Lost an axle

70 miles after clutch replacement on 2009 F1 equipped 599, I lost the left axle. These were easy miles. Had it towed back to the dealer that did the work. Their assessment is there was a systematic failure of the attaching bolts. I suspect the bolts were not properly installed and torqued during the clutch replacement. I understand that during a clutch replacement, the torque tube and gear box are removed and the axles disconnected as part of the standard procedure. Same dealer overfilled the engine oil during an annual service performed at same time as clutch.

My question, is there a history of 599s losing an axle? This car has 14K miles and appears never tracked?

 

Bolts weren't tight. No excuse for the screwup. No excuse for a dealer overfilling anything.

 

Getting a dealer to fess up to a mistake is no easy task. Same technician that did the overfill (level was above the "max mark" and oil had been sucked into air boxes and residue found its way to the side vents of the car) did the clutch work. As long as they properly sort it out, all will be good. But these things should not happen.

 

You are form Northern CA so I assume it was a Northern CA dealer? I am from Southern CA and in August got a '08 612 OTO from out of state with all the service done. But in a few months I will need the annual service. I have not decided the dealer to do the service but I don't want to select your dealer. So tell me it was a Northern CA dealership. I can go to any of 3 dealerships not so far from me, LA, Beverly Hills or Orange County. We have a home in Long Beach so the Orange County dealer is not far from our Long Beach residence. Thanks

 

Some of the biggest screwups that I've had to undo were from dealers. The guys that work there aren't gods and they are frequently in a hurry to get your car out of their stall.

Don't be fooled by the fancy sign and the million dollar overhead.

Both problems mentioned are inexcuseable.

 

Dealers are not infallible. Mistakes happen, whether an independent shop or a dealer. What is important is how they deal with them.

 

A few months before I bought my 612 the previous owner had a belt change done by a Ferrari dealer. I was having some work done by a Ferrari master tech (not a F dealer) who found several serious **** ups by whoever did the job. It cost me almost as much as the belt change to fix what was wrong (could have had a catastrophic failure).

Read the posts by SAFE4NOW in this thread and it will help explain how this happens.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/silver-subscribed-private-forum-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/452483-where-does-ferrari-dealer-make-money.html

 

No way an axle failed without a major screw-up. You could leave two bolts out of the axle, torque the others properly, and still not have a failure.

 

Likely scenario. Tech starts each bolt and hand tightens to avoid cross-threading. Friend comes up or tech otherwise gets distracted, and forgets to proceed to torque the bolts properly. Bolts back out.

 

Ed is correct, independents or dealers, anyone can make a mistake but I have to say, Northern California dealers were very good for my business.

The 599 has the same axle mounting arrangement as many other Ferraris going back a long time and has never been problematic.

The flat rate pay system adopted by those dealers has been very problematic.

 

Thanks for the input. I am pretty sure the issue was failure to torque the bolts properly. This is what the dealer called "systematic failure of the attaching bolts."

I checked the car today at the dealer. Only damage I could see was the heat shield near where the axle fell was damaged and will be replaced by the dealer. The cv boot appeared to be ok. I spun the hub and could not see or feel any cuts or scrapes on the boot.

Are there other items in that area (left half shaft) that I need to pay particular attention to? I did request all the bolts associated with the torque tube and gear box be checked as well.

I did notice on the right half shaft, where the hub connects to the differential, grease appears to be seeping around the entire circumference. Loose bolts again?

The dealer is taking care of this on their dime.

 

That would actually be funny Brian if it weren't so sad for some owners.

 

Funny thing the 599 is the only ferrari i have owned with a different oil check procedure.
Get hot,then hold at 3000 for 2 minutes the idle for 2 minutes ,THEN check the oil level,turns out the dry sump has baffles that hold a lot of oil at low rpm

 

They have options.