Recently my 2003 360 Spider F1 has been increasingly going into neutral when upshifting. This has recently started happening intermittantly after the car has properly warmed up, and never when cold. It seems to be happening one in every 10 to 20 upshifts. Hydraulic fluid level is good, and not going down. Is the fix likely to be just an adjustment, or is something in the F1 pump or hydraulics about to break down completely?
Tim, My car was doing the same thing, so I had the clutch replaced and it still carried on doing it. It has finally been diagnosed as a very small fluid leak, which only happens when the car is running hot. This was done by putting the car on a ramp will all the undertray removed and taking the wheels etc off the car and running it through the gears, whilst watching for any fresh fluid. Hope this helps.
Fluid leaks near the clutch can be sometimes seen at the hydraulic junction box, 196918. The original design from Ferrari develops hairline cracks and indeed allows fluid loss. Although Ferrari has tried to update this piece (superseded to 235706), the folks at Hill Engineering in England once again beat them to the punch with a VASTLY superior version that'll probably outlast the next ice-age: http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=261701 Hope this helps!
Daniel is right, the clutch bleed block is quite often a cause for concern. There are a few other things to check for though. The easiest of which is the switch on the engine bay lid, a small microswitch located on the latch mechanism that will cause it to drop out of gear when it's worn. Access it by removing four 7m.m screws holding the panel that covers the latch. You will then see a plug with a small wire attached to the latch assembly. Disconnect this, then take it out for a drive. Other than this the other causes can be; 1. loose bleed screws on actuator. (indicated in fast system pressure drop-off and the pump running a lot) 2. worn clutch plate. 3. Clutch going over P.I.S due to fault with slave/bearing/sensor or worn flywheel. 4. Other leak in the hydraulic system, i.e actuator lines, valve block, pump. 5. Weak pump. System pressure needs monitoring on Sd2.
Had a regular service done on my 360 F1 a couple of weeks ago, and they noticed a hairline fracture in this clutch fluid union / block. It was replaced as a precaution. I guess most service centres check this part as a known weak point at each service?
Eventually it will. Throwing itself out of gear is the usual indication that it's getting to that point. By the time it's obvious that it's slipping you can budget for a flywheel as well, if it's not already goosed.
+1 I *guess* the TCU detects that all is not well, and it drops it back to neutral - You try again, and this time it meets spec and selects the gear. But I could certainly be wrong of course.... Or, at least a resurface of the old flywheel. [Popcorn ready ] Cheers, Ian
when I first got my car.. it was doing the for the first hour of driving, then went away never to happen again.. the cause in my cases was a dead battery... so check that out also