My father has recently purchased a 488 Pista. He has driven it a few times but it sat in the garage for about a week without a tender. We took it out last night and after driving around for a few minutes we were hit by almost a complete systems failure of the car. ECS and others were all failures. (the dash was a Christmas tree). I scoured the forums but couldn't find a solution. We plan on taking it to the dealership tomorrow morning, but is there anything you guys can recommend we do in order to remedy the situation before hand? The car is basically brand new, had 53 miles on deliver 2 weeks ago and now up to almost 400 miles.
I forgot to mention in the original post that once we arrived back home we put it on the tender and 2/8 of the lights on the Ferrari tender came on. After leaving it overnight it came up to 7/8 charge and once starting It this morning the errors persisted.
I am going to say it isn't the battery .. sounds more like a charging issue If you want put a voltmeter to the battery or thru a cig lighter and see what voltage you get when running I assume that the problem doesn't appear until you drive a little after a full charge ??
So we hadn't charged the battery since delivery. It only occurred to us after the issue that plugging it into the wall might be a solution. The night the error occurred we had the door open for a pretty decent amount of time which we assume led to the drainage of the battery. Shortly after driving off from where we were parked was when the issue occurred originally.
almost immediately. Upon startup the engine sounded wonky and was misfiring as if it was learning how to run again. After a few minutes the engine went to normal but all errors on startup and from the night before were still there.
If you have your owners manual .. look towards the end and if you would like follow procedure to discconnect and connect battery There a few few steps - that may reset things .. but follow both disconnect and connect procedures in manual
If you disconnect and reconnect the battery and the lights are all still up the battery is toast. You guys are stating the word charged. No that's wrong . Its a tender . It will NOT recharge the battery and certainly wont do anything with damaged cells. Looks like yu have enough surface charge on the battery to start the car. Without driving the car at least 50 miles plus you will do nothing to charge the battery nore fix any damaged cells. Sure a multimeter can read the voltage but turn on the stereo or operate the windows and see if it goes down. If it does the battery is toast.
I went to the owners manual and the procedure for disconnecting the battery is stated to be page 173 according to the glossary but that page is blank for me. I am able to operate windows, start and drive the car, as well as turn on the radio. The car is stuck in wet mode however due to the system failures and the first moments after startup are rocky and misfiring.
As Mandalay says - disconnect the battery for a few minutes and then reconnect. You will require an Allan key to undo the floor plate and on one of the terminals there is a flap which can be released so the terminal can be removed. Try that. Frankly not having the car on tender for a week is a recipe for disaster. You really don't want to be leaving it off the tender for any more than a 2 days if you aren't driving the car every day. The LI battery is very expensive - out here is 5K. Ridiculous I know but that's why you don't leave it off the tender. Surely you must have been told about the need to keep the car on the tender? Id say if its been off tender for 7 days and not driven then the battery could well be had it.
yeah we planned on driving it more, but due to inclement weather it was left sitting. Our faults, we are just looking for a solution at the moment.
For CTEK tenders (which seem to be what Ferrari uses), I would say the word "charged" is absolutely correct. My 458 came with the equivalent of a CTEK 4.3, not as good as a 7002, but it still runs the same programs. Not sure what the Pista came with, but almost definitely a version of the CTEK: STEP 1 DESULPHATION Detects sulphated batteries. Pulsing current and voltage, removes sulphate from the lead plates of the battery restoring the battery capacity. STEP 2 SOFT START Tests if the battery can accept charge. This step prevents that charging proceeds with a defect battery. STEP 3 BULK Charging with maximum current until approximately 80% battery capacity. STEP 4 ABSORPTION Charging with declining current to maximize up to 100% battery capacity. STEP 5 ANALYSE Tests if the battery can hold charge. Batteries that can not hold charge may need to be replaced. STEP 6 RECOND Choose the Recond program to add the Recond step to the charging process. During the Recond step voltage increases to create controlled gassing in the battery. Gasing mixes the battery acid and gives back energy to the battery. STEP 7 FLOAT Maintaining the battery voltage at maximum level by providing a constant voltage charge. STEP 8 PULSE Maintaining the battery at 95–100% capacity. The charger monitors the battery voltage and gives a pulse when necessary to keep the battery fully charged https://www.ctek.com/storage/28170E5A4DF8DDE255F2544A55F5C421179A3398C557729443D3E9C908F0382E/d4c71f1fcf354b37bdfb3841d00adafd/pdf/media/01d8e64db81c4259bda89213323dad93/MXS_5.0-manual-low-UK-EN.pdf If you can make it to the FLOAT phase the battery is charged and should hold the charge. I agree if the battery is damaged the tender will not help, but it will definitely recharge a flat battery. My batteries that have been damaged always fail the ANALYZE phase, where the tender shows they cannot hold a charge.
