550 will not start..Help needed!

After parking my car for 3 months with an attached battery tender it would not turn over at it's usual speed when I tried to start it last week. Foolishly or so it seems now, I used a jump box to boost the battery. The rate of cranking improved and the engine fired & ran very weakly for a few seconds and then died. Seemed like fuel starvation.
Quit trying to start it, connected a battery charger rather than a tender. Next day battery was turning over the engine just fine but still would not start. Tried the other black fob with no success. Noted CLK light was on, also the battery light. Checked for P code nothing recorded. Cancelled codes CLK went out!
Read almost every thread in F/Chat. Tried all manner of things but all I can say is that it will not start. The CLK light is illuminated again & I extracted code P0600. What I can say is that the dome light works when I open the door but when I turn the ignition the fist step and press the fob button the overhead light does not illuminate. Think this indicates that the immobilizer is not being cancelled? From here I've drawn a blank & wonder if any of you would be so kind as lend a helping hand.
Roger

 

Roger- Sounds like you need a new battery.

 

OK & thanks Taz. I'll get new battery today.
Roger

 

Was it the battery?

 

I'll wager it was the battery. They just don't last long in that hot engine bay. I'm surprised he even got it started with a bad battery. Unlike other cars, seems that the battery in a Ferrari is like a bulb in a string of Christmas tree lights. If one link doesn't work, the whole system goes out.

 

Taz, I located an Interstate battery supplier but they don't make the MT34R battery that was fitted to my car, anymore. Found your thread from several years ago and asked for MTP-91 but that number is also no longer manufactured. Fortunately, I remembered that you also listed MTP-H6!! That is still available... thank goodness for that. New battery fitted nicely thanks.
Nothing has changed though, the ignition switch in pos 1: dash goes through check list until OK given, red led in dash is on, press fob button, no beeps, no dome light on for a short period of time. Ignition switch Pos 2: engine cranks over just as always but doesn't start or fire in any way.
Observation: I can hear something running in engine bay but I can't hear any sound of fuel pumps in rear of the car. All windows work as they should. Remotes (both black) work door locks and beep the alarm at the same time.
Can you or anyone help with further diagnostic ideas. Oh yes, the CEL light is on still.
Roger

 

Roger,
Go to autoparts store and buy a spray can of starting fluid. crank motor like you want to start it and have a friend spray fluid into the air cleaners. If the car fires up and runs for a few seconds and then dies start looking for a fuel delivery problem. Fuel pumps, fuses to pumps relays to pump massively clogged up fliters and fouled fuel pump from internal debris breakdown.

If the car does not run on starter fluid then it is time to look for an ignition problem.

Any last things done to car before shutdown 3 months ago like vigorous washing?

 

Try resetting your inertial switch down next to your battery. It may have been nudged when your battery was being replaced. If the car is in a wreck or turns over, it cuts power to your fuel pumps, however I don't know if it also cuts the starter....

If this has been tripped, you "should" be getting an icon on your MFD that looks like a gas station pump with a line through it.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Nothing more frustrating than a car that won't start. I found this. P0600 - OBD II Trouble Code If it's an electronic problem, you will need someone with the right software to diagnose, an Indy Ferrari shop or a dealer. Have you changed your ECUs, mounted on the inside of the engine compartment...one on each fender? The new ones are green. Usually one breaks (due to the heat they are exposed to in the engine bay) and results in a "Slow Down" light and "limp mode" shutting down the bank with the faulty ECU. But since you jump started the car, it could have fried them both at the same time and that's why it won't start. Or, as the link says, you could have fried any part that is linked and because it's like a string of Christmas Tree lights, the whole string is dead.

 

Actually, you can solve 0600 without special tools but special tools are way faster. Often 0600 can be really simple like a nonfunctional A/C very common in Ferraris and then the serial link lacks communication with the A/C and then you get the code. Some would ask why the A/C of all things well the ECU for 1 thing reads the draw of the A/C and ups the idle and turns on fans. We started with points and condensers and the electronics now all link together in an incestuous way and we can't get them out. The impossibility of deleting the alarm is a classic example of this.

 

FBB damn that alarm anyway. Lol it is not my favorite part of the car so to speak.

 

Did you try with the starter fluid? Easy and effective way to diagnose if it's a fuel or spark related issue. You can also remove the spark plug after cranking, take a picture and post. You can smell them as well to see if you are getting fuel into the cylinders.

Then you can remove one spark plug, ground it well to something , and have someone check for spark. From there we can see

 

Thanks for all the input everyone! Just wonderful to have such help available. I've been out of town so I haven't had a chance to try any of the suggestions. Although I think I found the inertia switch pressed it earlier this week, I'll check it again tonight as I have seen that fuel pump with a slash through it. Starting fluid is on my shopping list today also.
Thanks again for the support. I'll keep you informed.

 

No need to buy anything if you have not gone through even more simple basics. You did not tell us you got the inertia switch light. I hate threads that don't give complete info then ask us to guess. So lets go back to basics even further...do you have gas in the car?

