Battery is dead !

my battery in my stradale died suddenly also. it was only two years old. the stock batteries do not seem to last more than a couple years. i just replaced mine with an interstate for about $100. it's not hard to replace it yourself, but it's a bit of pain-in-the butt.

 

try recharging with at the panel behind the seat. Taking on the battery and its bracket is a pain in the a$$.

It will likely take a recharge. Buy a device at Home Depot or Wal-Mart to hook her up and your in the Garage Business (almost...)

 

It's true that the OEM Varta battery does not last long, but you should keep a tender on it at all times.

The OEM is poor, and the alarm drains daily.

If the battery is completely dead your tender may not bring it back.

If completely dead, take the time to put in a new one.

Interstate is a great deal, and it will turn the engine over like a rocket.

However, you have to be very careful with the metal bar that goes across the battery top to hold the passenger foot rest.

Loosen it and tie it upward with string. It can very easily come in contact with the positive terminal of the battery, and you know from there.

I used an MTP-91 Interstate and had to play with the OEM mount a bit. The Interstate drain tube plugs directly into the Ferrari drain tube.

 

Any non driving over a week on my 360 spider and I put on the trickle charger. I assume I will do the same with the 430 spider.

 

If it's dead flat as it appears after 3 weeks it may have a collapsed cell.
Either way you will need to take out the battery, as a trickle charger won't pick it up at this point.
As noted be careful with the brace, especially putting it back in.
Take it to your local garage and get them to test and if OK, get them to give it a boost on their charger for half an hour, after that the trickle charger can do the rest.
Don't expect anymore than 2 years out of any battery in a 360.
If you lock and alarm your car in your garage, remember to put the charger on at least every 2 weeks. Put the charger on if you are planning to take it out, the electronics of the 360 don't seam to appreciate being started on a half charged battery.
Good Luck

 

My battery went dead after three years. I now have trickle charger on all of the time. When My glove box would not shut, the little light in the glove box drained my battery down.

The electronics of the 360 must be reset by a dealer once the battery is completely dead. I think they reload the data on to a flash card so the car knows how to behave like a Ferrari. This is a pain and a little expensive. Sometime if the battery is low but not dead a jump will work and life goes on. The dealer told me if the battery is completly dead and you get the car jump started you can drive the car to the dealer to have the memory reinserted. He said it is driveable but be careful because it is not a pretty drive. I don't know didn't do it.

The 360 has the push button on the key, then you must start within 120 or do it again to start the car. This is theft protection. This burns up the battery while sitting. My dealer says it should be trickled charged or run every two weeks otherwise you are at risk of a dead battery.
My Lotus and Vrod have the same system and that has happened to me. The battery on the 360 has a little more amp-hr capacity so I think it would last longer, maybe three weeks but I really am not sure.

I use a plug in 0.50 amp-hr charger that comes with the Ford GT. It has a low "C" charge rate and all you do is plug it into the lighter socket. Very easy plug and go. I did it for about two years on my 360 and had no problem. You can buy these from a Ford dealer. they came with the GT. it is neat. The Ferrari charger is a pain but I must use it on my F430 because the lighter socket is not powered unless the ignition is on. The 360 Modena , at least my 2003 version was on all of the time. I hope that helps.

Lee

 

my battery went dead (almost completely dead), and i removed the dead battery and replaced it with a new one the next day. i think all you have to do is start the car and let it idle for abotu 15 minutes. don't touch the throttle or anything. just let it idle. apparently, the car recalibrates itself during this time. anyway, that's what i did and my car runs fine.

 

Purchase a Battery Tender.....

 

I started reading some of the other responses. A collasped cell means that you have less than 13.2 volts. Each cell does 2.2 volts because of the way the engineers sized the panels ( Federal law) in each cell. If you have a multimeter you can check that very easy. One of the 6 cells would be dead or close to it. More likely the battery chemistry just get weak after 2-3 years. One gentleman mentioned he put an interstate battery in his car. That is a good choice and cheaper than the ferrari Battery which are about $250 versus 65-$100 for the Interstate. The more amp-hours you select the longer the battery will last between idle times i.e. 700 is not as good as 900 etc.

I have friends who get 5 years out of the Ferrari battery. I am hitting about 3-4 not sure what they are doing. trickle will let you live with a weaker battery so planned replacement is a good idea. Some shops can do a load test which has some value.

