How do you repair burnt fuse block connectors?

There is a great write up on the Ferrari Forum of Austrailia...the founder of that website rebuilt his mother board in his TR and fixed a lot of electrical issues. If nothing else, many people bypass the mother board for the cooling fans and fuel pumps circuits, and use good male/female spade connectors. There should be some info. here on fchat to - perhaps do a search?

 

If the male pin and PWB/solder pad are still in decent enough shape, you could just replace the female metal terminal in the white connector -- although you'd have to anticipate the problem reoccurring in the same time frame or less (if the male pin is a bit oxidized). I believe, RicambiAmerica is familar with, and has, the parts (female terminals, white connector shells, if necessary).

Otherwise, if you've read the threads, you know that the more robust fix is to add another high-current capable path from the relay output tab to the wire leaving the white connector that avoids (or reduces the current in) those 2-point connection terminals in the white connectors -- not an easy project.

 

Many of them, yes. In fact, an Fchatter in California almost stumped me today with a white block for a 400i fusebox (yikes!). But alas, I had it too, and it is headed his way this afternoon.

The EASIEST way get them is to email me a picture of your existing burnt one. I need to know total number of pins, where the locating 'keys' are positioned. I don't know the proper word for those things, but I mean the plastic ridges that ensure you orient the connector properly. See the arrows on this one for an example of "keys" in my terminology:
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In the "y" white connector:
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If your connector is burnt, even just a little, then you should remove the fuse/relay board and inspect the solder connections. The male pins heat to the temperature that the solder will reflow and form a cold (high resistance) and can then cause a bunch of problems(fire). The fuse/relay panel is made up of four mylar circuit boards stacked and indexed to an epoxy board. Once you remove all the harness connectors, remove the panel from the trunk wall and then the board is accessed by removing the black backing panel. Look for dull solder connections (bad ones) or melted mylar and you can literally run an extra 18 gauge teflon wire from the relay terminal to the male connector pin duplicating the original circuit trace. Send me a PM with an email address and I can send you a bunch of jpegs. It is easy to do but remember to disconnect the battery first. About a year ago there was a thread about this. This is not rocket science and you get to learn more about the car we all love.

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86 tr

 

I have written to Daniel today and enclosed a series of photos showing the plugs and positions on the fuse board. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that he can cross reference available stocks to my pictures and we can get a list of appropriate part numbers to replace these white plugs and connectors.

 

For those that don't prowl around to other sections, I found this post quite interesting and relevant:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236795
Obviously TR owners are not the only ones plagued by electrical gremlins. It appears that Dave Helms has solved many electrical issues for 348 owners. Maybe we can convince him to come up with a kit for TR's. His kits even include the proper crimping tool which will be the next challenge to find, once Daniel gets the connectors worked out. I think the real secret to his solution on the 348 issues, which may also help the TR, is to somehow get the pins-male/female-gold plated. apparently this prevents the oxidation from happening.
FWIW I have an entire TR harness(spare) with all its connectors on it, if anyone should need reference pictures.

 

Great thread that can avert disaster or at least frustration. Do you guys know if any of these problems were resolved or improved in later TRs? Or was it 'all models' that have the fuse connector issues?

 

Okay guys,

Daniel got back to me tonight with the following:

"Outstanding email! I am going to pull together about 20 different connectors and see what we can match up. Give me about 7 days, because I'm ordering some in from Italy to get a complete set. "


So help is at hand. Within a week or so we should have a list of numbers that correspond to Plugs A, B. C, K, J, X, Y and W. These will be available along with replacement connector pins from Daniel at Ricambiamerica.com

Now, the only outstanding thing to figure out will be the actual crimping of the new connectors.

Maybe the thread above can shed some light on this?