What, all of a sudden - - or, maybe we are experiencing the leakage of many months of non operation and various other "Gods of Pissoffidness". Just pay the the price for a proper R-12 recharge, monitor it's lifespan, and let it go at that. And, BTW, have the "tech" check all the hose crimps with the "SNIFFER"!!! It's all OK - we're not dealing with rust in our rockers or something far worse in our bodies. Cool air will flow, once again Cheers, Hank
+1. Obviously Algar are fantastic, but shipping your car here would really be overkill for such a simple problem. Any competent f-car mechanic should be able to go over the system for leaks, do a pressure test, and promptly replace any failing valves, etc. Refill and see what happens. There are far worse things in Ferrari land than an A/C system that needs attention.
I spoke to Ted last evening via his cell. Looking forward to seeing him here in Asheville today -- we have an amazing FCA event going on with 30+ cars. Weather might be dicey, but that's just how it goes in the mountains during the summertime. The Mondi t will fit right into our little traffic jam -- everything from Dino's to 458's are here.
Dumb question: what is the yellow paint (I assume) on the belt-cover bolts, crank pulley, etc? Car looks great!
So we are in Greenville, SC today and we got caught in a downpour. All I can say is you need a sense of humor with this car. Getting the top up in the rain is no graceful act and considering you have to run around it 4 times to get it up you get a considerable amount of water inside. Of course the top leaks and the back windows don't go up all the way without a little help. Since I no longer have a blower of any kind the inside fog makes it impossible to drive so we waited until it cleared and since my wipers have a mind of their own we just decided to wait it out and have a good laugh. Memories . Motoring on...
At least you're having fun - don't take it too seriously and have a good time. I remember driving a 328 in Hawaii for a few days. We were on the highway and it was beautiful - targa off - went in some sort of tunnel, and on the other side, it was pouring! I couldn't pull over as there were no shoulders, so I had to keep up a fast pace in order for the rain to blow over the car, not in it. As soon as I saw a shoulder, I pulled over and we jumped out to put the targa on. I think if we would have done it slowly and calmly, it would have gone on faster - but it seems like 10 minutes before it was on. Car was a bit wet, but the heat dried it pretty quickly. Always a fond memory. Erik
Yikes! What happened to the A/C. And yes I've seen the You-Tube video on putting the top up on the Mondial. I thought it was humerous then, but sorry it happened to you in the rain. Hope the remaining journey is dry and trouble free. Sincerely, Joe
FWIW, it get's easier...a lot easier. I can run around the car, undo the bonnet cover and put up the top in twenty seconds. Getting the latches locked takes a bit of time to do properly, but the top is pretty much closed at that point. If your top is leaking by the headliner, the odds are you simply need to back the screws out on your latches to secure a tight fit. On my car, I latch the top, then unlatch one side, back out the screw, relatch it, and then do the same with the other side. One thing I don't understand is why your blower and wipers are acting up. Are you sure they rewired everything correctly? Something sure sounds off.
There is definitely something awry, the blower motor was working when I picked it up but only hot air, now nothing, and now my side mirrors adjust control only works sometime. On a more positive note, the car got us a penthouse suite and breakfast comped at the downtown Greenville Westin with front courtyard valet parking lol. In fact, they moved cars around and put some in the back just so I could pull mine up in plain view. It was a very odd experience I must say. We have other high end cars but this one seems to open doors and draw rediculous attention. Funny Tomorrow we are heading over the mountains. I pray for sun
The fun is just beginning! These cars generate sooo much good will. Filling up for gas or going to a local restaurant will never be the same! As for the little issues, check your fusebox...Make sure the fuses and relays are sitting tight, and look for anything burnt. Good luck tomorrow. I'll keep my fingers crossed for some sun!
