Not yet but that is happening here in about an hour or so. Here’s my question. I got a hold of an early 355 switch. Looks the same and the wire colors are the same other than the two small beige wires that I assume operate the door buzzer or something. Will the switch from an early 355 work in my later model 348? It’s not just that the engine won’t run though. I have NO accessories whatsoever. No instrument lights none of that. I have hazard lights and power locks. That’s it. Yes. That’s the one. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I’ll not mince words here in the slightest. I feel like a damn Idiot. On the left is the 355 ignition switch I found on eBay. I took a chance on this one because the local Ferrari specialist here in upstate S.C. said it would not work and it operated entirely different than my stock unit. I just don’t see how that could be. They are identical. The electrical portion is a mirror image of what was in my car. On your right you will see the stock electrical portion from my car. I can’t believe I didn’t catch this. That my friends had to be why I have no accessory power I would likely say? Doesn’t explain the puff of smoke from the passenger footwell at all but I’m going to just run with it and go ahead and put the now mated lock and electrical switch mechanism back in my car and cross my fingers as tight as I ever have as a child wishing for a miracle my mother wouldn’t find out that I really was the one that spilled kool aid on her Antique Lavar Kerman rug. The stain is still sorta there even after almost 30 years. Hopefully this too will work out for me and be the end of this fiasco. Wish me luck and again. I do really appreciate all of the helpful pointers and useful insight regarding this matter that should have never even come about. As I said before. I am sorta new to the Ferrari world although I did have a mondial prior and at the same time early on in the ownership of this car in particular. I learned quite a bit here. I learned these cars are very primitive in a lot of ways but as soon as you let yourself think that it throws a curveball at you. Same as my Porsche really. I should have left this job to the specialist in town but I figured it couldn’t go wrong if it had to. Well. It did. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Not only did all of this electrical crap happen that caused me to basically take apart my dashboard and fuse panel when I had first put the now discovered to be faulty switch back in after the puff of smoke incident and just hoping for a miracle then much like I am right now, when I put the switch back in and was ready to try my luck I reached in the fender well through the gravel guard access point to put the negative cable back onto the terminal. Yes. I know there is a battery shutoff directly above but the body shop had the battery out and the cable was just easy to reach and kill power to the car after the sparks and smoke incident. Anyway. So I have one of those barrel key type anti theft shifter gate lockout plates. It was installed and I thought nothing of it whatsoever. It locks the car into reverse in case you aren’t familiar with it. When I reached into the fender well to connect the negative terminal all hell broke loose..My car began trying to start in reverse and went halfway through my garage door. Seems as I had the dial in the switch 180 degrees off from the position that would be considered “lock” it was on start. It almost broke my arm in the process as well. I figured I would just save the best part of my disaster for the hopeful end of this atrocity like no other is have been through in my entire life. I have owned well over 75 cars in my 25 years of driving and I have owned almost every make known to travel the modern day roadways. I have also performed the vast majority of my repairs, preventive maintenance and modifications from my custom builds I have to this day aside from one that I did part with and a couple of very nice frame off restorations in the bunch as well. As a car guy we all know that things happen and sometimes they are even horrible accidents resulting in injury or property damage. It just goes with the territory and once it’s all over with we wish we had just been a little bit more cautious. Usually it is something so small that we could have done or not done that would have saved us this trouble I am speaking of here. . I have seen some crazy things happen during my time as a car guy and I have heard some crazy mishap stories over the years (we all have) but this one damn near takes the cake I do believe. Again. Thanks for your help and you are all free to fall into a belly laugh at my misfortune if you feel the need. I’m just not at that point yet but eventually and after a trip BACK to the body shop to respray my rear bumper (thank god that’s all it damaged) and maybe as I am driving down the highway on the way home with it, maybe I will chuckle a bit. Anyway. Thanks again.
Sorry, I have to ask, how does this happen when the switch is spring loaded to return to the "run" position unless physically held in the "start" position? Perhaps the 355 switch IS different than the 348 switch?
Ugh... Murphy's Law... Which had the brown wires? The 348 has an integral light (so you can find the keyhole), so I assume this has the extra wires. If the wiring is different, I wouldn't be surprised. I think Ferrari electrical engineers are paid by the number of changes they make between models. The 456 and the 550 for example, have identical ABS computers and components, but, according to the diagrams, they wired up different sensors to different pins on the computer. My sympathies for your situation. I thought it was bad when I gouged my bumper on a big rock on the day I picked it up, but this is off the scale. Hope your arm (and your car recovers quickly)
Thank you. I’m fine. Car is going to the body shop for a re spray of the rear bumper and it will all be behind us. It was s total disaster. I have it on video actually from my best cam that is in the garage. It was a close call on the arm being almost a memory if it had gone anymore wrong than the way it did. It just had bad written all over the entire situation right from the start.
So the good news is your ignition electronic problem is solved. Great. The bad news is now you need a bumper painted and a new garage door. I feel sorry for you, but I have to admonish you to be extra careful from now on. That could have been much worse. Someone could have stood behind the car....
I don't think it is. "Start" (crank) was ok before. It was Start on the new lock which propelled the car into the door. James, will you attempt to rewire the 355 ignition connector or buy the correct 348 version?
Don’t be hard on yourself. Safety is always no. 1 and next time you’ll be more careful, but even with the best planning and preparation, it is absolutely impossible to go through life without the occasional “mishap”. from the day we are born we have an allocation of a certain number of days and of different types: Happy days Sad days Illness Wellness Accidents Arguments Changes BDM (births, deaths and marriages) Joy Pain Etc. etc. it is an absolute fact of life that days of each type are unavoidable, I try to keep upbeat, break any run of ‘bad luck’ and stay optimistic until the clouds pass & the sun comes out again. Don’t beat up on yourself, the world is queuing up to do that for you... Even if it’s a bit dented, you do still have a Ferrari (a dream For millions of people) PS. Your mother knew about the koolaid. Mothers know everything
Yep, we have all done similar stunts. Its part of being a car guy. I had a brand new F150 and was drying a boat cover next to it with a ladder under the cover. The ladder blew over and barely missed the truck. So, I turned the ladder a little and set it up again. It blew over again and this time hit the truck! I left that dent in the truck the entire time I owned it to remind myself not to do stupid stuff.