F430 F1 Actuator leaking

Hi guys,

There seems to be very limited options for resealing a leaking F1 actuator. Mine is leaking from rear where theres a black cover and also front forward opposite side (passenger side) of the potentiometers. Local Ferrari dealership mechanic says only seals need replaced as car shifts quickly and accurately as it should.

Does anyone know of places i can call to have my units seals replaced and tested for leaks before shipping back for dealership to reinstall?

 

Replacing the seals is effectively rebuilding the unit. Make sure it is not just your bleed screws leaking.

 

Thx Taz. Unfortunately not. 2 experienced mechnanics looked at it. Odd thing is fluid is golden and NOT red like F1 fluid. Im quite confused how they think its F1. To other F430 anatomy pros here, Is it possible diff fluid leaking onto the actuator making it seem like actuator is leaking? F1 fluid level at proper level per 1st mechanic so he concluded leak is minimal. 2nd mechanic confident its F1 flyid regardless of color.

 

Yes, its actually the gear oil, not F1 fluid that can be seeping past your seals. The actuator is exposed to gearbox fluid from where it bolts to the gearbox.

How much is it leaking?

 

Not sure. Plan is to clean it all up. Pull it off transaxle, reseal mating area to transaxle. Make new gaskets fir rear black cover and potentiometer chamber. Mount a couple action cameras pointed at the actuator and drive. Will check diff fluid prior to taking off and then rechk upon return to see how much fluid is lost. Not sure if this would be accurate at all but will try. Hoping resealing takes care of this and that mechanic didnt do too great of a job sealing things up when he replaced potentiometers last august. Again, if anyone knows of an HONEST rebuilder of the F1 actuator, please let me know.

 

Just to note, replacing / reselling the back cover or the potentiometer plate will not help. The purpose of them is to just keep dust out.

It’s one of the internal actuator seals leaking. Those aren’t nearly as easy to replace.

https://italianautotech.com/2019/11/27/anatomy-of-a-cambiocorsa-actuator-part-1/

diff and gearbox share the same fluid / comes from the same place. They aren’t separate reservoirs.

 

tstuli is correct. It's the seals inside that are leaking thru. If it were me I'd just have the whole thing rebuilt

 

I used GTE Engineering. They did an awesome job.


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I had a friend who had this and a couple I PPI'd had this as well, its quite a common problem, and believe it or not a design flaw. You will be surprised how many people have this problem and just live with it, or don't know about it, because the leak is so little and drips on the back of the diffuser and never hits the floor. First sign is when you go really fast and the air flow makes the oil run up the back of the diffuser and its hard to see because its a matt grey! The seal at the back is just a cover, the pressure and problem is inside the unit, the seals wear. Its apparently a new unit or you can get a rebuild, but that's not guaranteed to fix it and it is not cheap, or you can just live with it as most people do. Eventually the oil will contaminate the circuit boards in the unit and it will stop working (but this will take ages to do, years in fact) You can change the boards for about £400 and then off you go again!

New units are about £6000+ !

 

I called GTE engineering a couple years ago For a friend and and they wanted the complete F1 system as well. He ended up not sending them anything. Rolled the dice and just bought a used unit.

 

Or you could call EAG bite the bullet & do a manual conversion. [emoji3]


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I already did 2 of them. Why would i do that when i can do that myself haha

 

Thats what my mechanic is recommending. We cleaned her all up and will monitor at this point. I may send off after season is over. Otherwise, Lorenzo is correct, save that money and put towards stick conversion. Hoping parts become more readily available by then and procedures in place to diy.

 

I wouldn't convert a 430 personally. So many people have thrown in the towel on the F1 systems because they just haven't found the right person/shop who knows how to fix the system... without immediately calling super expensive parts which are rarely needed.

 

+100

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There is an outfit in the uk who overhaul these and uprate some of the parts, they have a test rig to diagnose it first.