348 No crank / randomly / start issue

First thing. Check your battery. If it's over three years old it will loose reliability. Check battery cable ends for corrosion.

If you have a no crank but hear a click the starter solenoid works. The brushes in the starter may be wearing out. If you keep trying to crank the starter the brushes will heat up and with better continuity the starter may crank.

 

I had this randomly. There's a starter relay hack people used to do. I did it, and it's not been a problem since. Seems the solenoid activation 12V has to go from the battery, through the ignition switch and all the way back to the starter.

post 16, but read the whole thing.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/348-starter-relay-modification.202861/#post-137818631

sjd

 

I agree with sjd. Mine occasionally does this when hot, leave it 20 mins and it will start. I have all the bits to fit the hot start relay mod, just not got around to it yet.

 

This one is the same WR1 but much easier install.
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/348-hot-start-problem-fixed.160866/

Also for rebuild
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/348-starter-sometimes-it-just-clicks.305582/

 

If you still have the old bullet connector/s that is where I would look first. They have a tendency to lose the connection strength, and can get corrosion inside. I replaced mine with solid cables for both positive and negative. Then if that doesn't work, or if you don't have the bullet connectors, proceed with what the other suggestions are.

 

One possible cause (simple to check) is the 9-pin connector at the left side of the engine compartment, near the suspension tower (see pic). The wire (thick white) from the key switch to the starter solenoid goes through this connector and if its pin is corroded it will develop resistance causing reduced power (voltage drop) to the starter solenoid. I had a similar problem with starting and found that it was caused by corroded and partially burned pin for the white wire (Pin #8) so I replaced the small plastic connector with a more robust one:

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Can I ask where the clicking you heard came from? Was it the starter solenoid or the relay?

 

May I ask you where you buy these male/female connectors ?
Do you have referencies of all needed parts ?
I have to replace mine because the secured ring is broken.

 

The 9-pin connector that I installed is waterproof military grade, AMP MS3106F 20-16S & MS3102A 20-16P. Two pairs of pins on these are bigger so I used one for the white wire to the starter solenoid.
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The wires are soldered to the pins which is better than crimped.

You can also use AMP MS3106F 20-18S & MS3102A 20-18P wich has 3 thicker pins or AMP MS3106A 22-20P & MS3102A 22-20S with all 9 pins same, thinner. However, the last option does not give you the opportunity to have a bigger pair of pins for the fairly high current carried by the white starter wire.

I got my connector from this Ebay seller: NEW - MS3102R 20-18P - 9 Pin Male Receptacle | eBay. You can check what other connectors he currently has and try to match a mail+female pair. Otherwise, I also saw this Chinese version: 1PCS NEW 9-core connector straight aviation plug ms3106a-24-11 S / P | eBay.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login I shall order it....
could you tell me if the cable protection is delivered with the plug ?
I suppose protections for both (male and female) are needed.

 

You can see on the Ebay pictures whether it comes with a tube or not. The China one does and so do most of the connectors from the other Ebay seller. My connector came without a tube (as you can see on the pic above) but I happened to have a trumpet like piece of plastic tube that I fitted for which, I think, I machined the opening in the connector body a bit bigger. You can also see that I cut-off the "ears" from the connector body for the original metal bracket that clamps the original tube and the loom. There is normally no rubber boot for the half of the connector fitted to the body. I cannot remember what I did there, possibly used a rubber boot like those used on sway bar link ball joints.

Just noticed that the Chinese connector is slightly bigger than AMP. AMP has 30 mm spacing of the 4 holes on the rectangular flange and the China one 35 mm.

 

https://www.digikey.com/ sells all manner of connects as well.