Miscellaneous Car News

Servicing these cars is very easy. I serviced mine every 5k klms, and stamped the book myself, although I have an Auto Elec workshop. When I was selling it, people did ask about the servicing and I told them that I serviced it myself. I didn’t have anyone say they wanted to see dealer servicing and the guy who bought it said I’d be stupid NOT to service it myself. In fact he asked me to service it for him before he bought it. For those who know, PP for example, just because a dealer does it, doesn’t always mean it’s being done properly.


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Yeah this is where they add a heap of value. Knowing how to fix stupid niggling things. You can't beat experience.

But $900 for an oil change? Really?

 

Nah mate that's exactly it. That's why mine still goes back for servicing. I'll be stretching the major's out for 4-5 years though.

 

Yeah I don't doubt it. The 355 I just bought has well in excess of $100,000 of receipts over the last 15 years.

It's also had some very big ticket items replaced though, so I guess it's "best" that these were fixed by a dealer than some backyardie.

Moving forward it's something I've really been pondering. There's no choice for the majors, the minors I'm fairly sure my genuine dealer/mechanic won't be charging me that much for. I've (so far) had a really good experience with them, and their fees have been more than reasonable.

 

Yeah luckily we have a top mechanic up here!!
Just thought it was interesting that they are trying to get older cars in there.
First time I've heard from them since I bought the car.
Tough times?

 

4 - 5 years is fine for the major. I've had two done now in my ownership, 4 years apart.
I'm pleased that the dealer is quite happy to fit non OEM parts that I supply myself, such is the HE tensioner bearings.

 

yeah my dealer here fitted the current capristo exhaust.. No issues.

When I had my Lotus a few years ago, they were happy to "code out" the airbag when I added an aftermarket Momo wheel as well.

Kinda against the law (very against the law!) but ya know, race car...

God I miss that car.

 

You're getting poor service from your dealer. Simple as that.

I've had constant contact from the dealer here during the eight years of my ownership. Even when they didn't do any work on the car they arranged for the factory tour for myself + 1 and invited me to all their drives / track days / model releases etc.

Consequently (and of course after some very good work eventually fixing a problem that no-one else was able to), they now have my business.

 

I'm sure they've always been happy to service them... Just an advertising drive I'd say.

Parts are becoming a bit of a b*tch. I'm finding that out with the mini-resto work I'm doing on mine.

 

I have to agree with Steve here. The dealer I bought my car from sent invites to all sorts of things for the first couple of years then nothing. They focused on a small group of elite clients whom were buying literally millions of dollars worth of cars per year. BUT only a few weeks ago, low and behold, I get a call from the dealer asking how I was and was I thinking of buying a car. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. But because of their attitude towards non new car buyers over the last few years, I’m in no hurry to go back.


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Yeah they're bloody hopeless, I have no real need for them though. Most of the guys in the club seem to use Marc, he does great work at a great price and is a nice guy.

 

Actually funny story, the previous owner of my car (had it for 18 years) had an issue since 2004 (yes 2004) with the ABS light. 2 local dealers couldn't figure it out, he gave up.

It was killing me so I had it sorted within a month thanks to some great resources here and on Youtube.

Mechanics (good mechanics) are but one tool in your toolbox.

 

Haha! Well done.
The problem is that a lot of Ferrari mechanics are brilliant at working on 430/458/488/F12 etc., but have not much idea about the OHOSs.

So you effectively have to pay for them to learn, and even then it often doesn't go well.

 

Yes, I've paid some serious tuition fees over the years for mechanics to learn about my various cars. I enjoy tinkering and solving niggling problems with my cars, but I'm happy for Marc to do the majors - I just don't enjoy heavy spanner work any more.

 

Well in my experience (so far) they can spend a lot of time tracking down issues that sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can solve a lot quicker.

I have absolutely no problem paying them, but paying $1200 for a set of spark plugs would seriously pi$$ me off. It's just not reasonable considering what it costs them to do it. They're just NGK Iridium's, right? $20-30 a plug?

 

Well, you'd think so, considering that with the modern cars all you have to do is plug them in to work out what's wrong.
The older cars (up to 355/360 in my opinion) often require a lot more than that, and you just can't beat knowledge and experience.

Obviously you've had some bad experiences, but that just reinforces my point, considering you've only owned OHOS's.

 

You going to pop a solenoid again Steve?....

 

yeah you're on the money here. The "Diagnostics" on a 355 is pretty rudimentary, to say the least.

Plug in a fuse and count the blinking lights on the dashboard when you turn the key.. .Oh and it can only hold one error, so if you have multiple issues you won't even know about them until you fix the first one... Which may not even be an issue at all, LOL (Sorry, OLIO).

 

I'll pop more than a ****ing solenoid if that problem ever rears it's ugly head again!!

But at least this time I know what it would be, and I still have several spares here from the entire F1 unit I had to buy...

 

just re read that post, in my defence I was in a rush, thanks for your patience, it reads terribly


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How rude!, don’t think I don’t know what your really saying


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