter its reading)

The way sensors work is that many of them generate a resistance that varies with what they are measuring. E.g. Water Temperature NTC sensor. In this case by applying a voltage at a constant rate to it the voltage returned will reduce by a given number of volts. Knowing the resistance varies with temperature you can infer the temperature based on reading back what the voltage is and calculating the voltage drop from the 5v sent. Make sense?

The way the Bosch ECU's work is that they monitor the signal returned from these analogue sensors and trigger a CEL (Check Engine Light) and raise a P-Code. Different ecu's raise different P-Codes. The TCU has its own set.

As you can imagine, if voltage spikes are occurring due to external factors such as a failed alternator voltage regulator, immobilizer unit, etc (which can blink indicators if it starts failing btw and it generates massive voltage spikes hence my suggestion to check it) then these spikes can upset sensor readings and trigger the ecu monitoring of faults functions to trigger 'phantom' sensor fault P-Codes...

..So inexperienced or time pressured techs will just replace the ecu rather than dig deeper and discover its just voltage spikes causing all of this and the ecu's are infact fine. The fact your loosing your F1 gears is just because the TCU cannot work if its sensors are not reading as it expects. Sounds like if it is just spikes there is nothing wrong with the F1 at all and its just a symptom of the voltage spikes.


Hope this makes sense.

 

Makes a lot of sense!!! Thank you for this detailed info. Could well be bang on. I am hopeful I can get to the bottom of this issue with the generous offer to help from Ferrari Chat members. I'll keep everyone posted..

 

Just as another response to this theory...

So say we did have voltage spikes spazzing up the TCU, perhaps manifesting as blinking F1 lights and fault codes... Would that still be enough to also give off the mechanical manifestations I'm experiencing, too? ie the flicking to N and the refusal to give gears?

What I have noticed is a gradual degradation in terms of the shifts... They get clunkier over time / as the drive progresses / as the car heats up. It's almost as though the clunks are a premeditation for the blinking F1 + no gears? That might just be in my head, but it does feel like there's a sense of shift degradation / increased CLUNK effects etc

By the way, the one fault code I have had with the replacement TCU has been "Clutch sensor - error present - value too low"

The CPS has been changed (as well as the F1 pump)

Do you think this plays into your theory?

 

Also... If there's literally *anyone* that has access to an SD2 or SD3 that is local to Manchester and has a free couple of hours, I will gladly exchange your time for a hot (or cold) beverage or two

 

Where’s local to Manchester. I’m in Northwich. Don’t have an SD2 but have something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hi. Something..?

I'm near Heaton Park

 

I have the Launch Diag software. It only really works with the CS TCU. I haven’t read the whole thread so don’t know what’s in your car.

A few posts above there is a comment about earths. That was an issue on my car.
Try cleaning the connection from the battery isolator switch to the chassis. The battery switch actually breaks the earth connection.
It takes minutes and costs nothing and solved a few gremlins on my car.