Transmission error light question

I went for a drive today in my 2004 360 Modena with the F1. After about 20 miles of spirited driving, I slowed down to make a left turn. As I was waiting for traffiic to pass, I just had downshifted into first gear, then gave it gas to make a gentle left turn. As soon as I gave it gas, I got a long beep, and the transmission light lit up. It then stayed lit (no beep) for about 1 mile and shut off by itself. It never shifted weird, and it worked perfectly even when the light was triggered. I only put about 500 miles on the car so far since I got it. When I got it, it had 3,500 miles and the clutch wear showed 2.7% worn, so I don't suspect any clutch issues.
What could this be? Do you guys think it was an electronic freak out, that may never happen again? I know that a weak battery can sometimes cause issues, so I have to add that the battery is fully charged, and I use the car for at least 25 miles daily (or almost daily), so I don't think it's that.
I'm probably going to take the car out later tonight again, hopefully it was just a freak thing. Anyone else ever get this?

 

One thing I forgot to add. Apparently if the light is flashing, it means that there is low system pressure, and it doesn't seem like a concern. Unfortunately in my case, it was a steady light with a warning beep. The shop manual describes it as a transmission failure. The manual says to continue driving it to a safe spot if possible. Some sources also say that it will go into limp mode, and only go up to 2nd gear. Mine was 100% normal through the whole thing. The gears shifted normally, and the indicator showed the gear selections as well. The shop manual says if this happens, carry out the checks on the transmission to locate the problem. They never say WHAT the checks are! I have no idea what I'm supposed to check? Any ideas would be helpful. I will post back after I drive it again tonight. I'm curious if it was just a one time error. I hate not being able to trust my car

 

Bad news! I just got back from another ride, and the same thing happened. After about the 20th mile into the ride, I slowed down to 2nd gear this time, to make a right turn that merges into traffic. As soon as I turned right, and gave it gas it beeped 3 times and the transmission light came on. It stayed on for almost a mile, then I was stopped at a light. As soon as I gave it gas to go again, the light went off again. Once again, the car acted perfectly normal through the whole episode. Unfortunately, it sounds like a trip to the dealer for me. I was hoping that someone had ideas for things that I can check. I'm usually very good with repairing cars, I've changed clutches, radiators, water pumps, suspensions, exhausts, etc., but I know nothing about the F1 transmissions, or anything on a Ferrari for that matter.

 

Thanks for the info....I guess I'm in for a trip to the dealer Bummer!
Are those things very expensive to fix?
Do you think that they may have trouble finding the issue, being that it is a very intermittant problem? Or do the codes that trigger tell the tech enough of a story? The strange part about the whole thing is that the car continues to shift perfectly!
I'm concerned that one day the defective sensor will fail, and I'll be stuck, so of course I want to fix it asap.

 

I just thought of something. If the rear hatch is not fully closed, would this light come on when shifting gears? The only reason I ask, I haven't had this problem for the few hundred miles that I drove since I bought the car, then all of a sudden I have this issue 2x in 40 miles.
The reason I thought of the hatch is because, yesterday, I shut the hatch, but I didn't want to slam it, and I'm not sure if it shut well. It didn't make the same noise, but I didn't re-shut it. I got suspiscious because this issue always happened when turning (chassis flexing a little) and shifting (maybe a safety check when a shift is completed). I know it's a little out there, but I'm desperate now!

 

Thanks for the ideas, I will take a look at that stuff. I'm also surprised that it doesn't put the car in "limp home" mode.
By the way, where is the reverse lever that I have to check? Will it be obvious?
Thanks guys, keeping my fingers crossed that it's something inexpensive.

 

LOL, I wasn't kidding...since it is a manual transmission, I thought that there may be a lever on the side of the transmission that gets hydraulically pulled when you put it into reverse...LOL, I guess I'm overthinking things. Thanks, I'll check it out.
If Bradan had an SD2, I'll probably go there, I'm 10 minutes away.

