Broken again.... :(

Well, my baby is back in the shop again... I am having a friend look at it for me this time, he does work on all Italian cars and is half the price of a dealer.

A couple weeks ago, i was just about to pull into my drivway in my 328, when making the turn i heard a clunk in the rearend and it almost felt like the rearend was going to fall off. Well, i got it into the garage at least. Then the next day, i was going to look at it, didn't see anything leaking or parts hanging down and the wheels felt ok and on securely. So, i thought i would slowly drive the car around the block and see if i hear anything else. Well, i couldn't get her into reverse, no matter what i did, would go into 1st though. So i called my friend and he said, "Don't drive it!" , ok, so i called 'AAA' and had it towed to his shop in Addison. Well, after a week, he found the problem, after droping the trans. pan down, one of the 8 bolts from the differential was laying in the bottom of the pan with a few aluminum schavings... GULP.....

Well, he has to remove the entire exhaust system to get to the differential housing to open it up and replace the bolt and see if there is anymore damage. He said these bolts should never come off, they are tightened to 80 NM. He said posibly when the car was being built, posibly the mechanic didn't tighten all of the bolts.

He said i was real lucky i wasn't on the track or on the highway when this nut fell off.....

So, here we go again, my baby's back in the shop.... hmmmmm........ Will keep everyone informed, hope to get some good pictures too.

We were able to see the bolt that the nut fell off too, way up in the differential housing by looking up through the transmission with a flashlight, then we looked at the exploded view in the parts catalog showing eight of those bolts and nuts. He said he will replace them all....

 

Sorry to hear about the continuing saga. At least the timing is better now: The season is practically over with anyway.

Good luck Tod!

PS: Over the weekend I met somebody from WI. They have a 246 and said it is like having a kid in college: Every other month another fat bill ends up on their desk...

 

Yes,I too feel for you Tod. But,I always looked at Repairs in the perspective that,hey,now that it is fixed,I shouldn't have to worry about THAT again...
And,(Unfortunately) you've had more than your share of Problems this Year. But,after all of this,pretty much everything should be O.K.with your car now.

I know people who have sunk alot of money into a car,then decided to sell it because they were totally disgusted. But,I would tell them,"Hey,It's all fixed,now. Might as well keep it".

 

Sorry man!
I have a part time job, for which I have a separate bank account. It is the Ferrari account. Bought the car with the money, fix the car with the money. Does not upset the household finances. Still does not make those thousand plus dollar bills any easier... but we own expensive toys. Gotta pay to play!
Seroiusly, may the Ferrari gods look kindly upon your wallet this fall!

 

Well,got some pictures of my car's differential. Notice the crown bolt fell off. My mechanic said that these bolts were never torqed down in the factory, in fact two more bolts were loose also. My mechanic is writing a letter to his contacts at the Ferrari in Italy to see if they will replace the parts because it was thier defect.

Hmmm??? this realy says something about Ferrari Quality.....