Flash32 contributions

I purchased a 2009 F430 Spider last summer with less than 8,000 miles on it. After a number of maintenance, refresh and fine tuning items, the car is in extremely great shape. According to the service manager at Ferrari, one of the very best 430s he's ever driven.

Everything from Trev360 and Sam tuning the car, headers, LED tail lights, Forza Controller, brand new mats from Llyod, intake paint job, full carbon fiber trim and high flow air boxes, H&R springs with a Scud alignment spec, all the way to a custom built gear oil heat exchanger (as Ferrari no longer supplies the "known to fail" part) - you name it, I've done it...

I have been chasing a rear differential chatter for almost a year. Belt and suspenders, I removed the transmission, removed the differential, inspected everything (had GTE rebuild the clutch and flywheel, Kevlar and Organic), new throw out bearing, all new seals, new ediff solenoid, 6 transmission fluid flushes to get all of the old burnt fluid out, and put it back together. Best Ferrari service customer this year!

The car is prefect - except the differential chatter. I was tired of chasing it, so I purchased the Scuding Swiss ediff module and was ready to install it. I happened to stumble across a post of someone who was having F1 trouble, and saw he rave reviews given to Dominick for his gracious and selfless efforts to help other Ferrari owners that had reached the end of their rope - so I reached out.

Within hours, I had a reply and an offer to hop on the phone to discuss the issue. After a week of meticulous deductive reasoning, testing and troubleshooting, Dominick was able to provide solutions to the differential chatter and some F1 pump issues that we uncovered during testing (all minor, but all fixed). Not only is the car running better, smoother and quieter - the Scuding Module is still sitting on my work bench - differential chatter is going away - and I leaned so much about the pump, ins and outs of the system, and the differential system. I also now have a bachelor's in understanding various components of gear oils and how they interact within the system - quite the balancing act.

I think we all know what it's like to own one if these cars, have everything working perfectly except one small issue - it ruins all the hard work spent getting it to where it is. Now, with the help of Dominick, the car is truly 100% - clean bill of health from Ferrari (which means only so much) and Dominick (a far better master of these machines).

I do want to thank Ferrari of Boston for all of their efforts BUT it was Dominick who properly diagnosed and fixed the problem in less than a week. Ferrari has had my car for a longer period of time than I have since I owned it, as we went through every possible cause. They did some great work on the car, and were very reasonable in billing, but the differential chatter persisted. A true knowledge of gear oil and limited slip differentials and $15 additive matched to the gear oil I'm running, and the car shifts like butter through the gear nob and the chatter is gone.

Thank you Dominick for your efforts, and I look forward to the next project together. If I can ever be of any assistance to you, never hesitate to ask.



When I told my wife how I was able to fix the car, she gave me a funny look and her response was - "you met someone in a chat room?" Haha... not just someone Hun... Dominick!

Thanks Again.... and until next time.

 

@Ndurgarian

Thank you for the kind words and you and your issue got us down a side path that thought both of us a few things on manual conversions ..I thank you for that opportunity

The best part of your post was your wife's response

I have another fellow I helped over the last few months getting his 360 in shape and his fiance gives him dirty looks when he is in the phone we me at midnight ...lol

I am not making significant others happy...lol

 

I recently purchased a 2006 F430 that I planned to work on myself. It had higher miles (55k), but had decent service history. There were a few suspicious F1 system service receipts that likely were not solving the true problem the car had exhibited in the past with dropping into neutral and not shifting. There were no errors when I got it, but I still wanted to be sure of it's true state and address anything it may need.

@flash32 helped me do a full evaluation of the current state of the F1 system over the phone. He recommended specific parts that needed to be replaced that were worn out and guided on how to go about replacing them and then verifying the system afterwards. After the changes everything is measuring out healthy and the car is shifting better than before. More importantly we have reduced the stress on the system that would certainly have led to a larger failure eventually and possibly leaving me stranded.

