Car won't start

My new 458 spider with 200 mi won,t start! Sat in garage for 3-4 weeks on Ferrari trickle charger. All electrical seems fine but when start button pushed....absolutely nothing happens, no attempt to turn over? Has anybody had this experience? Will call dealer Mon of course. Could the battery be too low even though on charger and showing green light for full charge and all lights etc working normally?

 

You have to press the brake pedal with more pressure when attempting the start procedure.

This happened to me after several weeks on charge, nothing is wrong with your car, just apply a lot more pressure than normal on the brake pedal when pressing Engine Start.

Cheers

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It must be in neutral. I always park my 458 in neutral. If you did not pull back both flappy paddles at the same time.

Lee

 

Few Obvious things first.

1) Make sure you unplugged the charger, it won't crank with it plugged in.
2) Turn on the key. Wait until the transmission display comes up. Then hold the brake pedal down, then press the button
3) Car does NOT need to be in Neutral to start, I always leave mine in 1

Good Luck.

 

or it's an old common issue with the circuit board, do a search on my old post.

 

In 3-4 weeks time, the boost vacuum will have drained away, so you need to push the brake pedal down harder than when the car is driven more frequently. The reason is that there is a safety switch (thank the plaintiffs who sued Audi for unintended acceleration) that locks out starting unless engaged by pressing the pedal past a certain point. Without boost, the pedal will be harder to push past that point.

 

Lots of other threads on this, but a good checklist

1) tender unplugged (if you try to start with the tender plugged in, an alert will show in left TFT, looks like a power cord)
2) turn key and let the car fully boot up (through all the beeps, lights, et al). When the Gear Indicator shows "P" (park), it's booted.
3) foot hard on the brake (suggestion re pumping it up is valid...)
4) then start

the 458 has a lot of sensors and switches that prevent starting or engaging gear that are safety related - eg. door open, gearbox will not shift.

IF - IF you have a low battery issue (possible but unlikely), you would hear a lot of clicking relays and likely a Christmas tree of lights on the dash. Also, give that start button a firm push.

As a rule, when I park the car, I power down the radio and HVAC to reduce parasitic draw and also reduce startup current draw (I am technically anal).

If the tender IS connected, make sure you have 2 lights (one for tender power, the other will cycle between charging and charged).

Last, when you turn the car OFF, if it is in gear it will automatically put you into Park. If you turn the car off in Neutral, it's actually in carwash mode and will roll unless you manually engage the EPB. Honestly don't know if the car will start in neutral, I have never tried!

 

Now this is a cool post.

 

+1

 

I could not let a new 458 spider with 200 miles sit for 3-4 weeks. Why do you want to start it now?