Gear Box Issues on 2011 Cali???

Personally-speaking, I haven't heard of any DCT failures in 2011 models but maybe others can also comment on that. IMO 25% failure would qualify as a major financial disaster for any car maker. It doesn't take a math genius or an actuary to surmise it would cost Ferrari a lot more than $30M to cover 25% DCT failure under warranty. My dealer's service manager told me they had 2 DCT issues in the beginning and they haven't had any since then and my dealer is a pretty big dealer. Their mechanics can also service DCTs in-house so defective DCTs do not necessarily require a full-unit-swap.

Of course, you can run into other issues like the headlights losing some LEDs and that has happened to some people's cars. A new headlight unit can cost almost as much as the extended warranty. However, extended warranty would not cover wear-and-tear items so you need to go over specific repair concerns to see if they really would qualify as warranty repair before assuming anything.

 

6 days into ownership of my 1 owner certified pre owned Cali it stranded me on the side of the road with a gearbox issue. Best of all Ferrari roadside could pick me up in a short 10+ hours since the car broke around 10PM at night and there were no tow trucks available to them in Portland Oregon... Not a huge city but still 2 million people and no tow truck for a Ferrari?
Dealer so far has been great to work with but now I'm scared to death of DCT issues. It's pretty embarrassing to be broken down in a lane not able to move the car in the bad part of town as a 32 year old driving a car worth as much as some of the houses surrounding me(shortcut through town to my house)

 

What year is your car? 2010?

Gearbox malfunctions are terrible. But many times you can still drive and limp home, albeit with only the odd gears.

Was your car still drivable or was it that the warning light scared you to not drive?

 

Not driveable. I literally sat blocking a lane would not engage any gear. After 20 minutes of being off I limped around the block to park in a semi safe space. Then it fully failed again. Next morning after being off for 12+ hours it engaged and drive into the flatbed but was very jerky, but no failure light.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I'd be very pissed if that happens to me. 6 days into ownership. But the guys at RTGT are great, although I heard Dan Wilson (service manager) is retiring or has retired. Hope he is still there as I'm sure he'll make it right for you.

I've read that pre-2012 models have potential gearbox issue.

 

I bought my 40k miles 2010 Ferrari Approved Cali at ferrari dealer. initial price was including 2 years new power.

I asked for a discount to take the warranty off.
you can do a lot of fixing for 5k USD a year. moreover, leaks, etc are not covered by the warranty.

 

Michael hits the high points. There are a lot of threads here (Cali, 458, F12/FF) talking about the DCT. Some key points

2009 Cali was the first car with the DCT, then came the 2010 458.

Some (some; not many) had DCT issues that were traced to internal wiring and electricals, which would create faults. At that point, the DCT would send "failure warnings".

Since they were so new, and Getrag and Ferrari had not developed field-based repairs, the common fix was to do a gearbox swap, internal parts were not available, and few techs were trained to diagnose and repair.

2010/2011, they made some enhancements to correct the issues, though I'm sure there are still some early gearboxes out there that have not failed due to the same issue. Most of those cars are out of warranty now...

Between being around a lot of street Ferraris, knowing my (large volume) dealer and having raced a DCT car for 4+ years, gearbox "failures" are uncommon, but do happen. Our team has done something like 8 full "car-years", full season, full on racing and have had two issues; one was a leak, one was a solenoid.

Today, many (most?) dealerships have techs trained on gearbox repairs (from minor to rebuild), repair parts and kits are available, and seems the problem that used to require a gearbox swap is now a $4K repair. Again, does it happen? yes. Often? does not appear to be. Of course, if it happens to you, it's a full blown disaster (ha ha) FWIW there is also a bit of a growing "quiet supply" of rebuilt gearboxes out there

I wonder if some people use the "DCT crisis" as a sales tactic on extended warranty. Personally, I think the extended warranty is expensive but valuable peace of mind, but that's me.

To Michael's point, if the failure rate was that high, it would be a full on crisis of recall proportions. I do not believe anyone knows the actual statistical facts, most automakers guard their warranty claims closely. Recalls and campaigns are more public; I think it was 2013 when 100 or so V8 engines in the US were recalled for repair or swap due to a crank machining error. (actual numbers were published). That was another small panic that ended up being irrelevant.

 

if you can't stand the heat, stay out of it.

but do the math, ferrari is making money on the 5000 use/year warranty. if expense fixes were common, than warranty would have been way more expensive.

these cars are rock solid and as reliable as a same spec mercedes.

 

Steve Wintermantle the sales manager called today, it's a $7k sensor but they are getting it fixed up (no cost) and offered an option on a new 2016 Cali T as well. I'm very glad I bought from RTGT and will continue to buy from them Steve is an outstanding guy!

 

I agree, RTGT has been an outstanding experience for me as well.

 

$7 thousand dollars for a sensor?! What is it made out of, gold plated titanium? Yikes.

 

It's a $7 sensor and $6993 in labor to put it in there : )

 

That's great! Steve is a stand-up guy and always very pleasant to talk to. Although I haven't bought from him, RTGT services my 360. Hope they find a great service manager.

 

My 2010 gave me problems they day after collection! Would start but would not engage any gear. Fortunately was on my drive. Did a "hard" re-boot, disconnected the battery, wait a few mins reconnect, lock and unlock doors, wait a few mins and then start the car. Everything worked fine and no problems since (this was last November) found this process with a Google search. I have had the boot (trunk) fail to open recently though.....

 

Nah, they just stamped a horsie on it and added two zeros.

 

... it's a BIG sensor...
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If ther us any doubt about the transmissions, 5k seems like cheap insurance.

 

Not to mention the sales price is actually $4500, even less if you are renewing, and even less than that if you have not had a warranty claim in the previous year!

So while $5000 is a nice round number the reality is it's actually over $1000 less ... lol

Just sayin'

:-D

S