When I left the cafe where I stopped for lunch today the A/C would not run. I rolled the windows down and enjoyed (right) the 100+ degree ride back to the office - only 5 minutes away luckily. I checked the fuse and wiggled the relay - no change. When I came out of the office this evening, I tried it again and it initially did not work, but a minute later it started working normally on its own and did so - blowing ice cubes, for about 20 minutes, when it stopped as abruptly as it started. Tried switching it off and on for another 5 minutes, but it never came back on. Any ideas? TIA
On the back of the selector switch, there are two terminals which control the AC system. The AC system draws lots of current, and these terminals will get hot and can become loose in the plastic housing. If this happens, the switch can work intermittently. Toning the terminals out may not give you accurate results, and may show the switch to be functioning correctly. Change the selector switch, or install a test toggle switch to check the potentially bad selector switch.
Roy, $25 says its the fuse block terminal or the relay. Both are easily fixed. To check the fuse terminals, pull off the cover and find the correct fuse. These have a habit of overheating as the terminal connections are very poor. Pull the fuse and look at the connections very close. If it looks like there is some melting or burning that's probably it. Next time it happens jiggle the terminal blade when it should be running but does not with the fuse in and see if you can get it to come on. Caution, the fuse and terminals will be very hot. If this looks good, pull the relay pannel and swap one of the relays with similar numbers, such as the normal fan relay, with the AC relay. The switch that was mentioned is also a possibility but what I mentioned above, I believe, is more probable and well documented. I don't know how handy you are but if you want to come down this weekend I can fix this for you or if you can hold out and bring the car to Barbers we can have a look there. Just let me know. Everything is running fine and I am bored and not doing anything this weekend. Chris can probably helpe with this as well if you do not want to make the trip but he is not as good as a hack as I am. Drew
Are you suggesting pulling the buttons on the center console to get to the wires - if so, how do you manage that?
I did pull the fuse and and relay and inspected them carefully - all looked in good shape - I saw no evidence of heat buildup - but then it had not been running for an hour or more while I was at lunch. I'll try to pull over as soon as it quits next time and see if I can find the hot spots. Let's see - BHM to Tuscaloosa - top down - 140 mph - spray bottles of ice water. It might work! I'll see how Diana feels tomorrow - she had a migrane today - not good. I'll PM you. Thanks Roy
I went out this morning and cranked the car up - selected A/C and nothing happened. I twisted the reostat that controls the fans speed and the thing fired up - running full blast - cold. As I would turn the fan speed up and down, the A/C would cut off and on periodically, but as long as I left things alone, it ran fine. I went back in the house, came back with my briefcase to go to work - and nothing. No matter what I did to any of the buttons - no A/C. So - does that help in the diagnosis? Again - all of you gurus are very much appreciated (and admired) by your less skillfull brethren.
Roy, Are you talking about the radiator fan AC or the blower fan AC? I errorously diagonosed the radiator fan AC when I looked at this last night. Should have read it closer. If it is the blower fan then we need to go down a different path. I would swap the relay's, assuming you have a similar one in the pannel. You cannot tell from looking if they are good or bad. If it is not this then your best alternatives are the switch, as was mentioned, or power transistor, if Ferrari utilizied one on the blower motor. When it does work, can you get it to run at the 3 different speeds?
Pulling the AC selector switch out is a real bugger, but you may be able to check the terminals while its still in the car, with the electrical still hooked up. 1.)Pull the forward ashtray out, there are two tiny #1 Philips screws remove them, and pull the ashtray assembly out, unhook the courtesy light and disconnect the spade connector. 2.) Remove the shift knob 17 mm wrench, and gated shifter #3 Philips screwdriver. 3.) Move the passenger seat all the way forward, remove the center passenger seat belt latch I think its a #17 mm deep socket after you pop the trim cap / plug out. 4.)You can now remove the center console switch and leather top piece. You will need to lift it up on the passenger side, and jiggle it around the gear selector, and a few other things. You can now remove the Information Center be careful not to damage the black bezel, its very thin, and will bend easily, mark the terminals (white, red, black) 5.) The electrical connectors on the Console switches will need to be disconnected. Use a Sharpie to mark each connectors position, they are the same size, and you can connect them to the wrong switch if youre not careful. 6.) With the electrical switches disconnected, you should be able to lift the panel up enough to check the AC Selector switch. 7.)If you are removing the AC switch, there are two tiny, I believe #6 or #8 mm nuts holding the switch portion onto the housing, and a #2 philips screw holding the vacuum port on to the switch, after these three fasteners are removed, the switch should be able to be removed. The switch has a white plastic bezel which pops off with a tiny #1 flat screwdriver and a small amount of prying, and the actual black push switches just pop off (note their location, as the second button back is left blank). Once you remove the panel, it will look like a birds nest, once you get past the electrical, its fairly straight forward. Just dont drop any screws down in the center console, you will never find them again.
Thanks - I may be up for trying this if the fuse/relay inspection doesn't turn up anything. I suppose I may need a new A/C selector switch if the old one is fried. Is that what you would expect? Thanks again for the time saving tips - would have spent twice as long getting access - or giving up.
Its like anything Ferrari, first time is a Chinese puzzle. Its not complicated, but there is a bunch of wires which the first time is quite intimidating.
Thanks to Drew and the helpful hints of jh355, the problem is solved. I drove over to Drew's house (in Tuscaloosa) this morning and we first checked the fuses and relays - all good. The we took off the shifter knob, shifter gate, ashtray assembies, and got access to the underside of the switches on the center console. First Drew thought it was a problem with the temperature reostat, and when we tested the A/C with the center console detached, everything worked fine after some adjustments, but as soon as we began to fasten it down, the A/C stopped working again. It was an amazing troubleshooting session until Drew located a bad connection in one of the multi-wire connections. A bit of securing the bad connection, and everything was right as rain - which I had a good bit of on my ride back to Birmingham - I never got above 110 mph on my way home I promise! Bottom line - the A/C is blowing ice cubes again , and I am a happy camper. I know that the first thing a shop would have done is replace the A/C switch - I don't want to know how much one of those costs! Thanks again to Drew and jh355 for the hard work/expertise and the encouragement respectively. Mission accomplished. Roy
Cool! That means that I don't have to snake through your wires when I return from Texas! Nice job, gentlemen.
Well - I had six weeks with the A/C working perfectly until this week. I don't know what I would have done with the stretch of over 100 degree days without it. Anyway - last week coming home from work it cut off again suddenly, but worked fine the next morning, and most of the way home that evening, but cut off again suddenly just before I got home. Never worked after that. Since the symptoms were the same as last time, I figured the wire had loosened up again, so I waited until this morning and went through all the steps Drew took me through last time, but NO CIGAR this time. Any suggestions for what to try next other than admit defeat and take it to the shop on tuesday? Thanks - "Defeated"
Once my engine is done, I am really going to study up on this A/C thing. There are many cost effective imrovements available to the Porsche 911 guys who also are saddled with a relatively terrible a/c prior to the later models. I just gotta believe we can learn from them and get a very effective a/c for those of us who drive our cars in hotter climes. I would rather have NO a/c and save the weight/complexity than a lukewarm fan. This just can't be that hard, or expensive.
I guess I had been bragging about how great her A/C was during the really hot weather, she had to remind me that she is a temperamental Italian at heart. I went to Radio Shack and bought some "dust remover" - thought I would give the switches a good blast and see if that helped anything.
The mechanic located the problem in the fuse panel, and cleaned and re soldered the fan circuit connections. Works like a charm now 3.5 labor hours later.
