Fix for OBD-II connector issue

Hello all,

My dad recently bought a '97 355 Spider 6-speed (rosso monza over tan), and I was fortunate enough to be the one to drive it back from southern Connecticut to my parents house in New Hampshire. The car is spectacular, as I knew it would be. (I'm a Top Gear / Jeremy Clarkson fan, so I've certainly heard his opinion on it.)

We've spent the last few weeks learning lots about the car, and I thought I would share my experience with using the OBD2 connection. The previous owner told us that the check-engine light would come on occasionally, and that the problem is the cats being near the end of their life. Sure enough, the light came on during the trip home. Before buying a new set of Hyperflow cats, my dad wanted to pull the codes via OBD2 to verify that this was indeed the problem.

I have an Audi S4 for which I bought an OBD2 tool. Specifically, it's the Ross-Tech VAG-COM, and it's not a standalone handheld like many others. It requires a laptop, as it's comprised of an OBD2 cable (either 9-pin RS-232 or USB, your choice at time of purchase) and a piece of software. The software can be downloaded for free but only enables full functionality when it detects the presence of an authentic VAG-COM cable. (Alternatively, I believe you can build/buy a cable elsewhere and buy a license for the software alone from Ross-Tech.) It's intended mainly for Volkswagen/Audi products, because it can make use of the additional controllers in those cars to get diagnostic information on systems other than the engine management. The cable assembly uses the ISO 9141-2 signaling standard, so you can actually get a limited set of functionality with non-VW cars that use 9141-2. Apparently, this includes most European and Asian manufacturers, so I decided to give it a shot with the 355.

I'd read that Ferrari left out the chassis ground pin on the early OBD2 cars. There seems to be a signal ground (pin 5), but no chassis ground (pin 4). Many 355s (and probably also 550s and 456s, I imagine) have been converted by dealerships to have the appropriate pinouts, so I imagine that a number of current owners have cars that don't exhibit this problem as it was fixed while the car was with a previous owner.

Ricambi sells an "OBD2 Interface Cable", but that seems to *move* the ground pin from 5 to 4, rather than adding a *new* pin at 4. My dad and I weren't sure if this would be sufficient, so we just built an adapter cable with both ground pins. It simply ties the two pins together. Using the adapter and VAG-COM, I was able to the communicate with the car and see that the MIL was due to codes P0422 and P0432 - "catalytic converter below efficiency threshold" on bank 1 and bank 2, respectively. I was also able to clear the codes, so that functionality is apparently also common.

--Colin

 

I thought most of these were fixed by the dealer.
I just use a 50 dollar OBD II reader from Autozone and it works perfect on my 355 and 456. Hyperflow cats are the way to go when you replace them.

 

The FNA dealer in North America will fix this for you for FREE. I have posted this before, but here goes again. Attached is the recall notification. Simply call your local FNA dealer and give them your VIN to see if it still requires the update. It takes all of 15 minutes for the dealer to complete. With this attachment, you can inspect yours yourself and see if the update is needed.
View attachment obd2.pdf

 

BTW, have you inspected or replaced your cats yet? Common problem. The cores in the cats will work loose from the housings and tumble around and break apart. You can either have them recored, or replace with Hyperflows. Replacement factory cats are now $4k each, which is insane.

 

I have a set of factory cats with 2,000 miles on them. PM me if you are interested and I can come up with a price.

 

+1

I failed emissions because they couldn't connect to the OBDII for the reason listed here. Drove on down to Miller Motorcars and it was fixed in a few minutes under warranty. FYI mine's a '99 so it wasn't just the early cars affected...

 

It's everything from 1996 to late 2004. Includes 360's, 550's, 575's, 456's, heck even Enzo's!
Just check the bulletin I attached above.

 

How does one go about finding out if the recall has been done to a specific car?

 

Well forget that, I'm taking that piece of crap Enzo off my shopping list )

 

You quoted me, but did not read my post?! Go sit in the corner, and reread my post #3...(or reread your own post in which you quoted me) sheesh!

 

Ordered a set of Hyperflows.

I haven't tried that, but it's an interesting idea. Although, I don't know if the control module address numbers would be the same between VW and Ferrari. If they're not the same, VAG-COM may display "Tire Pressure Sense" (or something else nonsensical) when it's actually connected to the ABS controller.

 

I understand the dealer will fix this for free, except for the day off to drive the car 400 miles (round trip) to the nearest dealer. (yea, I'm *****ing about driving my fathers 355......)

I checked with the dealer who serviced the car before us, every recall has been performed on my fathers 97 except this one. So if it's just a ground wire between me and resetting / reading fault codes........

Here is the thread I started on this issue. I did a search and for some reason did not find this thread before starting mine. So just tying the two together for future searches

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198364

 

With the service bulletin I posted, you could simply source the parts and fix it yourself.
Ask the dealer, maybe they will send them to you?

 

When I saw the parts list I could not keep from laughing. A Ferrari part number for a Scotchloc?? I cannot wait to call the dealer for a price quote.

Too funny - I can laugh since this is the only recall this car needs. So not a bad start to my enterence to Ferrari maintenance.

 

Ask for them for free, it is a recall after all. But really, what could it cost, even with the Ferrari tax, $10?
The connector pin is the only difficult to source part. Wire and a Scotchlock? Any Radio Shack or auto parts stores have that.

 

I was just kidding about the price and I already have the connector pin.

I am a bit blown away that any "official" fix for a Ferrari (including the Enzo) contains a Scotchlock..... No thanks.

If I had found a Scotchlock coming out of the OBDII port when I was inspecting the car, I would have seriously questioned who was performing the maintenance.

I have a reputation for being pretty anal when it comes to electronics on my cars. So this may just be a pet peeve of mine.