296 GTB. died

@Wcorredor Helluva first post friend. Good to know for when I get my 296!

Where did you get the OBD scanner? which one should I get?

 

How interesting and useful advice - I have had the my GTS for 9 months with no issues and seldom plugged in. However exact same thing happened to me yesterday after I left the car for 2 hours (!) after driving it 10 miles (so 30+ mins) just before with no issue and 100 miles last week. The LV battery voltage had gone down to 3V in a short space of time (2+ hours!).

I am not as handy as you so had road side assistance (RAC) come and do it and the guy said he had recently done the same for another 296, hence knew battery location, procedure etc. it took a very powerful battery from his vehicle to recharge the 12V and some time as you say. Anything less than 11-12V and car won’t start.

What alerted me with mine is that the alarm went off (voltage drop) after car had been parked for 2hrs. Then when I went to the car it seemed to be unlocked, stuck in the ignition mode and with the AC fan whirring on and off. The electrics were so dead I couldn’t shut the door properly again (probably a good thing in hindsight!)

The technician said they had other cases of the cars being locked and inaccessible and when they tried to open with the manual key (inside the door handle) that didn’t work either (!) so definitely not quality controlled! I might actually check mine works.

Once the battery fully recharged (engine running 20 mins) all fault sensors cleared and car is fine but shocked how quickly it discharged and also how much harder it is to recharge/ start the LV battery in this vs a normal ICE car.

Anyway my Ferrari SA told me I prob left the ignition on when I exited the car and “ a lot of owners do this” with the hybrid being silent etc. However I have a vehicle security app which records every ignition on/ off event and it definitely shows the ignition off when I parked the car so?

All in all very strange and I wonder if there is a bug which can switch some systems on even when the car is parked (easily draining the battery!) I am sending the car back to Ferrari to check everything.

Question for you - does you car have the old er Li Ion 12V battery or the newer AGM gel battery? Mine is the latter.

Also does anyone know technically how the 12V battery actually gets charged when the car is not in use? How is it possible for it also to get charged when you plug in the HV hybrid battery connector?

 

When my GTB bricked itself my dealer said that the HV battery is wired in sequence to charge after the 12V battery has been charged. Both are charged via the charging cable. I think there is possibly an issue with the MyFerrari ap pinging the car for status updates. It uses the 12V battery as does the standard UK fit Navtrak. These systems would appear to cause a significant power drain.

 

@isuk I thought you were the dealer? having access to all sorts of useful info including swatches and color codes.

 

My biz partners car with under 100 miles is locked up and at the dealer. I dont think it is a huge surprise given Ferraris challenges with electronics and batteries in the past. I am just hoping they sort it out on the later cars.

 

just now I had the same issue. I am waiting for the morning to call my dealer.

 

you guys are scaring me! I've already been feeling a tinge of buyer's remorse on my order....

 

Dont worry, you will be able to sell it. Theres only 120 for sale right now. Just kidding, hopefully they've sorted everything out by then. At least that's what I am hoping.

 

Hello everyone,
After getting my new 296 delivered and driving it for a week without any issues or the necessity to get the car connected. I left it for about two weeks unplugged and it went completely dead, I plugged and after a couple of hours the car finally started, I drove around for a around 10 miles with the check engine light on and decided to go back and plug it again, the car started smelling weird and the LVB was extremely hot and I decided to unplug it again and called the dealer this afternoon and they will call me back tomorrow to find out what’s next.
*English is my second language, please excuse me for any errors

 

100% agree. F8 is a beautiful Ferrari. Keep it. I will Never purchase a Electric Ferrari.

 

Wow, I am not sure I would have the patience and fortitude to endure that scenario. Congratulations and a big help info wise for all of us.

 

Let us know about your car and what the dealer determines.

 

I never rented out my beach house for fear of damage, and I certainly would never rent out my Ferrari. Too many "drive it like you stole it" fools out there who would just love to live out their fantasies as Ayrton Senna. They might cause serious hidden damage to components and do brilliantly stupid stuff like lcurbing the wheels and parking in a tight space to invite door dings. or worse. No thanks. I like to sleep soundly.

 

This is exactly what happened to mine today. It’s always plugged in in the garage at home and suddenly I heard the alarm going. Went out and the car was completely dead. Managed to get in with the manual key and RAC got some charge into the battery in the passenger footwell. Managed to start it and have dropped it off at Ferrari Hatfield with a million engine hybrid failure warnings. It seemed to be charging itself enroute. I think it must be something to do with the car either not switching off properly or a power surge effecting the charging cable. All very strange

 

None of this gives me the warm and fuzzies while I await delivery of my GTB and GTS ... *sigh*

 

Well, hopefully the GTB and GTS will trade off back and forth on when one throws a tizzy fit an refuses to light up.

 

Sincere question. Could it have been your breaker? I only ask because my car has stopped charging before, and I only noticed it had stopped when I went to my garage to get something and noticed the yellow lights on the charger. I reset the breaker, and the lights went back to blue. However, if I hadn't caught it, it might have gone dead just like yours did. I've since replaced that breaker and I haven't had any issues.

 

Didn't know there is a 12v battery inside the car. Seems like I need to drive my more often now. I always drive in Qualify mode on the way home to get the battery charge up as much as possible though

 

Could've been the breaker, however the car had only been sat there for five days, and when i last used it the battery was pretty full when putting it away. Going to check the breaker lights every time now. Flashing blue is charging correctly, right?

 

Its in the passenger footwell. Remove the two screws and the panel pops out to reveal the fuse board and 12v battery.

 

One can hope, at least then I can alternate between the two

 

There's a breaker located in the charger?

 

Garage breaker panel.

 

Correct.

 

To the 120 point, I looked today. Basic, bad spec after another. There were two nice specs. Out of 100+. One isn’t listed with a price the other is just over MSRP. Amazing how many bad specs there are. Idk why someone would pay $400k for a basic looking 296.