1987 TR - Shoulder belts down retract

The springs in the retractors could be weak, causing them to not retract. The retractors also have motors on them that help the belts spool out as the belt mouse moves along the track. Once the mouse reaches the end of its travel, then tension is applied to the belt again. If the system is working normally, you can feel the belt go loose as the mouse moves and then the belt slack will be pulled in when the mouse reaches the end of its travel at either the front or rear station.
Unfortunately, you will probably not find someone that will fix your retractor if it is broken due to liability reasons.

The entire seat belt system was recalled in every USA TR made. Has the recall been performed on your car? The recall is still in effect, but Ferrari may not have any parts left to perform them. I did six or seven of them a couple of years ago, and had to get three kits to make one good one (as two of the new kits had defective parts in them) on the last recall that I did.

Check the seat belts as they will have a date code on the tag sewn to them from when they were made. This will give you an idea if the belts were replaced. Also you could contact your local dealer with your VIN to see if the recall was performed.

 

Ferrari made a repair manual just for this system and a special tester that checks the function of all of the switches and actuators. You will probably be hard pressed to find a dealer with either one, or even knows how to use it if they have one. When I worked at the dealership, I found the tester and used it to diagnose a malfunctioning system. No one else at the dealership even knew what it was let alone how it it worked.

 

I seriously in my 87 moved the retractors in to the permanent, non retractable position by letting them go to their optimal closed position and then passing them further down the line where they don't try to retract anymore. Basically, they're constantly in the across-the-chest position and I just lost them over my head on ingress and egress. I've had too much to drink tonight so let me know if I'm not making sense.


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Take it back to the dealer for a free repair. Maybe they’ll charge for labour but not the full amount. I’ve done it and so have a few here.

 

Are you saying the belts automatically travel along the tracks correctly but once in the rearmost position the retractor won't take up the slack in the belt? Is this the case on both the driver and the passenger belts?

 

Seems odd they would both be doing the exact same thing...each belt system has it's own ECU (in the forward part of the central console) and the shoulder belts are actually two separate belt units bolted together--each has it's own retractor spring and it's own motor. As stated the dealer may replace the unit for you (if recall was already done), or maybe not (they definitely will if your recall was never performed). At this point it's hard to troubleshoot since both sides are acting the same. With the belts detached from the mouse if you extend them do they attempt to spool back up or is there zero rewind tension? Do they unwind smoothly? Despite the rubber "seals" in the console it could be possible something has fallen into the retract mechanism and jammed them (though I wouldn't expect both unless someone spilled a soda or something and the belts are stiff or the retractors are gunked up). If you are adventuresome you can take the assembly out fairly easily and inspect--I can walk you through that, just let me know.

Hope it works out for you, please keep us informed...and with no airbags and no shoulder belts please reconsider driving any more than you absolutely have to.
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Exactly, there was a recall on the issue and Ferrari was repacking the entire system. I recalled speaking to a FNA rep years ago who was tracking the progress and he said oddly people were no brining in cars for the fix.

 

I don't know about Ferrari, but I BELIEVE Honda will fix any seat belt issue for ever!

 

Hmmm, I guess it saved you an argument. My recall was done 12 years before I returned it.

 

Like I said before, the last TR seatbelt recall that I performed required the combination of 3 kits to get all of the parts required in working order. It seems that the only recall kits that Ferrari has left are ones that have broken parts in them and were thrown to the side of the parts warehouse and the dealer was sent a new kit. I have had two bad brand new retractors come in kits that were sent by Ferrari. They don't package them very carefully, and the outer plastic housings were cracked or broken where the screws that hold them together go into plastic posts on the opposite half. It is fairly common, if you look at the photo of the retractor above, you can see a gap between the two halves were the wiring harness exits on the right side. This one is not too bad. When they are really bad, they will not hold the components inside the unit in the proper orientation and the unit will malfunction.
They made it harder to take apart by using Tri-Y screws with three slots instead of phillips head with 4, so you will need to get the proper Tri-Y screwdriver if you want to take it apart to fix or inspect it. They are fairly complex inside, so taking one apart should be done very carefully.
I had a customers car that had a retractor that had a bad micro-switch in it, but was fine otherwise. The dealership did not want to try to fix it, but sourced a new replacement instead. I was told that this was the last new retractor that was available on the planet, so you might be hard pressed to find a replacement.
I still have the retractor with the bad microswitch, and might sell it if you need one. You could swap a good microswitch from your unit into it if your unit turns out to be bad.

 

Brian, is the micro switch that turns off the red warning light?

 

I believe you have to remove the console!

 

Is it possible to convert to normal 3 point seat belts like the euro cars?

 

It is possible and has been done (not by me)--the mounting points are on every Testarossa regardless of market. From what I understand the biggest hurdles are a) finding complete euro belt sets and b) finding (or modifying US or fabricating) euro trim pieces to replace the US trim pieces so it all looks factory. Neither is insurmountable.

 

Glad you got it out. For those that can't quite visualize, the retractor can come out as above. When I removed mine I had both seats already removed and used the access holes in the central console to access the single mounting bolt/nut. Image Unavailable, Please Login
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Sounds like you may have a few things going on (or I don't fully understand your statement above). The retractor mechanism you have been inspecting only tensions or de-tensions the belt. The drive motor (behind the seat) moves the slider (as Ferrari calls it--the trolley where the belt clips in) along the track from the forward "A" station to the rear "B" station. Two separate actions but definitely interrelated--if the retractor does not relieve tension on the belt the slider will begin to move from the B station towards the A station then stop midway when the belt becomes taught (from not de-tensioning)--this will halt everything about halfway through full travel. This happens on mine intermittently. At that point I either unclip the belt and open/close the door (to restart the slider) or manually push the belt a slight amount into the retractor (which releases the spring tension and frees the belt) and cycle the door (or ignition switch off then on again). I don't know what gives the signal for the retractor to operate--I thought it was the ECU on that side but I have replaced the ECU and it still occurs intermittently. May also tie into the micro-switches at the A and B stations--not sure.

I would love to get my hands on the Electrolux 2 point motorized belt system Servicemanual that Motob mentions above but I have never seen it advertised on any of the Ferrari literature sites, eBay, etc. Maybe a dealer but I've only been to one and never dealt with the service department. The book cover is shown in the photo--if anyone knows of a copy or has a .PDF for sale I'm an instant buyer--that system has caused me more pain than any other on the Testarossa.

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No, the red warning lights are controlled by each main ECU. There is a solenoid that is built into each belt retractor. The micro-switch tells the ECU the position of the solenoid.