He has a wealth of knowledge on these cars, but above that is really just looking to help out owners and ensure their cars are working as Ferrari intended.

It was a pleasure working with Dominick and this community is lucky to have someone like him.

 

Attila

Thank you for the kind words and taking the time out to post this "shout out" ... truly appreciate it.
It was a pleasure helping and quite easy given your excellent wrenching skills - that always make it fun
Based on all you did and the tests we did .. i do agree you have a well sorted f1 system

 

Are there certain tests all 430 F1 owners should run to do a health assessment of the F1 system? Reading through all these posts about the help Dominick provides is awesome but I wouldn't want to take his time just to check the health of my F1 system when everything seems to be working fine. I would be curious to know what tests I could do myself to assess the system health. Is that already posted somewhere in the forum?

Thanks,
Loris
2006 F430 F1

 

You can time the pump cycles ..at room temp

Key on engine off ..how many minutes off ..always throw the timings from first cycle away
Key on engine on ..how many minutes off
How many seconds does pump run when it runs in above tests .this is in seconds
How many shifts do you get key on engine off from neutral to first to neutral etc..count each shift
How many seconds does the E-diff bleed function cause the pump to stay off ..key on engine off

 

In these timing tests (engine on or off), are you shifting neutral to first to neutral etc? Or are you not doing anything, just timing the system at rest?

 

I mentioned 5 tests .. four of them you just sit and time
The one with "how many shifts" that is with engine off / key on and shifting slowly from n-1-n-1

 

Loris how did you make out with timings

 

I haven't done the tests yet. I'm out of town through the weekend. I will report back after doing the tests. Thanks!

Loris

 

This is another shout out for @flash32 and his contribution to FerrariChat and directly with its members. I recently performed a rear main seal fix on my 360 F1, and @flash32 was more than helpful with questions along the way. From WSM understanding, fluid recommendations, and most importantly help with the F1 procedure work upon the completion of installation of the trans etc. Dominick went out of his way to connect via phone to help with the clutch bleeding, F1 actuator bleeding, F1 relearn, parameter mapping, etc etc.. Dominick even took the data and built a grid for the actuator so I could compare with future settings to see if anything looks "off".
Thank you again for your help and contributions to FerrariChat Dominick - your help is greatly appreciated.

 

Tim

My pleasure and thank you for paying it forward as well

 

@flash32 for another assist! Much appreciated.
Always great to pick a brain that understands what's going on with the system.
It's all Ferrari nonsense.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/f1-gearbox-no-stall-no-clutch-engagement.710130/

 

Hello all-from a Maserati owner, a lengthy read, but please do for a great man, we all know-Mr. Dominick (flash32). I wanted to impart some words and admiration of my experience with him here, as he assisted me along every step of an intricate and technical process. Firstly, many thanks to Mr. Sammyf for recommending and informing me of him.

I called Dominick, introduced myself and immediately thereafter he began collecting information on all of what happened to my ’06 Maserati Quattroporte up to that point. I had told Dominck that I drove the car home after it was sitting for 8 months due to variator parts being replaced, and this was the fourth time the car drove after the service. Once I get into my driveway, I let the car idle a few minutes to check the oil, and within a few minutes the car dies. A P1710 code was on the OBD scanner (faulty F1 position sens.) with the default “Transmission Failure” displayed on the cluster. The car would not start, crank, sound-nothing. I replaced the F1 sensor, still with no crank or sound, as if no battery in the car. I inform Sammyf of this, and he believed the TCU was shorted or corrupted when the F1 sensor died. I send TCU out, once returned I install the re-flashed TCU and the car now would start, but it would go into D or R once, and not again. Dominick began mapping and plotting charts from the tests performed: dynamic parameters- hydraulic pressure, sv leakage rates, shift thresholds, static parameters, etc. Using the data I was telling him and sending him, he was mapping and documenting the data. After collating everything, and a lot of it, he begins to determine that there must be air present in the system, via the actuator. During individual gear shift tests, certain gears would engage while others didn’t. It was also possible that a faulty solenoid valve could be possible (power unit). Starting with the easiest path first, being to access the (3) bleed screws on the back of the actuator. (1) of the (3) screws are accessible from underneath the car without removing the actuator. Upon tightening (1) screw, it turned about a full turn and a half. I began an actuator bleed which Dominck believed was not necessary, however I proceeded before contacting him that day. I inform Dominick of the findings, and we start to run tests again. The tests were similar as previous; certain gears engaging, others not, hyd. pressure level drop, battery voltage etc. We ran a self-learn on the gearbox, which was never successful before, as it would fail after engaging 4th gear. This time all gears engaged, including R and N, and test came up “Successfully Completed”. The air in the actuator was the impediment. The sv leakage rate is still a bit high, but the car is now driving and shifting well.

