550 fuel pump fails after 16 months

16 months ago, one of my 550 fuel pumps failed. As a preventative measure and "while I was in there", I bit the bullet and replaced both units at rather exorbitant cost. The 550 pumps were unobtanium back then (don't know if inventory has improved since).

Last week, my Slow Down light comes on and I lose half power - I thought it was the SDECU that I had last replaced in 2007.

Nope, says the dealer, it's your left side pump. Dead. Relays etc all in good working order. I gently suggested that maybe they didn't clear out all the rubber bits when they replaced the pumps last time. No debris in the catch filter, so they claim, these pumps just fail on rare occasions, for no reason. So, while I don't need the replace the complete pump assembly, it's still going to be a costly repair.

I've asked them to keep the parts that they replace so I can have a look.

Thoughts? We all agree that the 550 fuel pump design was bad, but are the parts themselves so piss poor that they can just fail after a mere 7,000 kms of usage?!?

 

Yes, the rubber parts fall apart because of incompatibility with fuel and the bits get sucked into the strainer, choke off the fuel supply and thereby kill the pumps. This is likely what causes most failures. But mine are only 16 months old, and the fuel tank was supposedly cleaned out of debris from the old pumps when the new ones were installed.

I did have the pumps supplied and installed by the local authorized Ferrari dealer. I asked about warranty on replacement parts, and the service manager claimed it was only 6 months. Do you know if the 2 year warranty applies globally to all Ferrari dealers?

The pumps that I installed were sourced from the local dealer, so if there's a fake part involved then Ferrari got scammed. I'll take some high res photo of the broken part for the resident sleuths to have a look at.

 

It was similar to what happens when the Catalytic ECU fails (aka SDECU): partial loss of power coupled with the Slow Down warning light coming on. The difference was that whereas the power loss associated with the ECU is a fairly abrupt change from 100% to ~50% power and then remains there as the ECU cuts power to avoid a car-b-que, the loss of the fuel pump, at least in my case, was more incremental and power slid from 100% to the point where it wouldn't idle very well, much less keep moving.

 

I searched the official Ferrari website for information regarding the warranty period for parts that are ordered and installed by an authorized dealer...couldn't find anything. Can anyone point me to the right page?