New 550 Owner and some questions

Recently my dad bought a 99 550 Maranello, we went down to Atlanta to pick it up saturday and drive it to his house in Florida.
Well, we picked up the 99 550 Maranello, went off without a hitch. Soon after we got on the road though the "check engine" light came on, however there were no symptoms. Close to home (after near 6 hours of driving at 70-75 with the occasional sprint up to 100-120MPH), the engine began to "flat spot" above 3000 rpm, and exhaust was MUCH louder at low rpm/idle. We were close to home at that point so just broght it back to the garage... once in the developement the "slow down" light began to alternate with the "check engine". It would seem to me that since "slow down" according to the book is indicitave of overheated cats, that perhaps one of the cats is dead? If so, seems a good time to go with hyperflows or test pipes.

Also, does anyone recommend a good shop in/near Jacksonville FLA? The closest dealer is in Orlando, nearly a 4 hour drive, which doesn't seem like a good idea with the engine not running right, and would be prohibitavely expensive to have it delivered to them.

One of the options on the car was "EE plates" and it was Italian delivery... what are EE plates?

Thanks!

 

let me guess.... red with crema interior and purchased from some foreign guy ?????? i'd take that car straight to the dealer to get checked out asap.

 

did you get the car PPI'd?

 

Hi BBS, welcome to F-chat. You'll find it's busier here than the forum where you've found me earlier this week. I enjoy the other forum as well but spend most of my time here, I think you'll have more luck asking your question here. But I'm still going with the dead cat theory, BTW.

I suppose we're going to have to wait a bit longer for the photos now that you're back in PA and left the car in FLA?


Best,

Onno

 

Yes, it is the red/cream, and purchased from Ali.
Is there a known history/problems with this car?

I'm looking for somewhere more local than Orlando to get it to for a checkout.
It has full service history, and nothing seems out of place, no we did not do a PPI. Only time We've ever had that done it turned out to be completely worthless. In hindsight I'm wishing we'd arranged an inspection locally at Ferrari atlanta, but unfortunately that idea didn't pop into my head until we were already well on our way on Saturday. It was doing great for 5.5 hours or so though, and a real joy to drive. Looks wondeful in the garage parked next to the Arnage...

I had someone recommend the local Porsche/Mercedes dealer as a possible. I remember the previous owner of our Arnage said that he took it to the Mercedes dealer for it's checkups and detailing in between the yearly service in Orlando.

 

Onno,

Yes, pictures won't be up too soon... By the time we got to Florida it was pretty much dark, and Sunday morning was a frazzle getting ready to fly back to PA.
I did get a quick video pulling into the garage, and a couple of pictures inside the garage, but not really a good representation.

 

i strongly suggest you have someone ( a professional ) look the car over. car was listed on ebay for a time. i don't know what you were told but i have been told the car is not as represented according to the ebay listing.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230214689529&rd=1


the car ?

 

I cannot get to ebay at the moment (at work, ebay is blocked), however yes it was on Ebay which is how we found it (pretty much all our cars come from ebay at some time or another, though we rarely buy through the bidding process).
I'm curious as to who you heard this from, and what the reasoning was? From a "visibility" standpoint the car looks new, with the exception of the soft rubber covered bits on the interior. Exterior is absolutely flawless, and engine/underneath is all clean and looks right. Comment from onlooker at a rest stop along the way "Is it brand new?" about sums it up.
Carfax came up clean (one owner, no anomolies), and it had all service records etc, so everything "checked out".
Ali as best either of us could tell is the "real deal". His house is amazing, very nice guy, etc.

In any event, we want to get it to someone to look it over as a matter of course, but the closest dealer is about 4 hours away, so I'm wanting to find someone more local to do an inspection and then maybe take it down to Orlando in a few months (along with the Bentley as that is the closest B dealer as well, get them both serviced at the same time).
I'm still kind of surprised there's no F dealer in Jacksonville. Disadvantage to high end cars I suppose. Seems like with the Amelia Island Concours though, there'd be some sort of underlying car-culture in the area..