In summary, the F1 sensor was faulty as was the TCU, but I don’t know if the loose actuator bleed screw caused it all to cascade. Dominick was always on top of the troubleshooting and was never more than a short time away from responding to texts/calls/emails, always there, always prompt and methodical. We should be grateful in the Ferrari/Maserati community to have Dominick as a friend, mentor, advanced tech and supporter for all he’s done and doing. Believe me, as many can attest, rarely is there such a person to depend on. God bless him, there is a saint in NJ.

Thanks for reading,
Chris

 

Thank you so much for the accolades and praise

My pleasure to work with you .

God bless

Ciao amico

 

Flash - what’s your blood type? I’m A positive.

If you ever need a kidney, the line starts HERE!

Kevin

 

Another great Dominick story!
I was just thinking of him last week, as I suspect my accumulator may be in need of replacing again. Is SeqParts still the recommended vendor? Or has anyone found an OEM cross-reference alternative?

 

LOL - I am A positive - lol

 

Let me know if you want to chat to confirm that - it seems like you just changed it ..no?

 

No, we changed the clutch solenoid and all was well. You had recommended changing the accumulator again, but I didn’t at the time. I had replaced it in February ‘23, roughly 20,000 miles ago. I recall you recommending replacement every 10 to 15,000 miles I believe. While the car is still performing admirably by all accounts, I noticed the red light flashing intermittently on my Scud Ing F1 relay module. After doing some quick timings, it seems to be pumping every 6 1/2 minutes with the key on engine off and cold. After we first replaced the clutch solenoid valve, it had been holding for 8 to 9 minutes. After a drive, key on engine off, it’s pumping every three minutes or so now. I noted that you mentioned anything under four minutes after a drive with the engine off indicates a bad accumulator. So I suspect it’s time to heed your advice once again!

 

What is the good baseline for these timings for the 360, is that something you have logged/derived? Thanks for the insight!

 

Those times don't look bad at all ..give me a quick call when you get a minute .. something else seems off ..possible the E-diff solenoid

 

I have different expectations for different models , and different age of components..I will give you the minimum where actions have to be taken

Key on engine off ..how many minutes off ..always throw the timings from first cycle away at least 4 mins
Key on engine on ..how many minutes off at least 2 mins
How many seconds does pump run when it runs in above tests .this is in seconds exactly 3-4 seconds
How many shifts do you get key on engine off from neutral to first to neutral etc..count each shift minimum 3
How many seconds does the E-diff bleed function cause the pump to stay off ..key on engine off minimum 1 min

 

No E-diff in my car (360). The 3 minute pumps I’m getting while running are below your 4 min recommendation, so that’s why I was thinking accumulator, plus that you recommended to replace it last year when we talked.
I can give you a call sometime on Friday or this weekend when we’re both free.
Thanks!

 

Sorry Jeremy..work with so many different people ..can't remember which model they have

The weekend sounds great ...we can do a overall check together ..I am always cautious, as you know, to make sure the right parts get changed

One thing though if I said that (which I do remember ) it was correct at the time ..so you are correct in making that determination