Try the solution I stated and if after then the problem still persists then you will need to contact Ferrari assist and get the car back to the dealership. Good luck. PS. I'm also committed to the belief that if you own a Ferrari -( no matter what the model) - you should always drive with a back up plan on board. In the case of Pista have the Alan key for the floor plate and a starter pack charged up in the Frunk.
Here you go .. following the procedures to disconnect and reconnect in manual and let us know how you make out
I just went out and disconnected the battery then waited around 10-15 minutes. I put the battery back together and started the car. before the car started I was out of limp mode and was able to change to sport, but upon starting the car went back into wet and all errors showed back up. Through the internals the battery was reading at 13.2 volts.
Ok been through this. A) If its stuck in wet mode , no matter whether you disconnect or reconnect the battery it will stay in WET MODE. Option was dealer said tow the vehicle. I said no way. Dealer said drive slowly to the dealership only about 10 miles. I did was cleared and NEW BATTERY. B) You can have all the LED's lit on the conditioner and still not start the car or the car starts but still has all the warning lights flashing. Tell your dad to get a starter and keep it charged and in the car. YOU WILL one day get stranded. Its a cheap emergency fix and will save you a lot of embarrassment waiting for the tow truck. C) No matter what the Ferrari dealership says that the battery is OK / and or has been charged IGNORE that and either demand a new battery with them paying for it ( which can be discussed before you go there ) or rock up with a battery and get them to change it if you dont feel comfortable doing it yourself. IMO your last post definitely suggests a dead cell. Battery is toast
My car 100% always on charger . Drive her nearly every weekend. 3 years nearly 3 batteries. OEM battery is **** , will fail. Second battery generic , nothing special and failed . Current 3rd same as second still ok but i imagine it will fail. Have a Braille organized to be put in when service 3 years is done. The worst feeling is when you get these issues. At first you just cant believe it but then you just accept it. The cars have electrical gremlins. Get a better battery , always have it on the tender. Buy a starter and be prepared to change the battery every year and happy driving
okay perfect, thank you so much for your input. tomorrow we are taking it to a family event and then to Ferrari right after. For sure a learning experience as it is his first one. It will live on a charger / tender every night after this.
A 53-mile car has not driven a single mile, since it was sold new, some 1-2 years ago. No way to know how many times the battery was left to discharge in this time, with each time causing damage to the battery. If you have seen my recent post, just 10-days off charge, with a brand new car/battery and I had similar issues to you. Really push for a new battery.
When I first got my 488 I had problems because I was the last owner on earth not to know about the "two button" start. Get in the car, quickly press the start button and give the computer time to check systems and reintroduce itself. Then press again to start the car. Or maybe I wasn't the last, you may be. That's probably not it but worth mentioning. Also, knowing that battery issues would happen (likely at a restaurant at night in the rain) I wired a 12v battery cable pigtail to the battery that sticks out under the dash. In my glove box I have a jump box lithium battery with a matching plug. It will take 30 seconds to hook it up if needed. So far, so good. I hope it works when the day comes!
I have heard that the Ferrari OEM is a rebranded Optima AGM. Im not 100% on this - perhaps others can chime in. If it is 13.2 volts is just a hair too low. Fully charged Optima Yellow Top Voltage is 13.3 to 15V. From Optima's site: "Fully charged, engine not running, starting batteries (all REDTOP® or BLUETOP® 34M) should measure about 12.6 volts to 12.8 volts. Deep-cycle batteries, including all YELLOWTOP® and dual-purpose BLUETOP batteries, should measure approximately 13.0 to 13.2 volts. Voltage measurements of the battery when the engine is running are the output of your alternator. This measurement should be about 13.3 to 15.0 volts, which may differ due to temperature. At average operating temperatures of 50° to 80°F, your alternator output voltage should be about 14 volts to 14.8 volts." You might want to look into one of these too: https://www.optimabatteries.com/products/chargers/digital-1200 The trickle chargers all have varied amounts of juice and limitations of how low a battery they can start from. The one linked above has a dedicated optima Yellow top button, and can charge / recover from a much lower discharge point than the CTEK's up to and including the 7002. (not sure about the models above that). If it is a Yellow Top I would fully charge your battery so that it's reading 13.3 to 15V, do the resets as suggested, and see if the problem persists. Best of luck
My 2019...now with 5412 miles has gone through 3 batteries. Battery 1 was because the 1st owner never drove the car and I do not know if it was on a charger. Battery 2 was put in buy the Ferrari dealer in order to sell the car with extended Ferrari Warranty. **At this time the car was 1 yr and 2 months old with 453 miles...in service October 2018 Sold to me Dec 2019. I drove the car 4,000 miles in 1 year and kept it on the charger at all times. It was showing signs of slow starting and weak charge after a year of use. Battery 3 was installed by me around 4200 miles about 4 months ago. I put in a Interstate AGM. It seems like the battery charging either from the alternator or the trickle charger is not very good. Also I notice when in my garage at night the 3rd brake light LED's are on dimly lighted. Really odd!! Who knows what else is draining the system so fast on these cars. Does the F12 and 812 have the same issues?
