355 F1 gearbox problem

Took the car out of the garage no problem when driving would not go up but then did got it into 3rd but then could not reselect drove back and tried to get it in the garage it then went into neutral but will now not select red light flashing and can not hear pump running, any tips or suggestions please? have checked brake lights, doors and lids.

 

Check the relay for the pump.

 

Try checking the fluid level for the pump...

 

Fluid level is fine will check the relay, thanks

 

Check for corrosion in the terminals on the pump. I had corrosion on the other side on the bypass valve vacuum controller.

I cleaned them and packed the plastic connector with dielectric grease, all good now.

 

Here is what all the guys tell us...buy a 355. So I'll be the first 348'er to tell you get a 348 ...Just kidding...I know your frustration

 

x2!

 

Just to let you all know my problem has now been resolved I changed the motor for the hydraulic pump at a significantly lower price than had been quoted both on this site and others the best price I was quoted was for the whole unit a £1999 plus tax at 17.5% = £2348 and this with no warranty as it was from a totalled car! I managed to get just the motor at £830 which included tax & warranty done all the work myself so the F1 pump failure was not so near a disaster as I thought it would be, if anyone requires advice and process for change/repair and my supplier either PM me or make it open forum.
Dave.

 

Nice to hear you got it all sorted out Dave.

 

Congrats on a non-Ferrari priced fix! Absolutely we'd love to see a step by step of your fix posted here, including the replacement part manufacturer and model. I don't need to do it now, but it could be a month, year, 2 yrs, who knows...

 

I tell everyone to buy a 355 with a real gearbox. They shift just fine.

 

Sounds like you are a thrifty Lad!

Good going.

Now, are you "pumped" up?

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed.

You should post a how-to, so that other 355 owners with the same problem can fix it themselves.

 

Ok Gents here it is and it really is this simple.
firstly check that the motor is in fact faulty do this by taking of the power cord and measuring you are getting 12V from the car side if so you proceed as follows.
Dismound the whole F1 unit from its holder 1 nut to the side and one at the rear no need to take the nuts of just slacken and lift out
Take of the rear wheel and rear wheel well shroud(4x screws)
now the akward bit.
get under the car and looking up at the unit you will see the motor, undo the 2 allen screws and remove the defective motor.
refit as above but before refitting slave in the new motor and check function. The only warning is that if you use the non Ferrari part you need to be aware that the conections should go red to black and NOT red to red otherwise the motor will run in reverse.
The part is availible from Verdi"s
http://www.verdiferrari.biz/home.htm

 

You're a good man to post that "how to."

What kills me is that the 355 F1 is a decade old and that's the FIRST time that I've seen anyone point out that the replacement of the F1 pump is:
1. easy (just simple hand tools required)
2. quick (no need to remove the engine or transmission or some such nonsense)
3. cheap to do by using a readily-available aftermarket part that simply needs the cables reversed to pump in the correct direction

What?! This has been some great secret all of these years? Yup. 355 owners have been charged more than $10,000 for what you just posted above.

How many people have kept your "how to" secret for so many years all so that some easy money could be made on that repair?

 

No doubt, you are indeed correct about it being kept a secret however with My engineering background I always suspected that was the case if I had not discovered how to do it I would have removed the motor and refurbished it anyway as I am sure that a half decent electrical shop could have done it when I saw that one owner had paid out $16000 to get it done there was no way I was paying that! to be honest it took me a long time to figure out what the real problem was because I tried to ignore the fact it was the pump motor due to the horrendous costs involved, just hope my advice helps someone deal with this problem that need not be so expensive to remedy.

 

Simba, even the "real" gearbox"s have problems. Before I bought the F1 I asked the chief mechanic from my dealer what the ratio of failures were for F1 to Manual he told me they were roughly the same and to be honest it is the first problem I have had with the car in over 3 years of ownership and coupled with the enjoyment I have with the F1 system I would still have it over a manual anytime.

 

So am I to understand that you still possess the original failed unit?

It would be interesting to know what it would take for time+money to get that refurbished properly.

 

I have been lurking on the 355 and 360 boards for awhile trying to learn about the cars as I am in the market and trying to locate a TDF or Titanium car and have read about the "extreme costs" in repairing an F1 transmission / pump.

I understand that you removed and replaced the motor to the pump but if you were to have had to replaced the F1 pump itself, would that have been very expensive? Obviously, your cost of under $1000 versus $ 7-10K quotes for repairs leaves me questioning what could possibly be the differnce in costs besides greed? Maybe the cost of a new pump is included when it is repaired by shops, as well?

Thanks and CONGRATULATIONS on your repair and sharing your experience / knowledge.

 

When a dealer does the job, he replaces it as a complete unit, pump, valve block, the whole shebang. That's how ferrari supply it, they won't just sell you a pump. It's a factory rip-off, not a dealer one!

 

That's all it is ...... greed.

 

Yes I still have the old unit and will probably dismantle it and see if I can repair it. I am led to beleive that it is the motor brush that wear then melt and if that is the case should be no problem to refurbish.

 

David unfortunately it was not quite as cheap as that the motor came in at £880 including tax and post which equtes to roughly $1670 but much better than the quote for the one from the totalled car which was for the complete unit this was £2348 which converts to $4461 and that was with no warranty but even that figure is insignificant to the Gentleman on this board that was CHARGED $16000 to have a new pump assemble fitted, also one of the sponsors here quoted me $8000 for the assembly. All in all this experience should teach us just not to throw our hard earned cash at problems its often better to sit back and think about it for a while.

 

Ernie You are right on the money, my rationale for that statement is simple as I spent some time in aviation reliability and maintainability i know that the designers would have figured in the failure mode and therefore allowing the motor to be removed/replaced with no drama and in reality that is true, along come the bean counters and think how can be get back R&D money from the punter? easy answer we will only order 1 motor for one pump assemble simple really but they could not stop the motor manufacturer making the same pump (albeit with different polarity) for someone else, but they could not stop someone thinking a little about and making enquiries and finding the part.

 

BINGO!

It is AMAZING the amount of stuff found on the car that Ferrari DOES NOT make. The hard part is find out what other cars use the same stuff. But once you find out, MAN does it piss you off the insane amount of mark up Ferrari puts on the part/s. Especially here in the US. Like I just got done rebuilding my alternator. The whole thing cost me $100. Yet if I had to have taken it to the dealer the job would have cost $1,100 EASY. $900 for a new alternator (with the same crap insides) then 2/hrs labor at $120 = $1,140. Sorry but there is NO WAY I'm gonna pay an extra $1,040, for something that realistically would cost $220 - $260, including labor, in a normal shop.

If you wouldn't mind telling the guys, what other car uses the pump? I have found that if you tell someone the part is going into a Ferrari the price "magically" goes up. So if you can tell them it's for a Yugo, LOL , then you can get the thing at the REAL price.