"Slow Down" light when cold

Recently I have seen the "Slow Down" light on my Mondial 3.2 come on at random times -- including when starting it dead cold in 32 degree weather. Any ideas about what could cause this?

 

Peter,
Most of the time the first thing to check is electrical connectors and grounds related to the components. In this case, stuff related to the "over temp" thermocouple. I would follow the thermocouple from the cat to where ever the ecu that it connects to. Check and clean all the connectors related to the overtemp box, and make double sure that the box itself is firmly and cleanly bolted to the chassis (has a good ground). Perhaps even adding a fresh ground may be helpful, as show in this "tech tip" on another site:
http://www.ferrariforum.com/tech/view.php?id=20 though this is related to the ignition box (you should have one, not two), something similar for the overtemp box might be helpful.


If this does not solve your issue, you will then have to go into a more detailed diagnosis of the system (sorry, can't help you there).

Dave

 

Thanks Dave, this helps a lot - I will try to locate the cat thermocouple and trace it from there.

Peter

 

I concur with Dave. I had the same problem last fall, usually when hitting a discontinuity in the road surface. Once it lit up when the car was started from cold, same as your experience. I had the contacts cleaned, and that solved the problem.

Ken

 

My tr did that and the ECU's were cracked and let moisture in and that caused the light to come on. I did a no no and just unhooked one side of the engine and no more lights and no problems. This is not per the maintenance manual but I did not drive like a nut and always maintained my car very well short of spending $500 for this part.

 

peterp, piece of cake !! check your conections with the ecu, located behind the shock tower, if it still comes on, swap the ecu s located behind the shock towers, they are both the same you have 2 one on each side of the shock tower, each one controls half of the motor, if you swap them and the slow down light comes on for the opposite side you need to replace. these are very easily replaced, about 400 us dollars to replace and about 5 minutes of time. they are notorious for going bad.

 

John,
You are thinking of the 348 motor, this is the 3.2 or 328 motor...only ONE cat/ecu.

Dave

 

After a day of running my 550 at the PPIR track and then going up into the hills above Colorado Springs for dinner, my (first) date and I started the car and "SLOW DOWN" immediately started blinking in red on the dash! The blinking red light continued half way down the canyon, then went out when we put on the native American flute music of Three Feathers, a musician we'd seen perform at dinner in the Martini Hut at Woodland Park. As soon as I put Van Halen back on, the red dash light started blinking again! Two days later, at Ferrari of Denver, 10 electrical ground faults were diagnosed, including two that were preventing two cylinders from firing. The unburned fuel was igniting in the catalytic convertor. All I can imagine is that these electrical ground faults are so sensitive, that rock and roll music vibrations in the car will cause them to flair up. I keep a halon fire extinguisher right behind me now, just in case.

 

LOL.
I always knew that rock'n'roll ain't noise pollution but apparently it IS air pollution!

 

Wow, in a 550 you can be down 2 cylinders and not notice? If I go down 2, I'm pushing the car! LOL

Ken

 

So far I've cleaned up the contact at the thermocouple end and the light hasn't come on since, but the problem doesn't happen that often so it will take more time to determine if it's fixed. I also traced the wire to the ECU, but at first glance it seems to be sealed (I didn't try very hard to get at it, but will try if the light does come back). Thanks for the help.

Peter