The fact that this discussion is in a Bradan major service thread should be of concern. With the time and money you spent there these things shouldn't be happening two days later. Have you been in contact with them to discuss this? Joe
At this point Dan @ Bradan is speaking with me everyday via phone and is showing his concern. I'll let you know how it turns out. Ted
Well we made it back. It was some white knuckling for many of the miles because of a clutch problem in the mountains and in the cities and i just had this nagging fear of a big catastrophic bang happening somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t happen and the car ran very well with the exception of some things: PIA - Clutch not working consistently AC not working at all Fuel door dash switch not working Hellacious heat coming from my foot well and under my seat Mild PIA - A challenging soft top that i eventually got the hang of. a 20 min ritual putting the car away in the parking lots of hotels. My 6 year old daughter made the trip with ease and calmed my frustrations as each mile passed. We had the whole car cover procedure down to a science and she made the decision of either Spyder or full cover depending on the situation. My radio only played CD's and so with a stop at Best Buy, i got to know her choice of Taylor Swift and she got to know Waylon Jennings and Van Morrison. We had great moments and memories that will last a lifetime. Thank god we are home. Some pictures of us: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sounds like the problem that Erik (dailyferraridriver) had; Bradan fixed it... See post #24 and onwards: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329993&page=2
I read through that Wade and see no mention of the heat guns pointed at me in my foot well and under my arse, just a non op AC. I mean its hot and thats with the top down, fortunately we drove 90% with the top down but when the top went up for a bit we were sweating from the radiant heat. I'm thinking dynamat under the carpets and under the seats?
Hmm, I was thinking that maybe the heater valve was open... However, the radiator coolant tubes run down the centerline (underside) of the car. Maybe they're making contact with the bottom somewhere. Just a guess but I'm interested to hear how it turns out.
Yeah - this was broken by an audio shop and fixed at Bradan. FWIW the audio shop totally lied about breaking the part and refused to just admit they did it. I wasn't even asking for the money for the repair or part. My gut told me to show them the working AC prior to them working on the speakers, but I didn't. Had I done so, I could have proved it worked prior to dropping it off. It went from freezing to blisteringly hot. Erik
This is a bit crazy. Reading back over this thread, Braden installed the Rampante GCK connections and a new fusebox and now the OP has crazy A/C, heater and wiper issues. Braden replaced the clutch and now Valenzo is having difficulty getting into gear and the clutch pedal won't depress. Nobody knows the condition this car came to Braden in, but its hard to imagine it came in any worse than it came out. They really need to step up here and help Valenzo out. At this point, given the fact that they have chosen to make this a high profile job by starting a thread on it, I would be flying a mechanic out there to meet our guy or sending a truck to pick up the car. Considering how long Valenzo waited to get the job done, and the amount of money he probably spent, this is shaping up to be a black mark on a company which has otherwise gotten pretty solid reviews. Step up Braden and let us know what you are doing to help this guy out.
I would first like to start off by saying we have not been hiding or avoiding this thread. As you can imagine, we are swamped with work in the summer time. Even still, we have been in consistent contact with Ted. In no way is this response aimed towards him, however it is intended to clear up some of the unnecessary tension. Personal attacks on our work quality and integrity are way out of line. Taking the tone of us butchering the car is silly considering it completed a 2,000 mile trip. In no way, shape, or form do we offer a bumper-to-bumper warranty on cars because we did the engine-out service. A twenty-two year old Ferrari will have issues pop up regularly as every single owner on this forums knows. We can only fix what is currently broken and not predict the future. Yes, we installed a gold connector kit on Ted's car. Some of you might know this is the engine wiring harness only. After nearly 2,000 miles, I think it's more than fair to say that the engine works just fine and the kit had been installed correctly. The air conditioning and power mirrors are in no way linked into the engine wiring harness. Next, we installed the SR fuse box kit. The fuse box is wired internally and as far as I know, was done correctly as always by Dave Helms. Our end of the installations were straight foward and simple. We drove the car 80 miles before handing it off to Ted for his journey. During the week up to delivery, the AC emptied itself out and did not have any coolant in the system. I told Ted even if I had a week to repair it, it would not be enough time. There is a leak so it has to be found and then the car has to be converted to R-134, to be recharged. If you look at the engine-out pictures, you can see we never disconnected the compressor or touched anything in the air conditioning system. It stopped working and we never serviced it. Am I sympathetic towards Ted that his air conditioner was not working for his trip? Of course!! On the other hand, are we at fault for an AC leak or a component in the AC system failing, one that we never touched? No. The power mirror switch worked on delivery. Ted was shown how it functions. It failed or started acting up during the trip. Again, we do not offer a bumper-to-bumper warranty. Finally, yes we rebuilt the clutch and flywheel. We made tooling to resurface the flywheel and repacked it with Ferrari supplied grease. As far as I know, we are one of the few shops that have the means to offer the rebuilding of flywheels. The clutch is removed and sent out to be resurfaced by a clutch company in Kevlar. The slave cylinder appeared to be in good condition and void of any leaks when we serviced the car. I am 100% confident this was done correctly, as we have had multiple clutches and flywheels rebuilt in the past, only with success. It functioned normally for the 80 miles we drove the car and then it took 100 miles for Ted to notice stiff pedal pressure. If the clutch is found to be at fault, a new clutch can be purchased. We could also have the rebuild warrantied through our sub-contractor. Between rebuilding the clutch, flywheel, steering rack, and other components, Ted saved nearly $10,000.00. As far as the service taking 2 1/2 to 3 months… Every customer is given the option to purchase brand new parts from Ferrari. Every customer is also asked what method of shipping they would like to use for their packages. The clutch alone was 5 days each way in transit and then 3 weeks to rebuild. We work on cars until we hit a stop and do not continue working on the car until the additional parts needed arrive at our facility. Our work plan is on a week cycle. Cars that hit a stop must wait before being put back into the cycle. Of course current projects are given priority, but we cannot stop in the middle of a job because another car's parts showed up. Most shops operate on this 'work-until-a-stop' basis. Ted has been an excellent sport about the whole process and I would like to thank him for his business and congratulate him on his new car and recent adventure.
