Hi all, Passenger side window (RHD) on my 348 GTC decided to give up the ghost today so took the door trim off to have a look, cleaned up the runners etc. Had it working ok but quite slowly out of the car. Was quite obvious there was a significant voltage drop. Put it back together and it would go up but not down. At this point realised the LHS was dependant on the RHS and that the ground was travelling across the car and back again. The connector on the drivers side door was a right pigs ear. One overheated and broken live and a broken ground. Signs of corrosion too. Before I got the car someone had paid Ferrari to try and fix this, had been charged £000's with no fix. Hmm, looks like the replaced the passenger side connector but hadn't even considered the drivers side.. So, anyway, I can see that even if I fix the wires/connector on the drivers side the system is fundamentally flawed. I've found the thread on here with the relay box-direct to ground that Frazer sells so I will get a pair of these after fixing the wiring. Few problems tho, I can see why my GTC is 300kg lighter than a stock 348 and why Ferrari used these for homogolation specials. The doors are unbelievable, totally carbon/kevlar and so thin. From the frames to the strakes the whole shebang. It makes me want to ditch the motors completely and go for a sliding lexan setup. Is anything available? Back to reality, where can I source a new connector and the tools used to locate and remove the individual pins? Does anyone have part numbers? And as for the relay box, not going to be easy finding a ground on c/k doors... lol LL
Screw replacing the pins, just hard wire it and be done with it. The pins are just gonna break again, so why waist your time with that.
That's the gospel truth, Ernie. Remove the front wheel, then remove the inner fender guard, open up the door panels, cut off the AMP connectors and wire colored wire from the fender to matching "coloured" (for UK humor) wire in the door. It's done on my driver side, now I've got to do that to my passenger side before something quits on me.
I agree with these guys, that size AMP connector is simply not suitable for the job - even when clean (I have checked the data sheets). I measured the voltage reaching the motor @ around 8V (engine off) even after cleaning the pins. When the wires for the lock solenoid broke off I gave up messing with it and bypassed. I'ts a time consuming job though. I spent 4hrs on one door and am no stranger to this type of job. With the connector wired through there was 10.5V at the motor (engine off, drivers LHD door) and the window was plenty fast enough. Adding a couple of ground switching relays direct to the door increased this to 11V, but I can't say I noticed any difference in speed (5% is tough to spot I suppose). There is a difference in how LHD/RHD is wired though - the relays may help a RHD more.
I understand the advice, thanks everyone. However I can't say I'm keen to do this. My car is one of 8 RHD in the world out of a total of 50 and I really want to keep it as standard as possible. I think the real problem with these is the length of the ground, this causes the majority of the voltage drop but I do agree that the AMP connectors are undersized for the current requirement. I think I'm going to fix the connectors then add the relay boxes, these won't leave any long lasting effects and can be removed if someone in the future was really worried about a couple of black boxes hidden in the doors. So, does anyone have the part numbers?
I totally understand your desire to keep it standard. AMP/Tyco part numbers are sometimes moulded on the connector, you might need a torch/magnifier to see it. I believe that that particular range is now no longer manufactured by Tyco - the current CPC range looks a little different and will not mate up. You could contact http://www.tycoelectronicsamp.co.uk send them a good photo and see what they say. The crimps may well be available, something like Tyco 66101-2 MIGHT work. RS sell them but at around 50p per pin so you want to be sure they will work. Correct door looms made-up with the connector fitted are about £400 IIRC. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Chris, great info. Sourced the connectors from Maranello. Looks like I'll be having fun with the soldering iron later in the week. Yay.
