488 Another Turbo Issue

6 months ago, I had my 488 GTB in for its annual service at an official FNA dealer. While it was there, I specifically requested a detailed inspection of both turbos, along with thorough photo documentation, given the known failures AND because my warranty would be expired, come next annual service date. This turbo inspection was a paid request—not part of the complimentary maintenance—and I had no issue with that.

The service advisor and technician reported both turbos to be in “good condition” with no concerns. However, upon reviewing the photos they sent, I noticed what I believe to be problematic signs—particularly visible oil around the turbo housings. (Photos attached.)

Some relevant background:

• Car currently has 3,600 miles
• 6 months & ~340 miles driven since referenced FNA Service Visit
• LH turbo dealer replaced April 2022; ~1,200 miles ago)
  
• RH turbo dealer replaced ~January 2023 (~800 miles ago)
• Car is fully OEM and unmodified
• I always allow the car to reach proper temperature before driving—spirited or otherwise
• I usually follow the cooldown process after hard drives (~70% of the time)

When I questioned the oil residue, the dealer dismissed it as “typical seepage, not a leak”—claiming it likely occurred during the installation of the replacement units. What frustrated me is that they didn’t even bother cleaning it before returning the car. It was exactly as shown in the photos—messy and unaddressed.


Fast forward to today, I’m 99% sure I’ve experienced another turbo failure. Symptoms include:

• Exhaust smoke
• No boost whatsoever
• A strange whirling sound behind the cabin when attempting to build boost

At this point:

• What recourse, if any, do I realistically have with the FNA dealer?
• Given that I’m now outside of warranty, I’m seriously considering upgrading to Pure Turbos—likely either the 800 or 900 series, but still deciding. Anyone gone this route & care to share experience?

Open to any insights or advice from members who’ve dealt with similar issues.

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Only 3500 miles and you've replaced both turbo's once already and now they are gone again on a OEM stock 488? That is not normal on 488's.

You need to find why this is happening on top of replacing the turbos again for the 2nd time with hardly any miles on the car.

 

Correction: RH Turbo was NOT replaced, it was only inspected in 2023. Sorry, I could not figure out how to edit the post to correct this incorrect detail.

 

Since you mention complimentary maintenance, your car should be less than 7 years old; and it has only 3,600 miles.
My car is almost 10 years old (Sept. 2015) and has about 16,000 miles. While the turbos may explode anytime soon (I hope not, since I already have some expenses to take care of for the 550...), so far they have shown no sign of failure.
So as mentioned, I don't think one or two turbo failures on your car is a normal situation.

 

I have a feeling the dealer I purchased this car from (CPO & 2,000 miles) did not find that this car was modded prior. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how this car could have so many issues with such little mileage. If it was not modded, than the miles were tampered with. I am not sure and can't accuse either without proof, which I do not have, but nonetheless it is what it is and I want to make it right or get as close as possible.

 

Wish I had an answer however since none of us here are certified Ferrari mechanics, nor can we see the car it's impossible to tell you what is wrong. Possibly the selling dealer is hiding info....they do and I've been down this road with high end dealers before on used cars.

You might seek out a highly qualified independent Ferrari mechanic to inspect your car. Now that the car is out of warranty I highly doubt nd I bet the selling Ferrari dealer or any Ferrari dealer will not end tend an offer to fix for free or even help you fix the car.

I had a 2019 Ferrari 488. I bought the car used in December 2019 with 400 miles. I put 9500 something miles on the car before I got my F8. Zero engine mods and zero issues. I practice careful warm up and cool down like you mentioned you did with yours.

If you find you have a turbo going down I would look into replacing with Pure 800 series turbo's. You will not have to tune the car as these turbo's flow stock but have beefed up inside parts and the casing of the turbo is stock so when you go to sell it it looks like stock.

But I wonder if the car was tuned with after market exhaust (ruins stock turbo's usually) and ran hard the first 2000 something miles before you purchased it.

 

Sorry to hear ... the LH turbo has already been replaced twice and has just failed again? I remember your previous post where Ferrari stepped up and replaced it for the second time under the warranty. I looked at a 488 Spider recently but opted for an older 458 instead. Never had an issue with the turbos in my California T (which I had 33k miles on) but I'm sure that's a milder application.

