Well you're an electrical master now. So plugs and pins and connectors like this have been a fact of life in cars for a LONG time. I was doing fuse box bypasses already on these cars and Testarossa's in the late eighties. LATE EIGHTIES- yes they were failing rather quickly. So this isn't anything new. How does one fix it? The high current accessories, need to be wired around the weak fuse box. A person uses the relays in the fuse box, to turn on externally mounted relays that in turn runs the affected circuit. I've never bought anything from Dave Helms, I think he's Scuderia Rampante, but that's certainly something to research. I'm sure if you did some searching on this site, you'll find all sorts of solutions to this problem. Not sure how many people are building panels for these cars, but they're out there. If you're NOT an electrically oriented guy, it's time to take it to someone who is. These are ALL very fixable problems, and you're NOT alone in experiencing them. MR. Rifledriver on this site isn't TOO far away from you. I'd bet he could fix you right up. Seems like an old curmudgeon, but I'd BET he knows how to fix your problem. He could probably take care of a few other things you don't even KNOW about yet. I think he's somewhere in the Hill Country in Texas.
I didn't make it clear that you were checking voltage by inserting your voltmeter leads in pins 30 and 86. If you check pin 30 to a KNOWN good ground you should read battery voltage. Between pin 30 and then terminal 86 is checking that pin 86 is grounded. SO both of your leads are plugged into the relay board. This is checking your ground. Your car cranking over when voltage was applied to pin 30- WOW, that's NOT what I would expect. I'll have to study the schematic to see if that's possible.
That fourth pin down may LOOK brown but according to my schematic, it should be BEIGE, and it goes to the fuel pump. I'm going to go look at one of my cars.
Thanks for all the help. I did find a new relay board but they are not cheap. $1,300 just for the board. And who knows if that's my issue. One thing i noticed while messing around in there is the left most 6 relays, are all HOT. Like 150 degrees hot. So that's fun. I'm going to remove it, take the board out and have a look. I just don't have the time or $$ to keep throwing at this thing. Its been 3.5 years now. Still cant get it going. Image Unavailable, Please Login
So I looked at one of my 328's- a 30,000 mile car that unfortunately hit a bridge abutment, and is a LITTLE bit whacked in the right front. No apparent damage to the fusebox. I pulled it down and unplugged the terminal that is burned in yours. Looks good. So they COULD go thirty thousand miles without getting crispy! I'll have to check one of my runners and see how hot their relays get- I'm curious at this point. I have a 1987 328GTB that I KNOW is exhibiting a relay problem associated to the switch in the fuel distributor. It clicks the relays in the dash at weird times. I'm addressing a hood issue right now, and haven't been driving it, so haven't addressed the problem. Now if I have a problem with one of my cars, and I'm NOT able to work on them right now because I'm swamped with work- I would not want JUST a rebuilt fuse box. It's easy enough to get the high current drawing circuits OUT of the fuse box, onto a much more ruggedly constructed relay panel. It's been 25 years since I ran my shop and went in a different direction, but my memory says get the BLOWER circuits out, and probably the fuel pump. Not hard to do, but it does take some skill. I HIGHLY recommend getting a hold of rifledriver, and see if he can work on your car, don't blindly throw money at your car buying fuseboxes. Your car PROBABLY was parked because of these problems, and frankly they are EASILY solved. I have several Testarossa's and their fuseboxes and loads, kind of dwarf the 328's! Same design, similar problems. I'm retiring soon and look forward to spending a year or two getting back into my cars. Automotive companies reliance on spring type connectors is beyond stupid. Screw terminals, soldered terminals- are such a superior connector. I have beautifully made Swiss machine tools in my shop and their wiring is first class. Almost TOTALLY ring terminals and screw binding posts. I NEVER have failures at the connections.
In electrical work- HEAT means resistance, which creates MORE heat. More heat in terminals that rely on spring tension to make contact, means the contacts can get so hot they lose their spring. Creating even MORE heat. YOU have that in your beige fuel pump terminal. chances are it's NOT just at the obviously burned terminal, but like cancer, is in more areas. You should probably figure out HOW to measure VOLTAGE DROPS. NOT hard to do. One wouldn't think that if you had your positive lead of a voltmeter, attached to the MIDDLE of the positive terminal on your battery, and you start taking voltage readings at the terminals that SHOULD have battery voltage, that you should get a voltage reading. BUT if you have bad connections- which you do, you'll read a voltage. Maybe a tenth or two, but if it's a VOLT or two or three- you have problems. BUT these voltage drops DON'T occur when there's no load, you want to LOAD the circuit by having the object ON, that is being run. EVEN the grounds, can have voltage drops, again with the circuit on and running. Knowing just a few things to check like this, will reveal what's wrong. I DO hope you have the schematic for your car. May look like Greek - but it's your bible. Without it, you're running blind.