 

Same Car?

 

he is reportably a dealer. did you buy it as such or jump title ? i have found carfax unreliable especially in regards to high end cars........

 

As to Your question... check out the Jacksonville thread in the Florida section. May want to PM user Crallscars. Otherwise post a thread asking for service reference in the FL section. Good luck.

 

when someone is selling something while still titled under the previous owner......red flag #1 in my book.

 

I assume "jump title", he supplied us with the title signed over by the previous/original owner. It was never titled/registered in his name. He told us he does have a dealer license, but does not operate professionally as a dealer, he just buys/sells cars for fun (I have met several others who do this, and have considered doing so myself). He is a civil engineer, and all our dealings were phone/e-mail and at his house. Dad did go by his house for a test drive/looksee etc about a week before deciding to buy.
It does have full documentation including receipt for recent service as advertised.. As far as we can tell based on everything at time of purchase the Ebay description was spot on.

And yes, that ebay description is it.

 

Why would that be? Really doesn't seem that odd to me.
When we bought the Bentley the "owner" had his lawyers name on the title, and said lawyer had a signifigant lein against it. I thought that was a little odd, but everything went off without a hitch.

 

more than likely against the law. and very likely a big no no for a licensed dealer.

get the car inspected. i'd be looking for evidence of paint / bodywork at the least. might want to check with magnum collision or bo pirkle collision to see if they know the car.

 

sorta explains how useless carfax can be. being the titled owner and a lien holder on a title are two different things.

 

Well, I have a post up on the Jacksonville thread to check on finding a decent local wrench to look at it.

Regarding the Bentley, I don't see how that has anything to do with carfax? And it was titled to the owner and the lawyer (i.e. the title had both their names on it, both signed over), the owner had given the car to his lawyer to use as his daily driver until it was sold (lawyer was 26 years old, fresh out of law school.. personally, I think he had a pretty good life). Of course Bentley has extended warranty until 2010, so really no worries there. Even though we are the 4th owner (on a 2005 car!) you cannot tell it from a new one. Took it for its yearly service at Albers (it's original dealer near Indianapolis), it spent over 12 hours in service, and cost us not a penny (except for the new B valve stem caps and polished gas filler cap we decided to order while there). THAT's service!

Anyway, Like I said under very close scrutiny the 550 shows NO signs of anything out of the ordinary (other than the check engine), paint is absolutely flawless.. no signs of any damage anywhere. And it would have to be pretty recent damage too, since nothing was noted at the service ~200 miles ago...

 

yet the car is not running properly ????

 

did you get a bill of sale stating all the sellers claims ?

 

True. Unfortunately, enough info here for an uninvolved party to be suspicious. References made by others that they were told the car was not as represented is scary to me (if true). While a check engine light after service may not be unheard of, it is another warning flag...

Have you contacted the seller to see his reaction? Might be interesting. Might be worth offering him a 5% back out fee for his trouble, and see what he says...

Hope it turns out OK. Hopefully it is something minor...

 

Well, all the symptoms and the "slow down!" warning seem to indicate an exhaust/cat problem. Not dissimilar to the symptoms I had when the cat in my jeep self destructed (except my jeep did not throw a check engine light due to an ECU problem). We already ordered a whole new exhaust system from manifold back (seemed a pretty good excuse to do something we wanted to do anyway). Obviously still want to get it to a shop to check out anyway. Besides which unless an inspection turns up something outrageous, we both love the car, and as I said driving it was fine until about 250-300 miles into the trip.

 

I do think it would be great if we can help out bbshriver, instead of going back and forth with questions about carfax, dealers vs private parties, etc.. The car was already bought!!!

 

With my last 550, the guy right before me had a cat go on his drive home with it. A car fire and 10K later, I got it with the new cat.

 

on the bright side, the repaint is likely better than anything from the factory.