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550 red light of death

Discussion in '456/550/575' started by drjeeva, Aug 28, 2010.

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  1. drjeeva

    drjeeva Karting

    Jul 21, 2007
    113
    Ipoh, Perak, Malaysi
    Full Name:
    Jeevaraj Nadarajah
    #1 drjeeva, Aug 28, 2010
    I have a year 2000, red Ferrari 550 which is or rather which was in immaculate condition. The past three months the red slow down light used to come on intermittently at random occasions while driving. The engine ran fine and the light would go out by itself. Ferrari dealer said that it was probably due to the O2 sensors. The last two weeks however the light comes on continuously and the engine cuts power to one cylinder bank. My baby has been in the workshop since then and all attempts to rectify the problem so far has come to zilch. O2sensors changed, thermocouples changed, ecru unit changed, cats changed and still no dice. The diagnostic check says it's a problem with the "emission" at least that's what the mechanic says.......any one with any ideas? She has only done 30,000 km so far and really is in immaculate condition. Please help. PS the dealers say that the will ship in a more sophisticated diagnostic unit next week but I'm rather sceptical.
     
  2. deanhalter

    deanhalter Formula Junior

    Dec 27, 2008
    357
    Norco, CA
    Full Name:
    Dean Halter
    #2 deanhalter, Aug 28, 2010
    Is it during warm up? I had a vacuum operated valve that failed, biasing all the air pump flow to one bank and as a consequence I was getting more air to that side and the cat was getting hot.

    Disconnect the air pump and see if the problem goes away.

    Also this may be a sign of a misfire or dirty injectors. It is cheap to have the injectors cleaned and they are easy to remove, as are the sparkplugs. I would do those if not already done.

    It goes without saying that you should check/clean every connector in the engine bay and the grounds at the rear of the cam covers. Made a big difference with my car.
     
  3. fatbillybob

    fatbillybob Two Time F1 World Champ
    Consultant Owner

    Aug 10, 2002
    29,043
    socal
    #3 fatbillybob, Aug 28, 2010
    I'd like to see what the codes are from a generic OBD2 testor. There could be an issue with some cars from some countrys that dont have the same obd2 requirements as the usa. But the computers are the same and the data is in there. If you don't have access to this info the first thing I would do is wire up the obd2 port. Ferrari did some tricks in some years to mess with the feds like leaving ground wire unattached etc. making the obd2 port non-op. But those are easy fixes. Obd2 is very powerful and many answers to your questions can be found exploring the system of an error code.
     

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