550 - sudden loss of all electric power

Driving this morning and my radio flickers off and back on. Very fast, almost didn’t notice it except the Ferrari logo came up which only happens when you first turn the radio on. Figure it must be a bad connection in the radio circuit, or something in the radio. Two minutes later while cruising on the highway, the car goes completely dead. Gauges, radio, lights, engine, everything. I push in the clutch and prepare to pull over, just then I notice the speedometer is back so I let out the clutch and the engine comes back. Everything is back. The battery symbol comes up on the MFD. I decide to get off at the next exit to investigate rather than pull to the side of the highway. The power flickers once more and now the MFD says CHECK ENGINE. I get off the highway and pull into the first parking lot, and just as I pull in the car goes completely dead again. It's as if there is no battery in the car. Turning the ignition does nothing, I hear no relays click. I open the hood and cycle the battery cutoff switch. The alarm chirps when I do this, but still nothing when I turn the key. Another minute or so passes and while I'm pushing the car into a parking spot, suddenly the power comes back. I took a look in the fuse box and all seemed OK. No burnt connections, everything is tight. With the ignition off, I pull the main power supply from the "+" terminal block to the fuse panel, check the connections and reattach thinking maybe the connection was loose? Since then everything is OK. Car is back to normal and after driving another 30km or so, nothing flickering, everything working as it should.

So maybe the main power supply connection was loose on the board? I hate when something fixes itself because you know it's not really fixed, it's only waiting to strike again when you least expect it. Since it is full power loss to everything, it can't be one of the relays (they are all new last year). Is it possible the immobilizer can act up and shut down the power while driving? I don't think this is it because the radio still works if you don't cycle the immobilizer. A bad ground somewhere? Maybe the battery cutoff switch is faulty? Any other suggestions of what to check?

 

Checked both the main power to the fusebox and the cutoff switch yesterday, but only after the power came back on its own, so I can't know for sure that either were a problem. I would have preferred the power did not come back on its own so I could know that I've moved the problem. I've been using the car since it happened yesterday and no problems so far.

 

Yes, the cables at the battery and battery switch are all tight. Since I lost all power, the connection I am wondering about is the power to the fusebox. It is tight now that I've played with it, maybe it was not tight when this happened. Not sure what else would cause complete loss of electric power. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Dug out the electrical schematic and I think it had to be the connector on the fusebox coming loose. Power goes directly from the battery to the "+" terminal in the footwell and then to the fusebox. This connector coming loose is the only way I can see a total loss of all electrics. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Dave, i will check the solder joints this weekend, good idea. Thanks for the help.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Ok so looking for some feedback on how the solder joints of the main power spades look. They look good to me, but I am not an expert.

 

I was really hoping to see some obviously bad solders, but these look pretty good to me and I'm reluctant to heat them up because soldering is not my forte. I can do it, but I'm no expert so prefer to leave it alone. If the solder was cracked around the pins, of course I'd go ahead and fix it. So I've put everything back together. Took the opportunity to check all the connectors and found the cooling fan and fuel pump contacts just starting to go a bit brown. Nothing melted, just a slight browning on the plastic of the connector. So I cleaned up the contacts on the fuse box and in the connectors. I will continue to drive and monitor.

 

Well, the problem persists. Did a few hundred Kms today, no issues. Tonight I run to Home Depot and notice the turn signals are flashing faster than usual but all bulbs working. When I come out of the store, I hit the alarm button get in the car turn the key and it goes dark. Complete power loss. Check the connection in the fuse box, no luck. Open the hood and turn off the battery switch and the alarm chirps. Turn it back on but no power. Try again and again the alarm chirps when I turn the switch off and again no power when I turn it on. Wiggling all battery cables does nothing. After about 3 mins of waiting, the alarm chirps and the power is back on. Car starts up without having to press the alarm button. Drive home but sense something is not right. Turn signals still flashing too quickly and using anything electric, like the windows, causes a significant dimming of the dash lights. It’s as if the battery is weak or charging is weak. No warning lights on to indicate weak battery or charging.

The alarm chirping is weird. Normally when you switch the battery switch off, there is no chirp, but when I have no power and I switch it off, it chirps. I don’t think the alarm can cause full power loss.

Maybe something as simple as a bad battery? Have to give this more thought tonight. I have a road trip coming up in a month so I need to figure this out!!

 

Going to try and get it to die again tomorrow and see if there is power at the battery. I’m hoping it’s some kind of weird internal battery failure. I mean it has to be either the battery, the shut off switch, or one of the cables from the battery to ground or to the positive terminal block in the footwell. Can’t see any other possibility. Battery is 4+ years old so not a bad idea to change it, but would be nice to actually find the problem and not just guess. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

 

I checked the battery terminals today. They had some corrosion, nothing too bad, but I cleaned up the battery posts and cable clamps and made sure everything was tight. The positive clamp was slightly loose. Everything is working well now, but still not sure I’ve actually fixed anything. Dash lights no longer dim much when I use other electric things like the windows and turn signals are now flashing at normal speed, so a good sign. I will keep my volt meter in the car, in case it happens again I can try to diagnose better.

About the alarm chirp. When I disconnected the negative battery cable, the alarm chirped. It also chirped the same when I reconnected the battery. So the alarm chirps when battery power is lost or acquired. I mention it because normally when i switch off or on the battery switch, there is no chirp which I guess means the alarm is still powered, but when my car is dead and I switch the switch to off, I get the same chirp which seems to indicate that power to the alarm is lost. Can’t wrap my mind around why it’s different when the car is dead. Strange, but I think it may be a clue.

 

Dominick, I hope so, I’m just not sure if that was it. It seems to make sense, but I’m just not sure. I’d would be better if it would just stop working and not fix itself so I can definitely find the problem.