 

I'm sorry I mistyped. I meant to say "if Bradan HAS and SD2"
I called and they do have one, as I suspected. The only bad news is that they told me that the transmission will not leave a code, unless the light is lit. He said that they would have to duplicate it in order to read the code. That's not going to be easy because it is very random. I can picture them having it on a dyno for 4 hours, or driving it around town for a week, then saying, "sorry, we can't duplicate". Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it's going to be easy. I think the best plan of attack at this point is to try to figure out a way to duplicate it before bringing it in. I think that will save us all a lot of time. Hopefully I can at least get some sort of pattern.

 

Thanks, I checked it, and it's ok.


Update:
I re-closed the engine hatch, and went for a ride. I put about 31 miles on it, and I didn't get any error codes!

I checked and wiggled the reverse lever, and I couldn't get the light to go on. I also drove it on many different roads. I hit bumps, high speed roads, stop and go traffic roads, I beat on it a little, took it easy a little etc. I tried to create a lot of different situations and I couldn't get it to trigger the light again. I hope it was just the hatch, not being closed hard enough. I know it's wishful thinking, but there is not much I can do about it now.
I also realized that when it happened, both times I had a passenger in the car with me. I started to wonder if maybe I had a loose connection under their footwell, causing an electronic glitch? I'm going to check the battery cables just in case. I know some people had electronic gremlins from stuff like that.

I'll keep my fingers crossed, and put a few hundred miles on it to see if it's fixed. If it is in fact fixed, it had to be the hatch not closed properly, because, like I said, the last time I shut it, I tried to shut it gently and it didn't make the same sound when it shut, so maybe the latch was only halfway caught. I'm not sure how the micro switch works, but I'm hoping that's possible. I'm not confident because I would have expected it to go into neutral as others have said. Unless it sensed the switch not making contact for a split second, not enough to throw it in neutral, but enough to trigger the light. Who knows? I'll let you guys know if it happens again.

 

Thanks Michael, I will definitely post back after a few hundred successful miles without a fault light coming on. I don't have the most scientific tests, but if the light doesn't come on since I re-closed the engine cover and put a few hundred miles on the car, I have to assume that it was the problem. I am assuming that, based on the fact that every ride since the hatch was closed gently, the light came on during that ride. Since it only happened twice, it's all guesses unfortunately.

 

Michael, thanks for the info. It really does help me, because it explains why if it was the switch losing contact momentarily why it didn't put the car in neutral. Putting the car in neutral is the normal function of the switch when the vehicle is stopped (I checked it). That's the reason I was having doubts that it may not be that switch.
I find it too coincidental that it happened both times while I was completing a turn (possible slight flexing, enough to affect the switch if the hatch wasn't 100% closed). I also find it strange that both times, the light stayed lit for the same amount of time (probably the minimum without a reoccurrence of the event), and it went off both times after making a full stop at a light. I'm feeling a little better about it, but I won't be 100% satisfied until I put a few hundred miles on the car without an event.
By the way, I checked all the battery connections and they were all secure, so it shouldn't be related to that.

 

Michael,
Do you remember if you heard the series of three beeps once the hatch switch lost contact as you were driving?

 

I totally understand. When these things happen, I start second guessing myself about what happened, and when it happened. My brain tends to short circuit as I try to solve the issue.
Do you remember how the latch is adjusted? I didn't really look at it yet. I really don't think it needs adjustment because I realized that when I shut it the last time before the issuues, I shut it too gently. If the latch was easy to adjust, I would like to know just in case it does need it though. Thanks again!

 

Just a quick update:
I put on about 150 more miles after about 5 or 6 more drives, and no error light yet! I'm starting to think that it was the hatch not being closed properly, after all. I am very happy about this.
I'm going to wait another few hundred miles and update again. I wish I can be 100% sure, but I guess it's not possible in this case. After a few more hundred miles, I'll be confident enough to assume it was the fix though.
Thanks again for everyones help, I continue to cross my fingers, LOL.