Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Solenoid Change on 512TR

[Steve Jenkins (steve]

On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:57 AM, Matt Boyd <ferrari308driver [at] gmail.com> wrote:

I'm pretty certain I've shared this story before, but Steve your story reminds me of it and I'll share again.

 

This story is from about 15 years ago when I had a leaky lower timing cover gear on my 308. The first step in replacing the inner and outer bearings is to remove the engine from the car and separate the gearbox from the motor. That was beyond my skillset and budget, but Ric Rainbolt saved me and told me if I drove from Virginia down to Dallas that he would help me do it in his garage. So that's what I did, but isn't the point of this story.

 

Ric had recently acquired a TR. It looked pretty good but was a bit rough around the edges mechanically. Two of the issues he was dealing with was that same hot start problem with the starter solenoid and also a rough running car that tended to stall when idling. So with that backdrop, here is the image.

 

Ric was driving me around Dallas in stop and go traffic in this eye-catching Testarossa, everyone watching. Several times when idling, it would finally die and of course wouldn't restart. So I'd hop out of the passenger seat with a hammer in my hand, Ric would pop the rear deck lid, I'd lift it, smack the solenoid with the hammer (gently of course, but I'd embellish it and make it look like I was really taking a swing at the motor), then he'd be able to start it.

LOL - awesome. I've done that hammer move many times... and the screwdriver trick. Always gets funny stares. :)

SteveJ