89 Mondial t: Turn key, "click", no starter...but then....

two options, key tumbler or soleniod on the starter.

 

Very common on the "t's" and TR's.

Long wire run to the starter solenoid and several connections that degrade over time. Voltage drop gets bad enough that it won't reliably trigger the solenoid. It was compounded by the fact that the Bosch solenoids of the time were problematic.

Clean all connections between the switch and starter and ck for voltage drop. In some cases all that could be done was to install a relay next to the starter and in fact Ferrari at one time offered a relay installation kit.

 

I vote starter solenoid.

 

Cleaning/inspecting connections is always a good idea, but I would not change that starter solenoid quite yet. It could be ANYTHING from a bad battery ground to a bad relay, etc.

You need to have the car in your garage in failure mode. That's the hard part about intermittent electrical problems. If you're lucky enough to get that, then whip out the meter and start at the battery, and follow the ignition path. Hopefully you'll find where the path stops. The "click" means some juice is getting to the starter but not enough which suggests a bad connection or partially broken wire.



Ken

 

How old is your battery ?- A weak battery will give similar symptoms.

 

Subframe connector for large gauge wire, inside red plastic. Like Brian says...

-Peter (BTDT, dozens of times...)

 

Thats my guess as well. I had same problems on my 3.2. Replaced solenoid and all is well.

 

You just may have a connection problem with the bullet connector that goes from the battery to the starter. On 348's the bullet connector is just under the air box. Since you have a Modial t it should be in the same area. Try unplugging it, then plugging it back together and see if that fixes your problem.

 

I'm betting it's the ignition switch, or the wiring between the ignition switch and the solenoid.

When it won't crank over on the key, MAKE SURE IT'S IN NEUTRAL, then jump the two terminals on the starter together with a screwdriver. That will tell you if the starter solenoid works or not. If you don't get FULL voltage to the solenoid through the ignition switch and wiring, it won't crank over.

 

Just draw a brand new cable from your starter into the cabin and connect it to a button. Then when starting your car you just turn on the ignition and push the button, voila. Then you would skip the old cables (which seem to fail on you), and only use the new red cable you connected to the starter. You can build the button into the dash so it looks good really easy and it works great.