Not trying the rehash the same old argument, but...

I don't have any problem reconciling and discussing factual minutia. That is the only way to dispel dogma that is flawed, if it is.

This is a screen shot of a recent post on our 355 FB page by a Fcar specialty shop concerning this topic. It seems that a fair amount of the techs out there support the gold females connectors.
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Looks like it was trying to electroplate itself. Both running the same signal?
Does resistance in the connection cause this also?


I know I gave up on the monster cable thing long ago but I am a pee brain.


BTW I think you need a new de-humidifier LOL

 

You look at any mission critical airbag system in any new car today and they are gold on one side connecting to a silver color. The silver side is not a "tin" I dont know what it is as I never asked. It is a very shiny bright color maybe silver, I dont know. I do know or 355 connectors are garbage. If we can find something that does not react were good to go. Until then I plan to play it safe with similar metals. I may try gold on the injectors as they can be replaced easily but the ECU's connectors will stay put right now until I know more.


Remember 1995 was the early stage of weatherproof connectors for electronics in the auto industry and gave us a PITA for many years until they got it right

I may have a few old airbag ECUs laying around I should have analyzed

 

I installed the full gold kit on my car in December 2012. I plan on periodically checking the connections and posting my findings on Fchat when the time comes. More information is always good but arguing two differing positions like an atheist and a priest would do was way over board. I am glad that is over and the mood around here is much better since.

Go team 348/355!

 

Did you notice any improvement in the motor after the GCK refit?

 

Tin is tricky stuff.

http://nepp.nasa.gov/Whisker/background/index.htm

 

My recollection at the time was less CEL issues related to 02 sensors and cat ECUs as well as smoother running but how much of that is just a psychological thing from expecting it to be better? I don't know. The car ran "fine" before.

I'll tell you there was a crazy amount of corrosion on some of the connectors I did change though.

 

Ok

I think i asked you this before!
I'm doing my connectors next week
Not the big block ecu connector...just all the 2 and 3 pin connectors and their boots

 

I wish I would have done a baseline recording of signals he ECU was receiving from each sensor. Therefore I would have been able to compare to directly after and see what the changes were to the information going to the ECU.

 

Hi Bob,

Theory is great and all but real life testing is the bottom line. I attribute flawless 3000mile runs Los Angeles to Canada under somewhat adverse conditions that 99% of us would never do to be a pretty good test. That was on the prototype gold kit first one done in a 550 many years ago. We see no problems. I'm doing another gold kit now. The gold pins are only part of the answer of why this works. Anyone who pulls an pin out of a connector and look at the pin to wire crimp corrosion or the spread female ECU pins will begin to know why. Changing all the pins isn't magic but it sure seems like it.
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Oh those installation picture are bringing back memories!!!

 

Did my gold kit 12/11 and the pins till look brand new when you unplug a connector and peek inside.

 

Good one

 

Hi FBB,

Which are the most suspect pins/connectors in a 355? I would like to visually inspect some myself.

That poster in the FB group (he is a 33 year professional) does not use the whole GCK. He does the connectors that he sees need it, ala carte. I am not dissing doing the whole enchilada concept but just trying to better grasp the underlying problem.

I have been making up thermocouples and connector adaptations for the exhaust ECU project and have collected a few crimpers and feel like I have my technique down now. At least on those items.

 

Not mine but if mine look like this I am getting after them.
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Hi Bob,

I see no problem doing it that way but I prefer to be systematic. What is interesting and uniquely Ferrari is that you can have a connector with say 9 wires and pull the pins out to touch and feel each wire. Each wire in the bundle lives under the same condition in the connector. Yet you will find that the cladding of some wires is not as good as others and the corrosion from the elements on other wires varies from wire to wire in the SAME bundle! How can Ferrari source such cr@ppy wire? How can Ferrari build the Ferrari California with the same sticky interior bits as the 348 from 1989? Only Ferrari. I don't make this stuff up pull a few plugs in your own car and you will see 1st hand. So to be quite honest I'm not good enough to figure out which plugs need GCK and which do not. Every wire is suspect in Feraris IMO. When I look at old pins I see corrosion. Too many people focus just on the gold. It is not just the gold. It is the prep too. Each wire needs to be stripped and cleaned before crimping the new pin. New socks on stinky feet don't make the feet smell better. Doing 1 plug and not another seems to me to kick the can down the road to the next weak link. I think of the GCK as a "performance" item not a "remediation." I think there are complete car benefits to all connections working at peak efficiency.

 

Bingo.

 

RRRRDRVR is an automotive electronic engineer and was once in the airbag manufacturing business. Ask him.

 

Good information here. I am putting the kit on my list.

Robb

 

FBB is totally correct: I found when you go to strip the insulation off the tips of the wires, if it requires a lot of effort, be prepared to see black looking strands of wire when it finally comes off. In those cases what should be shiny copper is horribly corroded. If there was enough wire to work with, I would start cutting the offending piece of wire back until I found real copper. If the wire was short already I would clean the crap off with the little wire brush provided in the kit. Ferrari obviously sourced the cheapest wire they could find. I'm not sure it wasn't more cast iron than copper.

 

Harnesses are sub contracted out to Delphi. Terrible quality. Started with the 348 and 512TR. The old Italian supplier was vastly superior.

 

I'm not sure if I would feel better if Brian just broke all the crappy quality news to us piece by piece or all at once but I appreciate the information greatly. The 355 is a battle I'll be waging the rest of my life. A full stand alone ECU with custom harness may be in my future. I've thought about it alot over the years.

 

I am with you on the stand alone ECU and make my own harness except for the fact no OBD port for testing. Unless you go with the open source project to simulate OBD signals the machine is looking for

 

There was an episode of wheeler dealers where Mike B went to a company to make a custom harness from scratch using the old one as a model for a 68 camaro.

I wonder what it would cost to make one for the 355?

Porsche 993s use Bosch motronic 5.2 as well as bosch sensors and they have nowhere near the issues 355 have in this area.