It seems to me that this solenoid may have been dropped or plugged into the wrong hole by the way the ends are bent, because they are different.
Me too. There's definitely a few jerky shifts as you're feeling out the timing and I still blow the occasional one, but basically you blip it right when you feel the clutch disengage.
I'm not sure how different they are, but they just ordered another one so I might have it all back together sooner rather than later. Crossing my fingers that this actually works.
If you have trouble finding a source for the valves I have a complete used power unit with a bad motor. I don't want to break it down for parts but if you want the entire part let me know. 925-552-9700
Good to hear you may be running again soon Zach! Nice offer Brian. Have you seen this sort of thing before? Is this something we F1 owners need to worry about realistically, or is this a rare issue?
No, not at all. It looks in the photo like physical damage that might happen from an external force. But it is difficult to say from photos. I have never found a need to get involved in a power unit except to install a remote pump. With the exception of the dumb idea of an integrated motor for the hydraulic pump that whole portion of the system was quite good. The early cars had trouble with a poor material choice for the clutch sensor position mount. Most of those were changed long ago. The actuator is prone to physical damage because it hangs so low. The lower mount takes a beating. I have repaired quite a few for that but it is usually not to big a deal and I can generally make needed repairs without even removing it totally. There also has been some problem with the actuators leaking. Ferrari actually had an unspecified acceptable leakage so a slight mark in the garage is nothing to lose sleep over.
If the 612 valves don't work I'll probably be taking you up on that offer. I'll let everyone know what happens as soon as I get word. Not quite sure when it will be, the other valve was ordered late last week and it has to make its way to the people rebuilding the unit, then everything needs to get shipped back and installed.... Hopefully it won't take long, but I'm guessing the middle of next week at the earliest. I'm chomping at the bit as it's been down since July.
For those curious about assisting the F1 system with down shifts. I know not everyone drives this hard but it gives you and idea of how effective it can be. Ferrari 355F1 onboard at 2006/06/03 FUJI Ferrari Trophy Qualify - YouTube
Update: The valves seem to work; however, the difference in pressure between the 355and 612 valves could cause an issue, so they are replacing the other three as well. Those should be in by the end of next week (10/17), and will then be sent to where the power unit is for bench testing. At this point I'm so frustrated I'm ready just to send the whole thing to the scrapheap.
Compare the 575M system (top diagram) to the F355 one (bottom diagram). My gut feeling is that this will work -- but hey, it's Friday night and I might have already had a cocktail or three. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The latest update is that all the ev valves have been replaced, the bench tests went well but that an inline filter clogged. They are waiting on a replacement for that then everything should ship to the dealer to be put back in the car. It should be about ready considering that it snowed on Friday...
"I might have already had a cocktail or three".... I think the people who designed this system had more than three when they designed this system.
Rebuilt parts are finally back and are being fitted...right in time for 1-3" of snow. I should know if this all works in the next couple days, provided the roads are suitable for them to take the thing out and test it.
Now the F1 ECU is dead, does anyone know how I can get another? Again, it seems that Ferrari does not carry them and I can't find one. Parts are in, no way to tell if this worked. Does anyone have any idea where I could get one (I'm striking out), does anyone have one, is there a way to use a later model and reflash the programming? I need help... Too frustrating.
Zack I will keep my ears open but I am curious before the valves failed the ecu worked did it not. I don't think the valves failing would have damaged the ecu. Something just seems off that both the power unit, valves and now ecu are all shot.
Makes you wonder if perhaps the ECU crapped out first causing the issues with the valves. This thread has my attention on so many levels. Have you tried Ferrparts? Eurspares? ..and other car breakers? Have you tried a direct contact with Ferrari?
Taz And Watson, The TCU was working, but as we discovered, something was not right. You can smell fried computer board coming from the thing. They got a few minutes into bleeding the system and it died. I smelled a whiff of old frying computer smoke a couple months before so that could have been it. It's very doubtful either the tcu caused the problems or that the problems caused the TCU failure. It looked like water had somehow gotten back there at some point, but who knows. It lust looked like everything happened to fail at the same time and were unrelated. If the TCU failed the car would have just stayed in N and that would have been it. Yes, I did try Ferrari, Ricambi, Ferrparts, Eurospares, , Scudparts, and even Rutlands (among others), but with NO luck. However, my dealer got in touch with a contact in Ferrari, pulled in a favor and had them look in their parts bin and they discovered they while the computer said none were left, they had ONE left. I ordered it. So sorry to say anyone else who needs one in the future has a 3,000lbs paperweight. Once this in, probably next week, they can go about trying to see if everything actually works. The person who rebuilt the powerunit and actuator is an electric engineer and said he thought he could fix it, so we are sending the old one out to see if is can't be mended. If it can I'll either keep it as a spare or sell it and get some cash back.
The only thing I can think of is that the failing pump caused it to drain more power, which in turn send uneven and poorly regulated voltage to the TCU which fried it. As anyone who builds computers knows, a bad power supply can kill drives, video cards, and other components. The thing that tends me not to believe that is the case is the tcu and the power unit and pump work off separate relays and fuses, so I doubt the two are connected.
Yes very unusual failures. I have followed f1 threads consistently for ten years and have not seen a failure such as this. Sorry that your the first but please keep up the sharing may help the test of us in the future. I also posted how my engine mounts going. Soft caused a tranny failure even though they were not completely gone. So you might want to ensure yours are good. Especially after all this work.
