A bit of a whinge and perhaps, if others have had similar experiences, a cry for help... its a bit long, sorry in advance! I finally bought my 355 last August. I spent 3 1/2 years looking and waiting, test drove a few and finally found one that was what I was looking for - 1997 GTS Rosso Corsa, manual/gated, good-sounding aftermarket exhaust (Larini sports cats and Quicksilver Supersports exhaust) with black leather interior. It had a bunch of cosmetic issues, and needed its cambelt service, but that was reflected in the price and the PPI came back showing that it was in good mechanical condition and the leakdown test was very good, which is what I really cared about. I only got to drive it on two short stints - once immediately before I bought it, and once after, and then I stored it at a top indie until I moved to my new large garage (with house attached). In the last month I had the cambelt service, a couple of oil seals renewed while the engine was out, and a ton of minor and cosmetic work (£7k total) done on the car. I just picked it up last Thursday after writing that check for 7k, when in the UK it was bucketing down rain. The "Slow Down" light went on after about 50 miles or so and it suddenly felt like it lost 200hp. I pulled over and called the indie and he said it was likely the control units, which Ferrari have helpfully exposed to the elements in the rear of the car (the driver's side one is uncovered and located immediately behind the rear wheel well about 35cm off the ground! He said it was safe to drive home in limp home mode, and that he was 95% sure I just needed to put in new control units. So, I duly slowed down and drove the last few miles home at about 50mph. One bank of cylinders was out so it ran like a pig and sounded like a rattly diesel hatchback. So, my first and only real drive in my dream car was a nightmare. To top it off when I got home there was an inch of water in the boot. The indie mailed me 2 new control units and told me to let the car dry out over the weekend, then disconnect the battery and change the control units and he was 95% certain that it would correct itself when I reconnected the battery and started it up. All of this corresponded with what I'd researched on here, Ferrarichat and in the workshop manual so I was feeling positive. So last night, I did the deed and..... when I started the car up, a huge billow of white smoke and it ran like a rattly diesel hatchback, and the "Slow Down" light blinked. I let it run for a bit and it didn't get better, so I turned it off, let it sit for 15 minutes and restarted - same thing, rattling away like a diesel with the "Slow Down" light blinking, except the white smoke was gone. On the white smoke, I did a bit of Ferrarichat research and I am hoping that it was a bit of oil or condensation in the exhaust rather than a head gasket... it did go away and it was very very wet so please be condensation! The indie also unfortunately said that if the control units didn't do the trick, it was likely to be serious and seriously expensive... To spend £7k and then a few miles into my first drive of my dream car to have it fail (expensively, I already spent £400 on control units) at the first sight of rain, I have to say its a bit soul-destroying. This is despite having exhaustively researched the car and being realistic about running costs. It's the old cliche I never really wanted to believe - I've had 4 911's over the last 16 years, the current one with over 100,000miles, and not one of them ever had anything mechanical go wrong, and my first drive in my first Ferrari and poof! goes my wallet. Anyway, that's my sad story. I'm hoping some 355 owners might have some insight and/or a silver lining to this cloud... thanks in advance...
When you refer to the control units, are you talking about the ECUs or exhaust units. ECU on a 97 are behind the seats, on 95&96 they are in the engine bay. What control units did they mean? Exhaust Sensor units? I wonder what they were refering to when they said it could be seriously expensive, Especialy after you have spent 7k with them. If the "control" units were replaced, things like lamba sensors dont cost much. Not to impressed by who ever did the PPI, it seems they did not spot the bad control units. How did they mis that? Who was the indi?
Well that just made my mouth go dry. So what's the plan now? Is it going back to the indi? If not the control unit what could it be? So sorry the hear that mate. What a blooding ball ache. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hope you get it sorted! Bit of a ****ty start to 355 ownership! Give Tim at walkersport a call always willing to help . I haven't got his number on me so just google walkersport
it will be something simple. I had a similar experience. i had faulty exhaust ecu's and then one of the cats failed, both of which brought on the slow down light. Then i had a bad connector on the crank angle sensor and water got on it (from a leaking water pump) which made the check engine light come on. On all occasions, the car went into limp home mode. Definitely cant drive the car when this happens, feels slower than 800cc engine!
Thanks everyone. It has been an interesting and informative couple of days... I've now spoken to several top indies here in the UK and they all think that it is either moisture around the spark plugs or, more likely, something related to the control units - by which I mean the cat control units that sit in the left rear of the engine bay and on the right side under the car between the wheel well and the rear bumper, and plug into the ECU and the cats, and monitor the temperature of the cats. Either way it seems very likely to be more related to the huge amounts of rain I had to drive through to get home, and the wonky 18 year old Italian electronics in the car, than any fault in the PPI or with the indie that did my service (who shall remain nameless). They all seem pretty relaxed about it and told me not to panic, and I heard the same story from all of them about these cars having this sort of issue fairly frequently and its usually related to the control unit rather than the engine the unit was designed to protect... One of them even suggested disconnecting the control unit as they said 95% of the time the fault was with the unit itself, and the other 5% was a misfire-type issue that anybody who knew anything about cars would be able to immediately identify as an issue. I'm not sure about doing that, I'm sure the guys who really know these cars on here will have an opinion, but it was interesting to hear. I'm going to limp on over to The Ferrari Centre in nearby Maidstone and plug it into their SD1 diagnostic tool tomorrow - it may be as simple as needing to clear some fault codes that turning the battery on and off couldn't reboot. Let's see what they say! Thanks, Ben
I hope you get it sorted out. I have read your club scud thread. The Ferrari community is small here in the uk, I would not still be happy about spending 7k for a service as well as a ppi not spotting a problem like that. Let us know your findings. Still don't know which unit you are referring to, like I said the ecu on your car should be behind your seat and not in the engine bay.