Don't do that Joe or at least re word the statement accurately. I let it slide unchecked the first time as it was simply a case of frustration induced rambling, once is enough and this is quite damaging. This makes the third flipping time the SRI products have been called to question in the same thread on the same car. First because the Tach didn't work, now the AC, Climate control and the Wipers?! The GCK has nothing to do with any of these systems.... it wont fix a flat tire either. Folks selective memory NEVER remember's the 'ANSWERS' to questions but somehow their memory is sharp as a tack when it comes to 'SUGGESTED BLAME'. The simple fact is its hard to put the smoke back into wiring insulation..... smoke that escaped quite some time ago, long before any SRI product was ever considered for this project and is well documented in this thread. Anyone ever consider that a problem? I have been speaking with and trying to help Ted off site only because I enjoy our conversations and was excited for him on his trip with his daughter. I do this because of the afore mentioned reasons, not because I feel I owe anyone anything for a car being worked on 2500 miles away, of which I have no control. Don't let this thread turn into a pissing match and a blame game. The problems, albeit terribly frustrating for those involved, are quite benign and very easily sorted out. A Mondial T with electrical Problems.... REALLY? Ted and Kin are safely home, that is what matters and the memories of the trip will last a lifetime. Now starts the process of Gremlin eradication, no different than any other used Ferrari ever purchased.... It will be fine and there lies a lifetime of future memories yet to be made.
Dave, please read my post in the clutch thread and the wiper thread. I'm not blaming anybody, but we have a right to make pointed observations to the OP of promotional major service thread, when the subject car is sitting on the side of the road having difficulty getting into gear while the windshield wipers go bananas and the heater won't shut off. The OP has a similar duty to respond and clear the air, which I believe they have done. Putting aside the clutch for a second, whenever you have somebody getting involved in the electrical system of a Mondial, your hope is that they know what they are doing, which is why I asked if they had any Ferrari mechanics in their shop. It could be something as simple as not putting in the correct relays, like the previous owner did with my wipers which caused them to not work properly, or something more serious caused by the wiring work itself. You know as well as I do, the butterfly effect caused by improper electrical work and the difficulty in trying to diagnose a seemingly unrelated problem after that work has been performed. It is a problem amplified in these cars due to their already fragile systems. Even if it is as simple installation, there are more f-d up Mondials running around do to electrical work that was subpar. Having said that, as I indicated in the clutch thread, based on their response, if they say they weren't near these systems and that the electrical work they did was straight forward, simple, done to proper standards and could not have possibly caused these symptoms, I'll take them at their word, but we have a right to ask questions, especially when they decide to open up a major service thread and the car in question is having serious problems upon leaving the shop.
Hey Dave, I hope I didn't come off as questioning the GCK when I posted about the Tach. I am planing on purchasing your kit when I do my engine out service. I assumed that the GCK includes connectors for the crank sensors and all other connections to the ECU including the tack. The GCK is certainly worth its weight in gold but if humans are involved, mistakes can be made. Life experience tells me that if I touched something, and now there is a problem, I should question my own actions first. Obviously I did not realise that the GCK could in no way affect the tach. Anyway, I enjoy all of your posts and certainly didn't mean to annoy. Dave
