Convertible Top

I'd take it to dealer for some greasing and lube. There was a thread here on the topic, and IIRC the same company makes the hard top convertible for Mercedes Benz SLK (Webasto?). The SLK forum had a lot of ideas on what and where to lubricate...T

 

I just assumed they all rattled and when my car was in for service they gave me a new loaner and it was PERFECT. I should have kept the loaner. I then told the dealer to make my top quiet like the loaner, they told me it was my seat rubbing against the back seat and I said bs. Secend visit they fixed about 70% of the rattle. Now scheduled for a third visit. I cannot stand the rattle, it really ruins the F car experience because all I hear is the rattle not the exhaust. On fun when the top is down.

 

Wish my dealer would return my call to schedule a visit.

 

Where are you guys located at?
All the convertibles especially hard tops will have some sort of squeaky noise. Just like good ol' T-tops and targa top days. But they improved over time. It will annoy you when it rattles of course and hope the dealer takes it seriously and fixes it as you want.

My personal experience with Ferrari/Maserati tops are not bullet proof like 911's from my ownership in all of those. You could see in 360/430 section that the top functioning issue is something common. Cali, being a hard top makes even more critical when malfunction occurs. I had one incident with SL where top was stuck at 40% open. I drove the thing 20mph to the dealership looking like an idiot. At least it functions, get it sorted out and do not take YES from the dealer where you have right to be happy with your cars.

 

My Cali is at the dealer for more than a month now and most of this period she has been staying on a lifter as shown on the picture below. One thing that surprised me at first was the fact that they always put the top down before lifting and when she's up they never close it . They've explained to me something I was completely aware of and apparently the lifting of an heavy convertible is always a very delicate operation because this type o cars have more structural bending than a normal car so a lot of care has to be taken positioning correctly the underneath rubber supports. If the car is lifted with the top up, because of that structural bending, they say misalignments can easily happen on the roof causing later on some of the roof malfunctioning reported on this forum.
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Intriguing. I assume those rubber blocks under your Cali are the rubber supports you are referring to?
T

 

I'm a new Cali owner and noticed a black line of rubber residue on the rear deck after I put top down. Is this where they lubed? Any idea what type of lubricant?
Thanks

 

M, very nice view of your baby from an interesting angle and thanks very much or the heads-up on this.

While the Cali was originally designed as a convertible and it would be more rigid than other platforms like the 458 Spider and F430 Spider there's certainly a good rationale behind this precaution you point out. In that regard, I guess I'm been fortunate in mostly driving my car roof-down.

However, I'm actually planning on buying new wheels from a tuner very shortly so I'll certainly heed your advice and make sure my Cali's roof is down when I bring it in to the tuner to swap wheels.

BTW, I hope your dealer will be done with your car soon. At the same time may I ask why your car is at the dealer waiting for service?

 

Exactly Tom….

 

Well Michael, the story goes like this. Three months ago while start driving in front of my house I noticed at very low speed that the passage from 2nd to 3rd was rough and felt a slight bump. Didn't take much notice of that but it happened again some days later. In the meantime I booked a date for a complete evaluation at my dealer and explained to them what happened. They drive her everyday for a week but they couldn't replicate the fault and all the data collected indicated the gearbox was ok. They were going to give me the car back and I insisted they try again, explaining once more in detail what I've experienced. They drive her again a couple of days more and finally they were able to replicate exactly the fault and collected the data errors. The first evaluation made by the dealer indicated there was a problem with the gearbox mainshaft sensor and they send everything to Ferrari which asked to do many further tests and data collection which took three weeks to do. Last monday Ferrary validated the problem as being the mentioned gearbox mainsheet sensor and they authorize the dealer to order a spare one and remove the gearbox for repairing. All that is being done under the extended warranty I have an once the sensor arrives they estimate it will take 2-3 weeks to complete the repair.

 

What product is used to lubricate the seal?

 

I noticed the same thing on my Cali. I'd love to know what causes it & how to get rid of it...T

 

On my mondial T the dealer told me the same thing. Always top down on the lifter due to flex and bending on the top.

Like y'all I noticed the Cali's being worked on on lifters top down and none with top up. Never make any connection.

I also have that residue on the top but there is a protective film on my Cali so I paid no mind.

Scott

 

It's a very good thing that you were persistent. These are expensive cars and they should function according to expectations. Of course, intermittent car problems are a real pain to debug. Ferrari dealers often have to work with the factory on such issues and that requirement can greatly extend the amount of time the car has to spend at the dealer. It gets much worse if the time zone of the dealer is 5, 6 or 7 hours ahead of or behind the factory's.

The DCTs are not discussed in great detail anywhere. I would love to obtain a schematic of the 7DCL750 Getrag DCT used in our cars but I have yet to locate one. If I were you, I would try to obtain as much information from the repair mechanic and service manager about the location of the defective part(s) and how they operate when you pick up your car. It would also be interesting to know more about how the DCTs are disassembled and reassembled. Service shops may not like to admit it but having knowledgeable car owners observe and record relevant details when something goes wrong can be very useful for diagnosis; and this process would be greatly enhanced if owners have a better understanding of how exotic components in their cars work.

 

I would leave it alone. I'm pretty sure they use some sort of grease. I spoke to my service manager about it once and we both felt it's best to accept it as normal. I use a high tech crystal clear grease on some parts of my racing bikes and I suspect it's similar material.

The rear panel of the roof containing the rear window has to form a watertight seal against the top panel of the trunk when the roof is up. This seal works better and more quietly if it is lubricated and it is the lubricant that leaves the stain on the trunk lid. Grease unlike oil, does not run so I suspect it is grease. Cleaning off the "black line of rubber residue" would likely have a detrimental effect on how well the seal performs.

 

My dealer's technical manager personalizes a little bit that old assumption " If you own a Ferrari you'll have to marry your mechanic". During this process with my Cali which is already quite long, this person has been extraordinary always giving me a personalized treatment, explaining calmly and patiently what they were doing, showing me all the printed data and the exchanged communication with the factory. This guy is a true ambassador of the Ferrari emblem with a custom oriented sensitivity and during our conversations I've been learning a hell of a lot more about ferraris than I ever could imagine. The last time I've been there there was a F 12 (2012) lifted up next to my Cali and they diagnosed exactly the same problem with the gearbox mainshaft sensor and that made me wonder how it was possible that Getrag tried to hide this faults for several years not allowing anyone to open and repair their gearboxes.

 

That makes sense. Thanks...T

 

Yes, the coincidence between the DCT mainshaft sensor issue with your (pre-2013) Cali and the 2012 F12 is certainly curious. I'm glad you got yours fixed in time. It's so important to put our cars through their paces to reveal any defects.

My understanding is that the factory did make changes to their DCT implementation in 2012 to make them more reliable and hopefully the mainshaft sensor (loss of one set of gears) problem was one of them.

We really do need to understand the 7DCL750 design better, rather than to be left to treat this potentially expensive maintenance item as one GREAT BIG BLACKBOX. I'll continue to keep an eye on news and information on the 7DCL750. It's used in many cars from other makers, Mercedes being one of the other brands. So I hope we can learn lots more in the future. BTW, I did a look-up on your past postings and noticed you researched and wrote quite extensively about your car's DCT. I'm going to read through your postings to learn as much as I can from your write-ups.