355 Ferrari 355 Spider Top Roof Mechanism ALL Common Issues & FIXES

Correction. Just tried it. Pulling back on the roof manually (with the brake not set) didn't trigger the warning beeping or stop the seats moving. However, after the seats moved and the roof started moving with the motor, what seemed like a few inches past where the initial (OK single) beep sounded, the warning beeping sounded.

Did you get the warning beeping "half way down"?

 

Exactly this case by the sounds of it! The whole sequence goes normal until the motors take over then they move the top a couple inches back and stop.

My parking brake light is always on and according to the video, it needs to function properly (I.e. the sensor needs to be able to accurately display whether the parking brake is engaged or not) for the top to work.

I’m wondering if a faulty brake light allows *some* of the sequence to occur but prohibits the top from fully going down


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Did you get the beeping?

Unfortunately, in my tests, I can't recall if the roof stopped by itself or if I took my finger off the button as soon as it started beeping.

The parking brake has a single orange/black wire for sending an earth signal (whent the brake is applied). This same earth is used for both the dash brake warning light and the logic for the Roof ECU. The wire branches off at a splice somewhere, not near the brake handle. One branch goes to the light, one to the Roof ECU.

The only way to test if the earth is reaching the ECU is to remove the centre console (upright section) and check for an earth at the ECU.

Look for an orange/black wire on plug B pin 12

Roof ECU pin numbering here:

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This is going to sound weird, but I repeated the handbrake tests today... and I don't know what I did differently, but when I released the handbrake this time (before starting the motorised retraction sequence), the seats didn't move. I got the constant beeping sound as soon as I hit the roof switch. This is as I thought it should be earlier. With the handbrake applied, everything worked normally.

I couldn't reproduce yesterday's result.

 

So, in a a 5.2, F1 car, what dashlight shows the Parking Brake is on?

BRAKE is "brake failure warning light"
ABS = "ABS warning light"

(per WSM G5).

I have no other Parking Brake light, but I want one in the worst way.

The CN wires from the hand brake seem to disappear into the soft top ECU (B12) & the emergency top override switches.

 

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Good question. I don't have any official wiring diagrams for the F1 car and I don't know what the BRAKE switch is hooked up to. On my 98 (gated), there are different lights for park brake and brake warning. Isn't the BRAKE light dual purpose on the F1? If your roof works, the switch on the handbrake must be working.

 

I opened up the hand brake cover and have two CN wires at the spring contact at the back of the hand brake switch.

I can trace one to the top ECU, Pin 12 on connector B
The other splits and goes to the connector that feeds them to the emergency switches.
They all stop there.

I popped the dash off and the dash indicator lights are as you posted above.

I did find a CN wire going to the BRAKE light (5) but it does not ohm to the handbrake switch.
It is on the D connector Pin 2 that fits into the L/H lower dash pod.
However, that CN wire runs to the F1 indicator connector at what I think is Pin 6 (Orange / Black)
F1 Indicator connector:

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So, in an F1 car, do we have a Hand Brake engaged indicator light? I don't think we do. And I want one!

 

Interesting. The non-F1 wiring diagrams show two wires on the handbrake switch, but one goes to the "BRAKE" light and the other wire goes to a splice for the Roof ECU and bypass switches.

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You're saying both wires go to the roof stuff?

 

They Ohm out that way.

I can not find anything up in the dash pod that is connected directly to the hand brake switch.

The CN wire I did find up there that does go to the BRAKE light, but heads to the F1 display pin. Then no more CN wires.

Interestingly, the Owners Manual (H5 - H6) shows the BRAKE light as:

Brake oil level, brake pad wear and parking brake warning light.

But how does it know about the hand brake? Mine never lights up.

 

Makes no sense to me why it would end up at the F1 display plug. The F1 system only uses the brake pedal switch.

Do you have access to the binnacle left hand side plug (flat, 13 pin white)? Can you see a pink wire on that? That should be your brake warning light wire.

If that orange/black wire on that F1 plug did ohm out to the handbrake switch, it would have been relatively easy to splice it into the brake warning pink wire. I just don't understand why it's not ohming out to the handbrake.

 

Can you see if the orange/black wire on the F1 plug ohms out to the binnacle pink wire? I'm wondering if there is a break in the wiring further upstream.

 

Only pink wire is on the R/H connector. #8 from L/H side:

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Does not Ohm out.

Should they though?

 

Can I run a jumper from the orange / black wire on the dash connector to the hand brake switch? Or is that a bad idea?

 

Thanks for all these great pics. I see the F1 cars (or perhaps USA cars) have slightly different colours on these plugs. Looking at the USA paper diagrams, that pink wire is actually pink/yellow and is for the seat belt. The Euro cars have yellow/blue wires.

What colour wire is 7th wire on the LHS? That should be the brake warning wire, but even on my USA (non-F1) paper diagrams, it's shown as pink.

 

Actually, this is the first time I've seen a picture of that F1 connector. There are a couple of unidentified wires on it.

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I'm trying to figure out what they are. I've been adding a few of the wire colours to this graphic:

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Would you be able to confirm these colours and add what I've missed?

