Scary Electrical Gremlins

Hi Patrick,I recently was sorting out my electrics and was getting a dead short not to the stage where the insulation would melt though,turned out to be a wire earthing in one of the indicators.You can get a cheap Ohm meter and check the line out side of the fuse boxes,you will have to seperate each circuit and check each one to earth.Im sure you will get other info good luck.

 

Patrick - you do have a rather dangerous situation occuring. I would spend time NOW finding the cause. It will be an easy fix, but may be difficult to track down. You will have to try and reproduce the problem. This may mean driving the car. Item #2 below will be critical.

First, my guess would be that a large gauge wire is shorting to chassis. A small gauge wire would have melted and acted as a fuse (or worse, caught fire). Hence, headlights, starter motor, horn, light flasher in steering column, etc.

Second, take all of the fuses out. Add only those fuses necessary to start the car and drive it. Specifically, ignition fuse, fuel pump, and brake lights (2 fuses I believe). Drive during the light hours, of course. Try to reproduce the problem with only these fuses in. Wait,,,,wait,,,,what am I thinking? Back up.

You are melting your amp gauge wire and no fuse blows????? Your answer is in the long starter conductor from the battery directly to the starter, or the solenoid wire from the ignition switch, or the plus side of the battery conductor to the amp meter. You are looking for a large gauge conductor that is not fused. Check the terminal block on the relay board. There are 4 large red conductors and 1 white conductor. See if you can identify any heat damage in any of these wires. This may help.

What year is your car? Do you have the old style relay board or the latter series board?

A bit more information will help. I wait with interest.

Jim S.

 

Is there any oil above, around, or on the the alternator?
I know of 3 alternators that died from oil driip exposure and you quoted one of the first symptoms.
A simple test would be to place your gloved hand down past the forward oil filler and see if you feel any oil on/around the head or valve cover.


Should you be located away from home when this happens, remove the 60 Amp fuse and drive on battery power. This will prevent sending electrical spikes through your system. From a Dino friend who has done it, I've heard that you can get 250 daylight miles before the battery is drained.

 

Patrick, go get this fixed immediately! I had similar -40 amp discharge this summer on day 2 of a 8 day rally.

Scott: "From a Dino friend who has done it, I've heard that you can get 250 daylight miles before the battery is drained."

This was me! Depending on the battery (we had two which we swapped out between on the rally) I got between 235-250 miles before requiring a battery swap. We charged one of the batteries each night.

First noticed car wasn't charging. Blew the firewall fuse, I found a temporary fuse replacement, tried it out and still saw -40 amp draw. Found the mounting box had melted.
Carlo of Tacoma diagnosed it to finally being the regulator for the alternator (unfortunately the alternator burned up as a result). Previous owner apparently had same issue and rebuilt the alternator ~600 miles before I bought the car.

Check the wire behind the amp meter, mine had electrical tape that had rubber partially off from normal driving vibrations. Perhaps it is shorting in the dash. Pull out the gauge and inspect the wiring, clean the contacts at the same time.

 

I think I got one a few years ago from Maranello.

http://www.ferraripart.co.uk/


NOPE. Wrong. Just checked my receipts. (yes, I still have all the copies.)

Got it from Dennis McCann Part # 20151601 cost me $110.00 about four years ago. old part #401403. Now $175.00 but his website www.allferrariparts.com indicates he has them.

DM

 

Patrick- there are several long threads on this. You should review them. I had the same situation with my Dino. You can buy an in line fuse holder for the large amp fuse & put a modern one in it. They are easy to find & cheap & simple to replace. The whole fuse holder on the fire wall deal doesnt work great anyway. It is likely that the oil on your alternator is from either the timing chain adjusters or the oil filler spout (most likely) at the top of the engine. I spent a TON of time fixing mine but if you read all the threads you will see it is not hard nor difficult to fix (as I made all of the mistakes already!!). Good luck!!

 

Scott.Mac has a good thread on the replacement fuse setup he found from an audio amp store. The failing of the alternator from oil drips seems to be a common problem
, Scott also has a good thread on sight modifications to the heat shield to catch drips.

I'm trying to keep my car as original as possible (along with undoing some things done by the previous owner's mechanics) so I paid ~$200 for a new fuse box and fuse!!! Ouch

Good luck!

 

That brings the tally to four alternators that I know of which have been destroyed by oil intrusion. I'm suggesting it is worthwhile to periodically raise the Dino and inspect and clean any oil there. I just did this and was happy to find no leaks. I had left my oil filler cap slightly loose that caused my problems.

Here is my thread using a modern 60 Amp fuse:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=189438

 

Hi, 99% sure it will be a bad connection on the back of the ammeter.