812 How to replace battery

I'm onto my 3rd battery in 2 years on my 812. I decided to do it myself on the 3rd one because I needed it done ASAP and the dealer couldn't get me in for the job in time. I've since had a few people ask me how to do it, so here is a brief write up. If you have warranty on the car, just have the dealer do it is my recommendation. Because I had to figure some things out that wasn't included in the workshop manual it took me about 6 hours to do. I included these hidden steps in my write up so hopefully it'll cut the time down significantly for you.

1. Turn ignition on, lower both passenger and driver side windows about halfway. You need to do this to protect your glass when opening and closing the doors.
2. Turn ignition back off, pop the hood.
3. Remove the battery cover plastic panel with the 3 twist fasteners.
4. Unhook the negative terminal from the battery with the quick release.
5. Remove the rubber gasket running along the side of the car for the hood. This gasket will be stuck down with sticky tape and the end of it will stick into another gasket towards the front of the car. Just peel up gently and make sure to pull the gasket end out of the other gasket.
6. Remove the big plastic side cover on the passenger side by unbolting it with the numerous internal hex fasteners. I made sure to set this very out of the way so I didn't step on it as it's rather large.
7. Now for the part that isn't in the actual Ferrari workshop manual, you will need to also remove the trim piece under the wipers. Remove the rubber gasket on the corner of the passenger side. There is one bolt under a circular cover, but remove all the bolts for that piece. It is also secondarily held in with clips that you'll have to pop it out of. The easiest way I found to do this was to gently pull up on the drivers side of the piece and slide my other hand along the bottom as far back as I could while pushing up. You do not need to completely remove this from the car, I left it mostly in place.
8. You now have access to the 2 bolts securing the air box to the car, that also conveniently covers half the battery. Remove those 2 bolts, that will give you space to lift the box up enough to get the battery out. I'm sure complete removal of this would make getting the battery out and in slightly easier, but I didn't and managed just fine.
9. On the bracket that holds the battery down there is a relay, unplug it and move the wire to the side.
10. I removed the negative quick release terminal from the bracket by unscrewing the internal hex fastener inside the post. I don't think it's necessary, but it made dealing with the bracket easier.
11. On each side of the bracket you'll find the fasteners that hold the bracket down, remove the nut from each side. The J-hook fasteners will drop down, but they should still be accessible. You may end up needing some needle nose pliers to get at them during reinstall, but not always required.
12. Move the bracket as far out of the way as possible. If you want to remove the wiring from the bracket by removing the zip-tie clips you need to be very careful with the wiring. It's very thin-gauge wiring and can easily break.
13. Pop the plastic cover up off the square where the positive leads all run into by pulling on the back 2 tabs.
14. Optionally remove the main positive lead off the board, but not required. I found it made it a little easier to move that thing around.
15. You'll see a red looking clip with 2 Philips head screws, remove the screws. This will allow you to remove the board off the battery. Set it as far to the side as you can, it won't really like moving with how many wires are running to it.
16. Lift up on the airbox and you'll be able to see the negative terminal and you'll see another sensor plug. Unplug it, you may need a small screwdriver or pick to push on the release for the sensor plug. Just be careful to not damage the thin gauge wires.
17. At this point you should be ready to remove the battery. Do some stretches, pound a protein shake, take your pre-workout and get ready to hulk that thing up out of there. It is heavy, and it's a very tight space to be working in. What I found was easiest was to pull the battery towards the front of the car, then start tilting up on the positive end. The battery tray IS NOT flat, the battery will want to catch on edges, it's a pain.
18. With the battery up and out of there, you'll just need to remove it from the little heat shield box it's in and put your new battery in the box. Throw your old battery in the ocean, the eels will thank you.
19. Installation is reverse of removal.
20. When you go to put the hold down bracket on, you'll need to make sure the J-hooks are in the proper spot, it's very clear when they are because they will stick up significantly higher.
21. I left all the plastic pieces off after hooking the new battery up completely and tested to make sure everything functioned normally. After that I put all the plastic back in place.
22. When you're putting the windshield trim piece back on, soapy water helps get the piece lined up in it's channel. It's a major pain in the ass to get back in place, but you'll manage.

That's about it, I've provided the info, you provide the swear words.

 

I've put 21000 miles on the car, so it gets cooked a lot. My guess is that's a factor as well as the Ferrari brand batteries are garbage.

 

It wasn't too bad once I had all the steps figured out. I spent far too long trying to get the battery out with the cabin air filter box in the way.

 

I’ll be sure to up my rates to the ferrari rates too

 

The process would certainly be better described with pictures. I only got a couple while doing the job since I was focused on getting it done. I might just lift some of the pictures from the WSM to add to the guide. The hardest part of the job is hoisting the battery out and getting the wiper cowling back in its slot, otherwise it’s a lot of just unbolting stuff that’s easily accessible

 

No, I put a different AGM battery in while waiting for an anti-gravity battery to arrive.