Help with Error Codes and 355 that died and would not start

When you say it wont crank over, do you mean you turn the key and get nothing or does the starter engage and will not fire up.

 

How old is the battery?

 

I would not trust those codes to be the only problem yet. I suggest you start at the beginning and ...

1. Make sure your battery is freshly recharged
2. Look for spark
3. Test for fuel pump operation, fuel pressure, fuel pump fuse, fuel pump relay
4. Do a compression test

Then see what the problems are.

 

Are you referring to your Motronic ECUs? i.e. Do you have a 2.7 or 5.2 Motronic engine management system?

Do you have two fuel pumps, 2 fuel filters, etc? What is your car's assembly number? (left hand side of engine bay)

 

Prior to this , have you ever noticed if you could crank your engine with the immobiliser active? Some cars will, some cars won't. My car won't ('98 Australian car).

It's not a fuel supply issue if it's not even cranking. Sounds like an immobiliser (depending on the above) or Motronics ECU issue. Or something really strange going on with the electrical system. I assume your instrument warning lights and external lights work with the ignition in the run position (?).

Have you checked all the fuses in your passenger footwell?

 

Ok. So it's probably not an immobiliser issue I guess you have a late '98 model.

This is interesting. It's hard to imagine a fault which would affect both cranking and engine management (considering the fault also stopped your car as you were driving).

Looking at the wiring diagrams, there is a particular connector on the back of the footwell relay panel which supplies power to both the starter solenoid and ignition-related power to the Motronics ECU. The back of the relay panel isn't easy to get to. However, there is another (9-pin) plug near the Motronics ECU which carries that same ignition-related power which I could get you to check with a voltmeter).

Anyway, I'll see if the other folks can come up with easier suggestions. I may be moving too fast for you.

Here's the diagram:

Fig11a_1997_5.2_Injection_System_Ignitionv2.GIF

 

There is also a waterproof 12 pin connector aft of the left rear strut which has the following:

1) a white wire which carries starter solenoid power
2) a small red wire which goes to the alternator (I believe this can cause power problems if the wire is broken).

Check it for security/pin damage.

It would be helpful at this point if you can tell us when the last major was done and if you had any other electrical issues.

 

Optima Red Tops are a pain in the butt battery. They are notorious for issues. Fully charged or not. I removed the one in my 355 ages ago.
Before you start tearing into wire harnesses and other items, you might consider trying another battery.

 

+1

Good point. Can you get someone to put the ignition key to start while you listen to see if the starter solenoid clicks. If you can move the (spider) seats, you should have enough capacity in the battery to activate the starter solenoid, but perhaps not crank the engine.

 

My friend just last month had all kinds of weird issues with his 355.
Immobilizer acting weird. Starter would not engage. Lights blinking on the dash. etc

Battery was fully charged....we swapped in a new battery anyway and all went back to normal.

Take it for what it is worth, but these cars seem really picky on battery condition.

 

I'll add my 2 cents since we own the same car.

Your car initially died due to losing power. The fact that it restarted would indicate (somewhat) that it still had enough power to engage the starter so the battery being the problem seems a little less likely (it was my first guess as well). Because the starter will not engage when you turn the key.....the immobilizer seems to still be engaged. Does the red light go off and does the alarm chirp when you disarm it?

If it does then we really have a mystery.

 

He never said it restarted. Read post one again, slowly.

 

if you put it in 6th gear and rock the car, does the engine rotate a little?

 

Make sure you can tell if the engine rotates. You need some reference. Maybe pull a plug and check for piston movement. What ever works for you.

 

This is getting more and more mysterious. If the solenoid is clicking, this suggests the starter power wiring may be ok.

I was earlier thinking the chassis to engine earth strap might be causing both the ECU and starter problem. The engine ECU, the starter and alternator all rely on this. Perhaps the earth is good enough to activate the solenoid, but not enough to crank the engine. It's hard to get to earth with the car on the ground. However, a resistance check between the engine block and the chassis may tell you the condition of the earth. 200 milliohms is the quoted spec. Also check the earth on the back of the engine (right hand side, near the cam sensor). Here's a photo of the engine earth:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/146685322/

I'll try to dig up Grant's photo of the engine to chassis earth.

Also check the live battery terminals on the left side of the engine bay (in the box with the "+" on it) for security . These are disturbed during majors.

I assume your battery was not in cutoff and your battery conditioner had been removed when you tried to start the car? Where do you normally attach your battery conditioner? On the battery?

I'm curious to know where JohnK is going. Could a single mechanical issue be causing all these problems?