 

I have a few 'guesses'

1. Mileage has been tampered with and the car was previously modded before going to Ferrari.

2. The car is simply not driven enough or hard enough hence the failures. 3000 miles is nothing. These cars are approaching 10 years old they need to be driven the way they were meant to be driven and driven like that often to avoid some of these failures.

Lastly,
I agree with one of the posters above. Needs more investigation to find out if it was modded and mileage tampered with. If the car is legit I'd upgrade to the pure turbos and forget about it. Life is for living. The turbo has already failed. Install a longer term fix and enjoy the car.

 

It's already been said, but Ferrari's and other high end high performance cars give more problems the longer they sit. Upgrade the turbos and drive your car weekly for a problem free and enjoyable ownership!

 

Thanks for the reminder...mine has been sitting for 2 weeks...need to go drive it!!!

 

In total agreeance, but wouldn’t the turbo(s) be an exclusion/opposite to this considering that they are a ‘wear item’?

Regardless, I am more pained by the disregarded oil leak, despite dealer explicitly stating it was seepage—call it whatever, I call it a problem! My specific irritation be that the dealer could not care to research or address at my request & cost nor at the time which the car was present for service.

At the time of this I felt that they had a reactive approach rather than a proactive one with the whole “just bring it back when (not if) you have a problem” stance/attitude. Who do you trust!

 

The reason for the turbo failures is mainly lack of driving and lack of proper warm up and cool down. These aren't some delicate device when operated as normal.
On the contrary, they are extremely precise turbos capable of 100K RPM and that requires proper lubrication.

The issue is when they sit, you have complete drainage of oil from the lines back into the sump, you end up with very little film left on all contact surfaces and when you start it up to move it in and out of your garage without proper warmup the internals get worn. Hell, it'll get worn just from starting it after sitting a month. That oil pressure build up at startup is all the time that's needed to cause heat and damage to the internals. Do it enough and you'll have a failure. It's that simple. 488's never has widespread turbo issues, they had owner issues.

The worst thing ANY car can do, is sit for long periods, it's worse for turbocharged cars. And just starting it once every two weeks doesn't cut it. It needs to be taken to operating temp and driven if weather allows.

This is specifically why I didn't shop for extremely low mile 488's. The seller thinks it's a flex to save his girlfriend for the next guy, and all he's delivering is time bomb.

 

And here's what CHAT GPT had to say about it.


Key Preventive Measures
To reduce turbo failure risk:

1. Always idle for 1–3 minutes after aggressive driving (especially before shutoff).
   
   
2. Open the rear engine cover after parking to release trapped heat.
   
   
3. Change oil more frequently than Ferrari’s interval (every 3k–5k miles max).
   
   
4. Use only high-quality Ferrari-spec full-synthetic oil (usually Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 or equivalent).
   
   
5. Drive the car regularly, even if lightly, to keep oil circulating.
   
   
6. Consider heat shielding upgrades or turbo blanket wraps if tracking the car.
   
   
7. Install a turbo timer if you frequently forget to let the engine idle before shutdown (rare but useful).
   

 

Did they give you the axial displacement of the turbine shaft. The usual failure is of the thrust bearing so if the thrust was too big then you would know.

The turning of the shaft floats the shaft on a thin film of oil, slightly different to the rest of the engine.

 

I believe the real story will never be found.

Has there ever been a turbo failure with the original car owner ?

 

Everything on a car is a "wear item"

Driver included.

 

Can someone walk us through what those photos are showing? Is there something abnormal appearing on the outside of the turbo housing?

 

My 488GTB has 8400 miles. It is 7 years old and all my pipes you can lick them as they are that clean. BTW never cleaned the engine.

IF I had ever changed a Turbo or anything of significance oil associated I would have pressure washed the engine. That way you could determine if there were any leaks.

 

Give it a wash and see where it is coming from

 

A great question. I was hoping someone would be able to answer this.

Assuming I am the lone wolf here—not in only experiencing the turbo area mucked with oil, but also requesting photos of this area to share.

 

Well my engine is spotless. IMO best to get your whole engine and lines washed and dried and also the undertrays. Then ove a period of time it can be cheched to see if anything is happening.

 

Most big diesel shops can rebuild these turbos to factory specs and even upgrade them for a fraction of what you guys are paying.

 

You're a freak

 

Eric's Ferrari Chat Quick Tip of the Day!

 

Correct and I can also buy mats for the Ferrari at one third of the price and did , however the Ferrari mats I ordered with the car are on the plaque