F355 power loss while driving

What year model 355?? Does the instrument cluster indeed have its warning globes still fitted?? Its possible that the engine is in fact shutting down one bank of cylinders to protect from a over heat situation. Lots of good info on here regards this.

 

Happened to me. It was bad cat ecu. Exact same symptoms. Disconnect the connector to cat ecu and see if it goes away.
Mine was 2.7 so I could do it with slow down light. Not sure about 5.2 cars.

 

Does your SDL illuminate when you turn ignition on before you start the car ... ie, is the SDL bulb installed in the dashboard ?

 

You cannot disconnect a TCU in a 96 355. The causes can be:

1. One of your 2 banks is dropping off due to the ECU cutting off its fuel because it is receiving a too high cat temp signal from one of three TCUs.
2. Ignition components are cutting out at the coil.

Do this:

1. Verify that you have a SDL bulb at engine start up. It should light up and then go away. If no, replace the bulb.
2. If you do have a bulb, you should see the SDL come up when the car loses a bank due to overheating, if not, then it is not the TCU
3. Drive around the neighborhood until it happens, pull into the driveway and see if you can identify which bank is misfiring. Use a pyrometer, or pull one plug at a time.
4. See if there is a cat glowing red
5. Pull the OBD2 code. You should get at least a pending code.

Tell us what you find.

 

Something inconsistent here. A 96 doesn't have separate CELs for 1-4 and 5-8, and only has one SDL as well. Where are you located? Are you sure you have a 96? Perhaps it's a 95 registered as a 96. Anyway, I would not be driving the car until you get this sorted.

Read the manual. There is no "limp mode". It's a pull over and stop driving mode.

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if CEL is on, what is the code?

 

So it's a CHECK ENGINE light (only), not a SLOW DOWN light? Wouldn't the Slow Down light come on or flash if there was a temperature problem?

 

Yes, if it's a 2.7 it's a 95 but I understand in some European countries they list the model year as the year it was first registered. The important think is that it's a 2.7.

Please confirm. When you turn the key on, before you start the car, both check engine and slow down lights should be lit. They should go out when you start the car. If the slow down lights don't light up when the key to turned on he bulbs are either burnt out or have been removed. Check engine light doesn't come on for cat high temperature, cat TCU problems or burnt slow down bulb. At least according to the workshop manual. Check engine coming on would indicate an additional problem.

 

You can read your own code on a 1995 2.7 motronic. Do a search and it will tell you how. That will tell us plenty.

 

My understanding is that only USA have the button connected to the ECU needed to read codes. Not sure the Euro harnesses even have the connected for the button.

 

Can an OBD2 scanner be used on an OBD1 port? (and vice-versa). I see there are cheap adaptors on eBay for OBD1 to OBD2 plugs.

 

As far as I know, no. OBD 1 did not have a standard. OBD 1 codes and ports differed from make to make. For cars with connectors the connectors weren't standard either, 7 pin, 9 pin, 12 pin, etc and each manufacture had its own code reader. Many OBD 1 cars didn't even have an OBD 1 port. Shops didn't want to have to buy readers from each manufacture thus codes were read by pushing buttons or several controls in order to get a dash light to flash the code. For example, on USA spec E30 and early E36 BMWs you turned on the ignition and depressed the gas pedal 5 time and then the CEL would flash the codes.

 

clean your MAF sensors
worked for me

 

Christian, did you test the car? Was it it the MAF sensors?