Pin /Colour
1 green/yellow or green/white?
2 ????
3 black
4 white
5 grey/red
6 orange/black.
7 white/black
8 green
9 yellow/red
10
11
12

It looks like the orange/black wire has nothing to do with the handbrake. It looks like it's hooked up to the "low traction" light. The colour code was misprinted in the WSM as "en" instead of cn (orange/black)

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That pin on the dash pod indicator light lights up the Brake light,

I ohmed out the connection to the BRAKE light.

 

Let me know what questions you have. It's all apart now.

 

LOL.. the manual is hopeless... I'll amend as much as I can.

Thanks! It may take me a while to analyse the photos.

Sorry, I'm not quite with you. Which pin?

 

It would the second pin form the bottom on the lower LH pod connector

This is the one that has the Orange / Black wire.

The dash pod location tones out to the BRAKE light.

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F1 Indicator connector:

Pin 1 = Green / Yellow
Pin 2 = Green / White
Pin 3 = Black
Pin 4 = White
Pin 5 = Gray / Red
Pin 6 = Orange/ Black - direct to Pin #2 from bottom as seen below.
Pin 7 = Black / White
Pin 8 = Green
Pin 9 = Red / Yellow
Pin 10 = blank
Pin 11 = blank
Pin 12 = blank

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Excellent. This is starting to make some sense.

Pin 1 = Green / Yellow: According to one diagram, the power going to pin 1 is power from the TCU supply relay, but it's green/white in the diagrams
Pin 2 = Green / White: According to one diagram, the power going to pin 2 is ignition volts. I'm not sure if 1 & 2 are mislabelled/swapped
Pin 3 = Black: Earth
Pin 4 = White: A signal from the gear selector (function unknown)
Pin 5 = Gray / Red: A signal from the TCU (pin 25, function unknown)
Pin 6 = Orange/ Black - direct to Pin #2 from bottom as seen below: Slippery Road Mode dash annunciator
Pin 7 = White/Black: AUTO mode dash annunciator
Pin 8 = Green: F1 warning (red) dash annunciator
Pin 9 = Yellow/Red: possibly backlighting power (dimming type)
Pin 10 = blank
Pin 11 = blank
Pin 12 = blank[/QUOTE]

Regarding your LH Instrument Panel Plug (from bottom to top in the photo):

1) green/yellow: Oil Pressure Warning Light
2) orange/black: Slippery Road Mode annunciator
3) pink/black: Low Fuel annunciator
4) red? : Sport Mode annunciator
5) red/white? : Front Fog annunciator. This is strange as the later model USA diagrams don't show any wires attached to this. The earlier cars show an orange wire here.*
6) green/white: power for annunciator lights (which use an earth to turn on)
7) blank????: This is normally attached to the BRAKE annunciator (on non-F1 cars). Can you recall if your BRAKE light illuminates on startup? (Don't put power on the instrument binnacle with your RH plug disconnected or you'll set an airbag light). You should also be able to turn on the light by shorting the pins on your brake fluid reservoir connector.
8) blue/black: LH turn indicator
9) black: earth
10) green/black: Headlight High Beam annunciator
11) green?: F1 Warning annunciator
12) green?: function unknown - not used on non-F1 cars. There are no more light functions on the F1 car, so this is puzzling. Or is the BRAKE warning now using a green wire?
13) white: F1 Auto mode annunciator

*If you still have access to the underside of your frunk relay panel, what wire colour is on plug H pin 2.

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Pinout for RH Instrument panel connector:

(left to right)
1) green/red: power for CEL and SD light from relay "M".
2) red/green: trigger signal for SD light (from Motronic ECU pin 66)
3) yellow: ABS fault annunciator
4) white/red: trigger signal for CEL (from Motronic ECU pin 8)
5) black: earth
6) blue: RH turn annunciator
7) white: Power from Park light console switch to Park light annunciator light
8) pink: Seatbelt warning
9) green/yellow: Suspension warning
10) red/blue: Spider mirror heat annunciator
11) purple: Power from sidelights to Park light annunciator light (if power on both pin 7 and pin 11, the Park light annunciator will extinguish)
12) yellow/green alternator/battery warning light
13) green/white: Power for annunciator lights which need an earth to activate.

 

Missed some wires on the RH plug.... I forgot it was bigger than the left one.

1) green/red: power for CEL and SD light from relay "M".
2) red/green: trigger signal for SD light (from Motronic ECU pin 66)
3) yellow: ABS fault annunciator
4) white/red: trigger signal for CEL (from Motronic ECU pin 8)
5) black: earth
6) blue: RH turn annunciator
7) white: Power from Park light console switch to Park light annunciator light
8) pink: Seatbelt warning
9) green/yellow: Suspension warning
10) purple: Park Light - if power on both pin 7 and pin 10, the Park light annunciator will extinguish
11) grey/green: Airbag light
12) red/blue: Spider mirror heat annunciator
13) yellow/black: ABS and alternator/battery warning light power
14) yellow/green alternator/battery warning light
15) green/white: Power for annunciator lights i.e. those which need an earth to activate.