Lee

 

Maybe this is a good time to dispell a few myths.
No, you don't have to go back to your dealer if your battery goes flat or you have to disconnect it for any reason or replace it.
The only thing you need to do is, turn on the ignition, let it run through its cycle, it will take a little longer than usual.
Start the engine (and correctly stated), don't touch the gas either starting or immediately after, just let it idle for a few minutes and the system will reset itself.
The only thing I hate is, that I can never remember the code for the radio, so I have to go and find the code card.

 

I would do it now especially for when you have a dry, warm day during the winter and you get the urge to drive it!

 

Thank you for setting me straight on the back to the dealer. I got think I was charged for "resetting" but not sure. Damn I hate to get taken. This serice guy is gone and I will see the new guy on Tuesday. I will ask him

Thnaks again.

Lee

 

Someone else mentioned this, and I thought it was a good idea to bring it back up. The electronics in our cars do not like low voltage, it messes with there ability to function properly and you risk possible damage to expensive components. DON"T BE CHEAP! If you have a low battery, don't try to milk it, replace it. It is a rather inexpensive repair relatively speaking.

 

What are you doing living in Sweden! It's too cold and dark there!

Great advice and well-stated, Colby. Batteries are realtively cheap.

My same feelings about oil changes. Oil is cheap and it keeps the engine clean. Change it often.

 

As per my earlier post I was told by the dealer service manager that sometimes a dead battery when recharged or replaced will not run the car correctly. Some on this thread said this is a myth. I do not know I was only told this.

Anyway I talked to two different mechanics at the Ferrari dealer and they both said the same thing. Sometimes the 360 will not go back to normal operation when coming off a dead battery. What happens on the 360 is the car will only run on 4 cylinders. When this occurs sometimes it will go to all eight but not always. What has happened to them on some 360's is the car stays on only half the cylinders and then in 10-15 minutes the service light comes on. According to Ferrari (they say) the algorithyms must be reloaded back into the car via a CPU down load.

They said if you replace the battery and it runs, be happy! If you see this problem now you know what it is. They say it appears to be worse if the battery is really dead. But he also said some cars you take the battery out and replace it in reasonable amount of time everthing goes okay. I do not know if this is true or myth I am only reporting what they are telling me.

I frankly do not understand why pulling a battery out completely would not make all 360's need reloading. it could be (this is a guess on my part) The Ferrari could have a condenser or a lituim battery that holds memory. On cars where it is weak (about 3-5 years) or are old this problem is evident. This is common on other electronic gizmoz and machines I designed with digital wiring.

When my 360 battery went dead I just called the dealer.They picked up the car and did whatever. I do remember they did a parallel wiring thing when they change battery. It did not come up on all cylinders. They said the logic was reloaded but I did not pay because the car was still under warranty.

I also asked them about the F430 since I now own one of these. The lead mechanic said they have not seen it yet and do not know.

Lee

 

They lied.

 

My CS battery also died at age 24 months. One day it was fine, the next it was completely dead. I had Ferrari of OC replace the battery and they were kind enough to add a Battery Tender plug without my requesting it! Sounds like good policy to replace the battery every 18-24 months as a matter of preventative maintenance.

 

Brian, you need to write a book

 

The same thing has happened to every Ferrrari I have had so far.....

One day good, next day dead!

 

They may have lied. It does seem peculiar and frankly old technology. my plan when the battery goes dead is just replace it and see if the car starts up and runs okay.

I hope they did not lie. I would consider that a serious breach of trust with a customer. Hell I will not know for three years when my battery go poof.
Interesting conversation tho. thanks to all fo the comments.

Lee

 

I had a similar experience. I some how didn't shut my door all the way. One week later I go to start the car and it's obviously dead. The good news was that the original owner bought the Ferrari battery charger. I hooked it up and about 6 hours later the car started right up. I then drove it for about 1/2 hour (about 1:30 a.m., neighbors loved me) and the next morning the car started right up, just like normal. That was about 2 months ago and everything has been great. All the electronics work as they always did. Before charging the car that night I was able to contact my mechanic and he mentioned nothing of resetting any electronics. BTW, he's the lead mechanic at an authorized dealership.