 

Yes Sir, when it wouldn't start initially, it indicated 1/4 tank but I went & purchased 5 gallons of fresh ethanol free gas and used a funnel to add to the 550. Fuel gauge indicated just short of 1/2 full. I have seen the inertia switch light during previous attempts to start the car (before new battery). I've just tried to start the car again. All seemed normal except for the CEL light being on. Decided to check for codes again and found that the PO600 code has gone (probably after an earlier reset of codes) but it now indicates PO102! Just cancelled that code and tried to start it again and noticed a new symbol in the dash info center. It looked like an outline of the car (side view) with triangles under both front and rear wheels? I've tried so many things before I came to you guys that I really can't recall it all or the sequence of things but with your continued help I'm sure we'll get it going. Oh, I have checked the fuel pump fuses and extracted and then replaced what I believe were fuel pump relays down in the RH side foot well.
I'm pretty good with cars except for these darn electrical & computerized problems.
FBB, didn't you used to post on the Noble/Rossion forums too?

 

Where do you buy ethanol free fuel?

 

In Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa. We drink all the ethanol to keep from freezing...

 

That's your mass airflow sensor. Unplug them and clean them. Check that connections are clean and connected and that wires are not broken. I'm guessing that's a symptom rather than a cause, though. The car should at least start and idle rough with one dirty, or disconnected, or intermittently connected MAS. Then the slow down light should come on and

The triangles under the wheels refer to your suspension mode. Ignore that for now. That light will go off, unless your actuator wires are kinked, then unwind them.

One thing to consider is that there are two of everything that make the engine run. If the engine will not start at all, I would be looking at parts in the systems that are before either fuel or ignition split into two, because it's unlikely that two parts would break at exactly the same time.

Question: Has your gas tank been pulled and the plastic parts repaired? While sitting, those could have deteriorated enough to crumble when you started the car and are now clogging your fuel line at or near the tank.

 

At a race track or airport in CA.

 

dakharris, thanks for your response. No, to my knowledge the tank has never been out or had the plastic parts repaired. Sounds like a dealer job to me. In this respect the filters were replaced less than 1000 miles ago. Is there a specific union or fuel supply part I could release to check for copious supply of the same... err high pressure injection pumps are dangerous!!?

Your comments about the system controls being duplicated on each side of motor does lend to the theory that the problem could be before the major parts become divided. I'll give it some thought.

I'll also check the Mass Air units & connections.

I get my ethanol free gas at a local Valero gas station here in NC.

Thanks for the continuing help & ideas.

 

Pulling the tank is not technically difficult. It's just laborious. Gotta drain the tank and pull it out through the trunk. You would only want to do that after you confirmed that it is leaking. The smell of gasoline in the trunk is the first clue. Mine was repaired when my car was 10 years-old (five years ago). My car spent time in Texas and Florida before it came to CA, so I have no idea what it had been exposed to. Yours may not be rotting at all if your car has been fed a steady diet of ethanol-free fuel. But I understand that some have dissolved from the inside with pieces of plastic found floating in the tank. Easy to assume that small chunks or even dissolved plastic goo could clog the fuel line. Trying to consider what would happen to a car while sitting that would make it not want to start.

Just throwing that out as one possible cause. My bet is still on something electronic causing fuel starvation. Rodents eating wires? Dead battery and then trying to start with a battery charger are, IMO, the most important clues to follow. I still think that you fried something at that point, possibly both ECUs. These ignition systems are delicate. I have heard others say to never jump start or to even start the car via compression downhill because of surges in voltage. Not sure if those are old wives tales or not.

You have my sympathies. It's tough trying to track down this type of gremlin. We all want to help, but also are following to find out what to do when the same thing inevitably happens to us.

 

For California,
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

Bill
FL

 

Thanks dakharris, there is no fuel smell even after cranking a few times. Does the leak you mentioned relate to the bad plastic fuel pump parts or are they different problems?

I think my next step will be to try FBB's idea of starting fluid. At least that will confirm that we have a spark and probably no fuel. Right now I don't know anything for sure and all these codes & flashing LED's seem like red herrings. I'll get back to normal procedure for gas/carb engine checks.

I'll keep the thread going though so we can all laugh at the final solution.
Roger

 

Worked on the car some more. Using start fluid the engine started fine but I wasn't sure if the fluid fired on compression also ...sure smelled like my old model plane compression engine fuel. My brother suggested we use a timing light to confirm that we had ignition spark. We do have ignition spark.
Next we looked for a way to check for fuel. After some discussion we noted that each fuel rail has a Schrader valve at the closed end. With ignition on ready to crank, we checked each valve and found no fuel in either rail.
I've read before that if the immobilizer works the interior dome light comes on for a few seconds as a result of pressing the button on the fob. Mine does not come on when I press the fob button which leads me to ask you all if it's likely that both fuel pumps quit at the same time. Perhaps a second question should be: does the immobilizer cut only fuel or fuel and spark. Is the only way to release/reset the immobilizer by use of the pin code?
Thanks for any suggestions regarding the above.
Roger

 

You make no sense. My guess is you trying to say car started on starting fluid. That means you got no fuel. You confirmed no fuel in the fuel rails. My two 550's will not crank if the alarm is armed. If the car cranks the alarm is off.

If all true above then I would open the panel in front of the rear bonnet and hot wire the fuel pumps with 12V. If the car runs fine now then you know the problem is getting power to the pumps. Do this and report back for the next step.