'Kato' the Mondial has low charge of 12.7v.

#1 Battery
12.7 for a standing battery is good. Using my volt meter, I get:
ignition off, car battery measures: 12.67 dc
ignition on, engine running - good idle = 13.73 -13.75

with engine running, if you don't get at least 13v~ there's something wrong, sounds more like a bad alternator or loose connection, check your wires/earth.

#2 NOISE
Get some belt lub spray or WD40/Loctite 8201 and spray it on the teethed belt a.k.a AC compressor belt, let it soak for a few hours. And try again, less or no noise. Normal wear and tear on these cars until you replace new belts. No worries, it freaked me out the first time I heard the pinging sound in the cold and thought it was from the inside engine. The belt noise goes away when it warms up if you do nothing.

Video of the Fix, just uploaded:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFm65Ybj_3U[/ame]


Cheers

 

No worries mate, now that tells me it could be a dying battery. Check the reading on battery, how old is it? I went to start my car yesterday and the battery didnt have enough to crank, now she's on a charger. Try charging yours or get a new one before replacing an expensive piece like an alternator.

Might want to bookmark this page, find relays and fuses in the owners manual.

http://www.ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Manuals_Owners.htm

 

Re-tighten your alternator belt. If it squeaks, it's loose. When you start up, the alternator will try to charge the battery up right away to compensate for the starter motor consumption, so it works harder than later. That is usually why it goes away after a few seconds. The belt also grips better when its hot - to a certain point. If it's loose, it'll heat up due to slip and at one point it will bust. It usually takes out the A/C belt as well when it goes.
Drive at night and check if you can see a glimmer in your battery light. That could be an indication of constant slight slipping.

I cannot see how WD40 could help tighten a loose belt - the noise is the result of an issue, not the cause. Eliminating the noise will not fix your slipping belt problem...

 

Great, thanks for the feedback. All correct it seems to me. Yes, the way to do it is via the wheel arch - quite convenient really. The permanently slipping belt can be seen by a glimmering battery warning light during night drives - and is not audible. Once you tighten the belt, the light stays out.
The only other case I know when you could hear a belt noise on start up, which it not related to a loose belt, is on a very humid day (as we know in the tropics). When some very light surface rust on the pulleys builds up and it get worn away by the belt. Sounds the same, but is nothing to worry about. This happens on many cars (incl. new ones) here in HK.

 

hi, I did batt voltage measurement on my 3.2.. last week before I took out the battery for charging using batt charger, engine off=12.3V, engine running=12.9V, sometime the batt/alternator indicator light up after crank started the car but went off immediately if I rev up the engine >1500rpm.. after charging the batt with batt charger, engine off=13.0V, engine running=13.6V.. that's about 0.6V higher when engine is running. Is this good or can be better? thanks

 

I'm a total newbie when it comes to Ferraris. However, on all the cars I've owned a working alternator should put out around 13.5 volts plus or minus a couple of tenths. If you see 13.6 volts at the terminals when running you are okay

 

Bill, I'm comfortable with 13.6V. but before charging up the batt using external batt charger, it was 12.9V. Time for a new batt?

 

A fully charged battery at rest (not being charged or the engine running) will be under 13 volts. If your battery is reading 12.9V at rest you are okay.

 

To truly test the battery you need to put a load on it. You can buy a load tester at Northern tool or HF, or just take your car or battery to autozone and they will test it for free.