Need Help on F1 gear ECU

Ferrari 360 Spider 2002
F1 Gear

The issue started when the gear was slipping to N, I took the car to ferrari dealer workshop and they told me the problem is casued from the ECU and hence my car is 2002 model with old ECU they told me the same can be solved by ordering the new ECU model.

I ordered the ECU from Eurospares and it was delivered to the workshop, after a while they told me they can not install the ECU and they wrote a letter to Eurospares stating that "The ECU is not saving the parameters we set for the clutch, we believe the part is defective".

I contacted Eurospares and they ask me to ship back the ECU to them trying to get a replacement, which I did.

Then Eurospares ask me if I can get a print out for the SD2 of the workshop, which I provided to them (copy attached).

Then I received a message from Eurospares stating that "Ferrari have received the ECU from us have had it tested. They say there is no fault with the unit and have provided a printout which I attach. They are of the opinion that the problem is with the gearbox of the car." They send me a copy of the test done on the ECU (COPY ATTACHED).

I sent the report received from Ferrari to the workshop and they told me that it can not be the gearbox because they tested another ECU from another car on my car and it worked perfect, also my old ECU work on the car.

Now I told Eurospares to hold the ECU unit till we figure out what is the problem.

Can someone give me suggestion what could be casuing the new ECU not to work on my car (pls note it is the right part number).

Thank You.
View attachment Scan_Doc0004.pdf
View attachment WSdc32.pdf

 

What was the clutch wear reading prior to changing the TCU? (I see a figure of 10.34% on your print out but was that also the value that was shown prior to removing the old TCU?)

Was your old TCU part number 176552? In that version you cannot manually set the PIS, so were they hoping that manually setting the PIS would solve the issue?

Edit: By the way, if you do end up changing your TCU consider getting the Challenge Stradale TCU (part number 196986) for the fastest shifts and other benefits. (It is directly compatible with the 360).

 

The value of the Clutch wear is 10.34% prior of changine the TCU, it was completely replaced recently.

Yes my old TCU part is 176552. And yes I believe they were hoping to set the PIS to resolve the issue of going to N.

 

I would appreciate if someone also can clarify this matter to me, my car is 2002 model and it is USA model with vin # 126782, my old ECU part # is 191701 and checking this on the part cataloge it say it should been supercedded by part # 185301 which again been susperceeded by part # 191701.

However the ECU they provided me is part # 211023 which it say that i t is valid for F1 - Valid from Ass. Nr. 44075 till Ass. Nr. 47114.

Could this be the problem, I need to have ECU part # 191701 instead of part #211023.

Would appreciate your input.

 

I have a spare TCU sitting around and it's a near new CS one. That would work!!

 

What would be the cost to get the TCU including the shipping cost to Abu Dhabi - UAE

First, I need to find out if Eurospare is willing to credit back my ordered TCU or not ?

 

191701 -> 197533 -> 211023

 

Thanks for the clarifications, but could you suggest what might be the problem of not having the supplied TCU working in my car while Ferrari saying that they have test it and it is not defective as the workshop suspected. Taking into consideration that another TCU from another car has been able to work in my car.

Thank you.

 

Are you sure these two printouts are from the same TCU? For example, look at the "pump activations" near the bottom of each one. Your UAE shop reports 203 pumps. The one from your supplier reports 365 pumps. That's a big difference unless there was a whole lot of futzing going on between time of the two printouts.

I'm not sure how either place tested the TCU or what the implications of bench testing vs. car testing might be, in terms of these counts.

 

While I appreciate you jumping in and trying to get to the bottom of the issue with your new TCU, I would recommend letting the shop handle it.

I am not sure how you got to be the man-in-the-middle anyway.

If shop A diagnosis an issue (for $150/hr) and says it is a failed TCU. Then they should source, program, and install a replacement TCU and deliver a repaired vehicle. Once you get in the middle you can end up in a situation like you have with he-said-she-said with shop A, vendor of replacement TCU, and Ferrari-Proper. Not a good place to be.

If you were DIYing the repair then I would agree with your current strategy and support it.

Sorry I can not help with your TCU issue directly, but think the shop A should resolve the issue. They are the ones not able to program the TCU (for whatever reason). If you solve all of the issue, what exactly are you paying them for?

 

I do understand what you are trying to say but I am in the middle because I sourced the part and the workshop and they are not charging me for diagnosis but they are saying the part is defective while the supplier sent the part to the ferrari and they tested and they are saying it is working fine and they want to return the part to me. The workshop said that they try another ECU in my car and it worked fine.

So all I asked if someone have an opition what could be wrong.

 

Still no other suggestion what could be wrong !!!

 

I've never heard of a tcu fault that caused it to fall into neutral. I've had one where the gear change times altered because of the car being jump started a lot, but errors were logged. What codes (if any) were in your original tcu? Also, I find it difficult to believe a second tcu (and a brand new one at that) is faulty. If the correct setup procedure isn't followed on installation, it won't work. One visual indication of incorrect setup, is that the gear display on the dash just shows a horizontal line instead of displaying a gear. Is this what is happening?

 

I'm having the same problem now, or at least similar: the car sometimes (only after warm start) goes to neutral when switching from 1 to 2. Otherwise sometimes it refuses to shift back from 5 to 4 or 3 to 2. In that case it just gets stuck in the gear; and won't get out. So seem to be even gears.

We put in another F1 ECU; same problem. Then we tried a CS ECU: now the gears didn't refuse in the last 500 miles however the shop cannot get the PIS value correct; the clutch is slipping a lot, in particular in 4th when shifting with a bit less than full throttle (+- 5500 rpm).

My clutch is new, my F1 actuator was replaced 1.5 years ago.

To answer your question... Other diagnoses are: PIS sensor fault (next thing we will try; unfortunately this is fairly well hidden inside the gearbox so expensive to even check it... Or the actuator (which seems unlikely in my case but you never know), or the 'hole' through which the actuator sticks may be worn out, causing all gear engagements in the actuator to be out of tolerances as there is too much leeway. In the non-CS ECU's, my gears were continuously out of tolerances. In particular 4th gear. It sure shifts well with the CS ECU..

 

It sounds very much like an actuator issue, or a loose bleed screw (common; there are 3 of them) which entails removal of the actuator to check them. Either way, watching for a big pressure drop on the parameter page of an sd2 will show this. Internal wear to the actuator of the piston seals seems to be an increasing issue.

 

If the PIS is set too tight it can miss shifts and hit N between 1st and 2nd but that would be a pretty extreme case. Does the car sift into R smoothly?