430 Hydraulic Line Blown, E-Diff Bleed, Where's 1st Gear?

Quick story of how I got here:
I was driving around for a while using my Launch tool to check-check-double check the PIS values. I drove around for numerous miles, and probably went through about 6 or 7 different values until I was happy with the engagement. I drove home, pulled into the garage and GAHHHHH!....I see smoke in the engine bay and ATF on the ground.

I pulled the right-side engine panels and noticed ATF all over the place. I used my Launch tool to engage 1st through 6th gear and noticed the 1st gear hydraulic line was spewing fluid about ½ inch past the banjo fitting. I got super lucky that the line gave out in my garage!

Luckily, my friend did the manual conversion on his F430, so he has spare parts (lucky me!) and was gracious enough to let me “borrow” what I needed. So, I removed the old line and installed the new/used line, topped-off the reservoir (Valvoline Dex/Merc ATF fluid), used the Launch tool to bleed the Clutch Actuator and the E-Diff (per normalguysupercars video process), then I completed the Self Learning process. So far, so good…

Now the fun part:
Time for a test drive around the block: I Backed out of garage via Reverse, put it in 1st gear and drove off. 1st thru 4th gear using paddle shifters, no problem. Coming to a stop and allowing the ECU to shift down, when it was supposed to go from 3rd to 2nd, it instead dropped to Neutral. I coasted to a stop, then used the paddle shifter to shift into 1st, but it stayed in Neutral. I tried a few double-paddle pulls to ensure I was in Neutral, and then an upshift: no luck. Still in Neutral. The only way I could get it to go into first was to first put it in Reverse, then I could successfully upshift to 1st.

I drove the short 1/2 mile back home and got her in the garage. I re-bled the E-Diff, but the issue stays. If I try to go from Neutral to 1st, no luck. It only works when I go from Reverse to 1st.

A few bits of info:
- 2005 F430, 25k miles
- 40% clutch life left
- Battery Voltage = ~ 12.5 (and on the c-tek charger often)
- The line that blew was P/N 8508.A on the EV2 manifold section.
- The pump runs for about 3.5 seconds when I open the door. After turning the key, it’ll run for ~ 0.5 seconds, roughly.
- Hydraulic pressure reaches about 50 bar before the pump turns off. Pressure seems to hold well, 1 bar drop after every 2-3 minutes
- It will run through the Self Learn Process, hitting each gear back-and-forth

So, here we go…..

 

No. The only thing that was removed (and replaced) was the hydraulic line.

 

Sounds reasonable. I've got IPE headers, so I'll see about the need to remove the cats.
Gotta order up some Loctite 518 or see if one of my local auto stores stocks it.

Since I'm not familiar with the process, I did a bit of searching and came across another thread that you were part of, and you posted this bleeding process. Gonna throw it here for reference:

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachments/bleed-act-pdf.2541766/
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachments/bleed2-pdf.2541932/