Started car, Lost Gauges & Power Steering (?)

Easiest to check there should definitely start at the battery/alternator.
With the car turned off check if the battery is producing over 13v.
Then with the car turned on it should be close to 14v or higher.

If both of those check out you can start trying to find other issues.

 

Check fuse 20 in the passenger footwell

Wiring diagram here:

https://www.dropbox.com/t/kdEyVgYhBZLdfdWC

follow the green/white (VB) lines

The wires go to the instruments and to the alternator control circuits.

 

#rockstarcomment

 

Of course, a faulty alternator or alternator wiring may have caused the fuse to blow in the first place.

 

Sounds like it blew a belt off. P.S. is mechanical, not electrical. Those belts have a very specific tightening method and many shops do not even have the tool to do it.


When the diodes in those alternators go bad we have had them cause all sorts of trouble. My alternator guy made enough money off of me rebuilding those things he just retired. Also test the battery. Most of the cars that come through here have compromised batteries and that just makes the alternator work harder and kills it. They are a bit of a hand grenade. The alternator and battery are not why the other symptoms are happening but may be a root cause. You will not have at home the proper equipment to load test the battery and alternator so it will need to go somewhere. Few auto mechanics no matter at how skilled they may be are very up to speed diagnosing electrical issues. You need to find one of those. Many shops simply do not have one. Running at about 2500 RPM under load the alternator should be able to make about 120 amps over what the car needs to run. Shut off loaded to 150 amps the battery should not sink below 10.5 volts and when load turned off should spring back up to 12.5 or 13 volts pretty quickly. If your guy does not understand that find one who does.

 

Also to the power steering Steering ECU (not shown in the wiring diagram above). I haven't been able to tie it into the Check Engine Light yet, but that may be related to the wonky volts coming out of the alternator (if it is turning at all.... See Brian's post).

 

Loss of steering ecu does not mean loss of power steering. The steering effort goes up a little at low speeds is all.

 

I know most of the shops in California. I was in the Ferrari business there for 37 or 38 years. Never heard of them. Your story about the belts does nothing to create confidence.

 

Brian I wish you were closer to Missouri I would ship all my fcars to you.

 

You mean it’s not like a reversion to a manual rack?

That’s a good clue. I guess Mirek will have to comment on how much assist was lost.

 

It depends on how hard. The steering on my unassisted Lotus Esprit was heavy… some muscle/shoulder effort required at parking speeds as the tyres were wide, but the car was relatively light compared to a 456 and there was no engine sitting over the front axle. At speed though, it was magic.

 

456 with no power steering feels almost like steering is locked. Really undriveable.

 

I get cars from all over the country but have a backlog.

Eugenios has a good reputation. GTO Engineering has a guy with a good reputation. Ferrari in Newport Beach the guy who does their Classiche work is an old friend and I know the shop foreman. He knows what hes dong. Rod Drew at FAI is very good with electrical.

 

Oh no, not at all. You would likely crash the car. It can be steered but just barely.

 

Thanks.

I see that the accessory drive belt powers just about everything...

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Aircon compressor, alternator, water pump, power steering...

So it's looking more like an electrical problem. Did you check that fuse? It might save you some towing expenses if nothing else. You'd still need to get the electrical system checked.

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It's a 5 amp, orange fuse.

 

No it has 2. WP and PS on one. AC and Alt on the other. If the PS belt came off it would have overheated soon.

 

ooops... back to square one.

A 3D pic required...

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Seems easy enough to check.

 

Another thing I'd check. I would think there would be some other symptoms.

There have been quite a few instances of the rubber in the vibration damper going bad. These dampers are a different than normal design. The crankshaft drives the center portion obviously but the belts are driven by the outer ring. When the rubber goes bad the belt drive does not keep up with the crankshaft. Probably an electrical problem but looking at the damper can't hurt.

 

ah.. pity....

To be sure it's ok (and you haven't got an ohmmeter), just swap it with the orange "parking lights" fuse (position 14)

So.... possibly an alternator problem again? Or what Brian said.