The LCD screen on my 612 went out, and the whole situation is aggravating. I recently decided to sell it after realizing the idea of using it as a DD with an infant wasn't my brightest moment. Sure the car seat fits in the back, but the practice of getting it in/out is a royal PITA and it took the fun out of having the car after only two months of doing it - I've got a 430 as a weekend toy anyhow so I decided to sell the 612 and find something more usable with an infant like an S8. A local guy who was interested in buying the car and wanted to have it checked out. No problem... it's had a recent "major" by a well known Ferrari tech and shouldn't have any issues passing a PPI. He asked that I took it to a local shop that he was comfortable with (more known for Porsche), and I stupidly obliged. I dropped the car off in the early afternoon, and later got a call from the shop that I could pick it up. The guy went on to mention they didn't think the car really had a major, and stranger yet, they said the LED screen was out! Now this screen has never so much as flickered in the entire time I've owned it, thousands of miles and not even a blink. I'm also slightly neurotic and when I left the car I was concerned about joy rides so I even took a pic of the cluster/odometer before I left and you can plainly see it worked. Now it's dark with only a slight flicker from the right side... and of course the shop says it's not their fault and the screen is a common issue with 612s (even emailed me something they cut/pasted from a buyers guide as evidence. I don't dispute the issue with some cars, but my car never had a problem until these clowns got a hold of it for a couple of hours. I've made some inquiries to get it repaired, and I'll be suing the hack shop when I get the bill, but does anyone have suggestions of places to do the fix? Ferrari wants to put a new screen in for $8k, and I've only had one repair place respond so far... so I'm looking for all alternatives to get this taken care of. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I wonder what they could have done to it? Does it have a brightness adjustment, or is that just automatic?
I would have a dealer try to determine the current mileage, so you can see if they did joy ride or not. Here is one for sale on eBay for much less than you were quoted: Ferrari 612 Instrument Cluster | eBay And if you don't have a colored rev counter, then your getting a free $800 option with the new cluster. I've also heard that there are places that can refurbish for around $1000 or so. Bummer. Good Luck.
FAI in SoCal are the experts on digital instrument panels. Contact Rod or Will and see what they say. Maybe they can help diagnose the problem for you or fix it if that does not work. The SD3 does have a digital instument panel module, so seeing the dealer is probably the first step before contacting FAI. Franchorchamps of America, Inc. 935 Sunset Dr Suite A Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (949) 631-6373 Rod Drew [email protected] Will White Home
Disconnect the battery, wait about 20 minutes, and then go through the reconnection procedure. I have heard that this has helped another before in getting the screen to magically come back to life.
Thanks for the input. I did try the battery disconnect switch (I read that in an old post), but to no avail. I've reached out to Rod at FAI and I'm hoping they can get it fixed!
The service folk at FoW told me they had someone who re-soldered the boards for I believe $1500. But I heard that from Rob Panico, my former mechanic who no longer works there. The service manager at the time was Glen, who is now trying his hand at sales. Greg Miller is the new shop mgr. Try him, ask for Glen if he doesn't know. But there are indeed people out there who repair these things. It's such a common failure, too, that I have to wonder if it really wasn't just coincidence.
Hello JAM1, There is a place that i found that fix car cluster LCD's and also can make some additional modifications. They are in the UK. cluster repairs UK. I believe you can find a few shops in the USA that also repair instrument clusters. I hope that helps.
Franchorchamps of America, Inc. 935 Sunset Dr Suite A Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (949) 631-6373 Rod Drew [email protected] Will White Home FAI can repair digital instrument panels. The repaired a Superamerica panel for me.
If you shine on the LCD with a bright flashlight while ignition is on, can you see anything? With dark LCD screens mostly the issue is not the LCD or its control, but the backlighting. Inside is a tiny CCFL tube with a high voltage supply, both of which can go bad without warning. For a good electronics repair man no biggie, important is to find a good one, with the prices mentioned of those clusters.
Being a known 612 problem then its likely not but I have read that trying to jump start a Ferrari (jumper cables to another running car) can fry the display. Is there any truth to this?
