F430 Cold Start Problem

This also sounds like a low voltage /amperage (battery) issue of which Ferrari is "famous".
Make sure the battery is fully charged with a decent Amp delivery.
Voltage does not always mean amperage.
Two totally different yet related animals.

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the feedback which I've forwarded to my mechanic, but is told by my mechanic that the problem is caused by the malfunction of an O2 sensor and pre-cat in the headers. When I bought the car, the previous owner already replaced the stock headers with IPE product. Since the pre-cat comes with the headers, I will have to replace the headers as well. Here in Taiwan, this will cost me more than US$ 10K if I go with Tubi and almost 10K if I go back to stock.

I don't have enough knowledge to know if his recommendation is valid. Does this make sense to you? I'm thinking if I have to spend 10k to solve the problem, I might as well start the car twice every morning as long as the car will run smoothly after the 2nd start.

 

when you cold start the car , the o2 sensor isn't in the loop. so no, it is not because of a faulty o2 sensor.
precat.... what does that have to do with anything if not clogged?

 

What I don’t understand is that after I park the car for 8 or 9 hours and start, which I assume it’s already a cold start, the car starts right up. But if it’s overnight (13 or 14 hours), the car has problem. I don’t know what makes the car different with the car sitting for that extra 5 hours.

 

Taiwan is a subtropical place. seldom under 32 F ( or 0 C )

so you don't have a place like mine to do experiments.

5 hours is big difference. and Here's my hypothesis:

let's suppose the gasoline dripping into cylinder is the real culprit . In the process of the car cooling down , it must has come to a point that the temperature inside of the cylinder won't "melt" the gasoline no more, and from that point, the gasoline will accumulate inside of the cylinder and ultimately cause the starting hiccup.
And that "must be a point" is between 8-15 hours in Taiwan weather. In Beijing it might only takes 3 hours in winter.

 

why don't u just replace the seals and see what happens. I'll do mine. takes me couple hours i guess

h

 

Attach a fuel pressure gauge to monitor the drop in pressure given time. I don't remember the acceptable pressure drop, but it's in the service manual somewhere. If the pressure drops too fast, you have leaky fuel injector(s). The test is really that simple.

 

Sometimes a heavy dose of Techron will do a temporary fix on injectors, too, and temporarily slow the dripping.

 

10k to go back to stock, crazy! I have a stock exhaust that my cousin can deliver to you if you are in Taichung and mostly anywhere north of there, just please don't spend crazy money and still have the same problem.

 

I had a similar problem a few years ago. I added gas from a different gas station and the problem went away

 

Put some injector cleaner in the fuel tank with a few ltrs in and give the car a good run to see if it helps, no good putting lots of fuel in as give too weak a mixture.
The extra time problem might be related to fuel leakage onto top of piston but i would expect to see fuel in the sump oil so not certain on that one

 

Techron doesn't do it for me. I use BG-44K, which I think is much better. Just my opinion.

 

I've asked the shop to check the injector issue first before doing anything. I've also asked them to explain to me why a faulty pre-cat can cause a problem such as mine. Given my lack of knowledge of car engineering, I'm sure I won't be able to tell right from wrong. But I will post his explanation here for your opinions. Thank you everyone for all the advice.

 

Forgot to mention in my last post, so far I have ruled out the software issue since the dealership here confirmed my car has the latest software update. And the battery is fine as well. So if the injectors also check out, I will ask them to do the ECU reset as suggested by Dan.

 

Doubt they can check the injectors without removing them and then they likely have no capability to flow test them.

 

Hmm. Do you have a lot of aftermarket stuff that taps from the battery ? Ie. sound amps , camera, light strips etc?


“Sharing is Caring...”

 

No. Only a radar detector.

 

And the IPE aftermarket headers do not have a pre-cat. I would not go to that mechanic again.

 

Hi,

I’ve got the same issue on my scuderia. Called local dealer and they say there are not aware of any update.

Can you provide any more specifics on the software update? thank you.

Khanh

 

Just dug through my service records, as this was from back in 2015, only states "fuel map change" to correct cold idle roughness. You could call Ferrari of Seattle and speak to their service dept. if you need more specifics.

 

Thats hefty repairs. This may or may not be related, but how old is your battery?

I assume when you say, only radar detector, that there is no car cam.

That and, everything being equal, i would bring the car to another garage that is non-affiliated to the first, and get an impartial second opinion. See if they point to the same fault.

If your bill is gonna come up to $10,000, i would first change the battery to a new one which fits the factory default setup, and see if there's any improvement / change, because that would be negligible cost compared to the $10,000. (Although, now that your first garage has indicated O2 sensor, i would not change my battery with them, because if its really the battery, they will have to take back their word.)

PS: i shudder at the thought of spending $10,000 and THEN realising its actually the battery at fault...... God Forbid this happens to ANYONE...

Cheers. My 2 cents.

 

As I posted earlier, I saw this it was a $2 gasket on the intake side which was letting in unmetered air. I changed all 8 and the problem went away.

Warning, It can also be a symptom from a fake / cheap cloned air flow meter being fitted and not a genuine Bosch one. Did it ever have AFMs replaced? I hear there are a LOT of fake AFMs floating around these days. Don't trust cheap non genuine sensors.

The ecu tries to compensate by upto 20% in the programming for air metering hence correction after some time. There are also different corrections applied based on temperature.

 

I know this a 360 parts list, but #2?

Nice work...how did you ever track that down?

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I've had OP's similar issues when I installed my Fabspeed headers and test pipes. The car also threw a CEL even with a MASE tune so I knew it wasn't 02 sensor/Cat related because I had it programmed out.
I removed the thermocouple and capped the inlet and that solved my problems. I figured that it was trying to sense the temp and regulate the air during cold starts. The idle hunting stopped and no CEL.

 

by chance do you have a picture to refer to what you are talking about?