Took the same route and for the second week in a row (I think this maybe a record!) no warning lights appeared. Still not 100% convinced but it certainly appears to be more positive than it has been in a while. If the car gets through a third week in a row with no issues then I’ll be a lot more confident. My gut feeling tells me that allowing the ECUs to bounce around the engine bay is the source of the last round of issues. If the next run is also good the aim will be to mount the ECU back where they are supposed to be under the Montronic controller on both sides.
I have noticed after parking the car from these trips a smell of fuel from the passengers side, especially if I stand right over the fuel cap. The smell disappears after the car has cooled down so the thought is that it is because of the forward/backward manoeuvres in a confined space to align the car in its parking spot. Some research is in order as well as a check of the fuel system on the passengers side of the car for obvious leaks next time the engine cover is off.
There are still some interesting little points to be found with these models that even extensive research does seem to highlight. The latest discovery is that the 2.7 Motronic cars (like this one) are “better” than the new 5.2 versions. Why? Firstly, the seem to be more reliable. Talking to a few people who work on these car regularly for a living, they have always commented that the 2.7 is better. Secondly, the 2.7 has slightly more power because of new emission standards brought out just before the release of the 5.2 engine management. To comply with these new standards the 5.2 engine management had to be changed from the 2.7 and this resulted in a slight drop in power output. Not a huge amount (5-10 seems to be the figure) bu it was certainly less. However, the most beneficial thing of the 2.7 model over the 5.2 is the fact that it has separate warning lights for “engine check” and “slow down”. At least knowing which of the two thermocouples was having a problem certainly made troubleshooting much easier. If there was only a single “slow down” light for the whole engine isolating the issue would have taken much longer. So glad that this one is a 2.7.
Hopefully with the thermocouple issue under control it is now time to fix a few of the other issues that were noted during the initial inspection.
At the top of the engine is tank for the radiator. With this there is a Tank Plug (Part Number 145030) that screws into the top. Out of the centre of this plug is a small connector to an overflow hose. The problem is that the connection from the plug to the hose is actually loose and simply sitting on top of the plug. It seems to have broken away from the main tank plug. This Tank Plug part appears to be common to a number of different models of Ferrari’s, including the 360. There was a second hand one available at http://www.prosport-ferrari.co.uk/ so it has now been ordered and is on the way (takes about 10 or so days to arrive). Total cost? 9 UK pounds (second hand). All that “should” be required here is a change over and connection of the overflow pipe.
That will probably be the last “fix” before the car goes into for its major annual service. At that point it will also be getting new tyres so my Christmas wish to have it all back and working to enjoy during the festive season. That would really make it a jolly time of the year now wouldn’t it?
Love the F355 