Ben - I hope it works out for you. I'm sorry to hear about your first experience. Please keep us updated and let us know exactly what happened.
Hi Dino, yes the UK group seems a very helpful bunch. I wanted to post on here as there is a huge amount of technical expertise and I've learned a lot about the car just by reading here (an example being the white smoke issue that came up last night). The indie called it (I think) the "cat control unit" and the Ferrari box the part came in said "Control Unit" on the white ID sticker on the top. I've already described where they are located (they have two plugs and a green face). When I spoke to the other indies I called it the cat control unit and they seemed to know what I was talking about, so I went with it, but it is probably the wrong term
I feel your pain; my 355 left me stranded on its maiden drive when I bought it a year ago. Turned out to be a failed fuel pump. 5000 miles later and no problems (it did leave me stranded again a few months ago but I can't blame a flat tire on the car). Good luck and be patient! You won't regret it.
Ah yes, I understand more clearly now This is not an expensive fix, Worst case and one of cat control units have to be replaced, there about £150 new. It may not even cone to that. So don't worry because it will all come together once the indi looks at it.
You need to clear the error codes after replacement of the Cat Thermal Control Unit. In the US, many owners have OBD2 scanner for this. I am not sure if you can do that by yourself in the UK. Otherwise, the codes continues to cause running problem. Although, with that much water being dumped into the engine bay (buckets, you said), there may be other things that need to clear out too. If it were me, I would clean out the ignition modules and the spark plugs.
I lost a bank and it was due to the plug wires shorting out against a header on that bank and fouling the plugs. Check your plug wire routing, pull and clean the plugs and then try again.
Whatever you do, have a flat bed tow truck (lorry) take it to the next shop. My 95 F355 ran great for over a year after my first engine out major service (performed right after I bought it). One Saturday afternoon after driving it for an hour with no problems I parked it for a couple of hours and then restarted it. It immediately sounded different. I shut it off and started it again. It was running rough and it sounded like my exhaust system had fallen off. I tried to drive it and it had no power and it kept stalling. I shut it down and had it towed to my house. I used my car hauler to get it to my mechanic's shop later the next week. He immediately by ear diagnosed it as an intake cam out of timing. Sure enough when they properly diagnosed it, a tensioner bolt had broken on the right bank allowing the intake cam to jump one tooth. I was very lucky that no engine damage occurred. They were able to repair it without removing the engine but the labor costs were pretty high. I have not had any other issues since. I love the car and have no regrets buying it. I was also a previous 911 guy. I spent a few quid sorting out my 993 right after I purchased it so don't get discouraged. I have Fabspeed headers and high flow cats and the Kriesseig cat back system. It is the best sounding 355 that I have heard. Good luck with the repairs.
Wow you dodged a bullet big time You have a very talented Mechanic to confidently tell you that by ear, nice work The second bit about repairing it with the engine in, the "A" holes will be up in arms. I hope they don't see it or this thread will go on and on and on with scornful intent
I'm no mechanic and certainly not an expert on anything car related, but the idea that heavy rain caused all of this seems odd to me. I drove mine in the rain all the time, including some seriously torrential downpours on many occasions. Not to mention the weekly hosing down it got anytime I washed it. I never had any sort of water related issues. That's not to say yours doesn't, but if water is getting into places it shouldn't, that's something to be very concerned about, and once the slow-down problem is fixed, I'd do everything possible to figure out how all that water is getting where it shouldn't.
I've dealt (as about every 355 owner has) with the CAT ECU's too. When I first went into limp mode Ernie told me to unplug them, so I did. The cars runs fine with them unplugged, although you will get CEL. I've since read about ways to eliminate them without CEL so I've done that too, soon after I bought it late in 2010 - it involves using resistors (sending 1.5 volts back to the ECU).
It's not just the heavy rain. It the driving in heavy rain with one bank was shut off limp mode). That bank could have ingested a lot of water through the intake which probably would not have mattered if the bank was running. I would say pull the plugs, blow out the cylinders, clean the plugs, give everything a change to dry out and try it again, at your own risk. To be honest, I don't know why people drive their cars when the SD light comes on and a bank is shut down. The manual clearly states to shut the car off and have it towed. There is no mention of a limp home mode, at least in the 1995 manual.
John, the SD light has 2 modes, flashing is a warning, no limp. Steady light on is limp and that's when the car should be shut down.
Does anyone else have a problem with an indie that takes 7k for a service and then has the owner doing ECU swaps and calling other mechanics for help? How far away are they that they can't send someone to check it out or at least transport it back to the shop? I had my major done, got a check engine light on my first test drive. I called my mechanic and his response was something like "Wow, OK....I'll send someone to your house to check it out and will bring it back to the shop if needed." And the shop is about 2 hours away. They fixed the problem (exhaust bypass related) no charge and delivered the car back to me. Great service!!! Even if the problem is not directly related to the major service, its just good business to stand by the customer, especially if the problem arises immediately after the service. OK.. Rant over.... Hope everything gets fixed quickly and inexpensively.
Or, stop and let cool down. Many false alarms with that system. (I know). One way to be sure is if you get an SD when the motor is cold...
