ladies & germs: as most of you know, some 550s are prone to having their shock actuators spin. when it spins enough, it can cause the wires that connect to the top of the shock actuator to eventually snap (cf. first image) as the actuator keeps spinning and spinning and spinning and so on and so forth. it starts to add up if you're replacing an actuator every six months as i understand it, the purpose of the actuator is to flip a switch which sets the shock to one of four different settings (eg: soft, medium, hard, ron-jeremy). fairly straightforward. this actuator is apparently the same part that's used in the 355 and the 456 and the 575 and probably the 360 too (though i don't know for sure on the latter). the 355 has never had these problems, purportedly. the 456 has. the 575 purportedly does not. no clue on the 360 - never heard of it there. at some point, ferrari redesigned the parts that the actuator connects into - the top of the shock tower. in the second image, from the parts manual, you can see that assembly "47" replaced the "OLD SOLUTION". this was supposed to stop the spinning actuator problem. my car had this update, but the driver's side actuator still spins. the newer part, which is the whole "47" assembly is part number 173900 called "Complete Spring Retaining Cup" (fwiw, it replaced part number (assembly, really) 174081). unlike some of the other part swaps in the parts manual, there's no indication as to when this changeover happened, unfortunately. if anybody knows where the switchover occurred, please post. also, i am unaware of a TSB being issued for this, though it sounds like the kind of thing they would have issued a TSB for. if anybody has access to them, and there is one, posting a PDF would be stellar! SO HERE'S WHAT YOU CRAZY CATS CAN DO TO HELP for all of you with 550s, please post the following information, if you are so inclined: (A) do your actuators spin? your possible answers are as follows: * YES - both my front actuators spin. * YES - one (which one?) of my front actuators spin. * i've never checked or known to check. sorry - no idea. * NO - i check them now and then and neither of my front actuators spin. (B) has your car had the 173900 part/assembly swapped in? check your service records and let us know. perhaps there's some easy visual way to tell this, but i'm not privy to it - if someone knows, please post - i can get snaps of 173900 off my car, but not 174081 (QED). the goal here is to collect data to ascertain whether 173900 has or has not fixed or improved the problem, and if not, to have some meaningful volume of data to approach F with. ciao e grazie, doody
excellent post doody..this is what the technical section needs...more of this type of data collation. I'll look at the 550's I do and tell you, although I've never had a problem on any of them yet and had no reason to investigate.
I thought my front right actuator had spun after reading Dan's earlier post on the topic (http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20058), but I had that checked by the dealer and the mechanic sounded credible when he told me that the cable insulation may give the impression that it's twisted, while it actually isn't.
Doody.. Looking in one of my manuals, it shows that part number 47 (174081) is vaild till ass. Nr. 24613, and then the later 173900 is from 24614 on. But, of course, as you stated, 174081 changes up to the 173900. So, those are some guidlines of where one of the changes happend, but not I could not find anywhere else where the major change, taken the old solution out and replacing happend. R p.s.-Everyone should post their Assy. Number when they state if they have the issue or not......just a thought to help narrow it all down.
the only dumb question is the one not asked! the actuators basically live on the top of the shock tower. so if you look behind your tire you'll see where the shock absorbe is mounted inside the spring. follow that up in your head and it connects to a bunch of bolts inside the engine compartment at the top of each wheel well. a red actuator (see first picture in this thread) sits on top of of the shock tower on each side of your engine. there are two such actuators in the back too, though i'm told those two back there NEVER spin. i hope that's true, though obviously it's an order of magnitude harder to check. doody.
btw. that part was used from the F50/F355 all the way up to the end of the 550 run. The 575 uses a internal accuator. Same with 360/Enzo
LHS actuator on my 550 looks like it's spun around twice (based on looking at kinks in connector wire. RHS maybe spun 1/2 turn. I can't tell whether I have the new ass'y number. My guess is no. Since I have to "unspin" my LHS actuator, maybe when I remove it I can figure out the part no.
In the novice/newbie question category, how do you check for spinning ? Can you turn it by hand ? How much force does it take to spin the actuator ?
Pictures and the like http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20058 They can't be turned by hand... --Dan
I noticed the "made in Germany" on the shock...are these a Bilstein product? You'd think the Germans would have this better figured out....
Driver's side is fine. On the passenger side it looks as if it's spun a number of times over the years ('97 550) and doesn't have much left to go before I'll get a break.
Thanks to Dan's crystal clear directions and pictures, I took the thing apart and just untwisted the actuator. It had definitely been turning and while I did untwist the cabling (about 5 turns), the wiring and insulation seemed to be too brittle to safely untwist it all the way so I left it a little deformed. I'll keep an eye on it and see how quickly it twists again but clearly, this is an issue that may need to be dealt with. Doody, a while ago you came up with a bailing wire and duct tape fix: did you try it on yours and if you did, did it work? For all of you guys who might be hesitating, this little thread has already paid for a Rossa subscription 3 times over. The Board is a great resource.
redhead - sorry if this is a stupid question, but where would i find my "assembly number". i have my VIN of course, but where's this particular number located? teachdna - any record in your service history of this particular 173900 part/assembly being swapped into your car? davehanda - my understanding is that the germans are holding up their end of the bargain. the "fix" ferrari implemented for this was in the cup structure the actuator sits in - i don't know if the german's were a part of that, so i wouldn't rush to blame them! for those of you who are reporting no spinning, do yourselves and us a favor. open your hood and make a physical or mental note as to where the pigtail end of the actuators are facing. in a week's time, check it again to see if it's still facing that way. i have not been able to figure out what causes it to spin or not. sometimes mine doesn't move at all. sometimes it moves a lot. who knows. try turning your ASR on and off now and then, as well as switching the car in and out of sport mode now and then. i think it's correlated to changing the setup like that, but i cant' swear to it. doody.
No record of the part being swapped out. My guess is that I have the old part. It's VERY strange that one side looks virginal while the other side was screwed up royally. When I first go the car I played with the suspension settings a lot but I pretty much leave them alone now. I'll keep an eye on it for the next week or so. Great thread though-probably saved me mucho problemo.
OK, I just went out and looked at mine. I have a very late build (11/01), 126xxx, and there are at least 4 575's with VIN's lower than my car. I meet the cutoff for VIN #'s per RH A) Yes. -Right side cable to actuator is very twisted. Left side is pristine. Actuator on both sides is pointing rearward. I undid the 7mm bracket rather than the circlip, but i could not budge the red actuator. After I finished I looked at Dan's post again, and I may need to undo circlip and break down the actuator to see if it spins, no? B)Never had any suspension work, ever. 3200mi, spent 50/50 in sport mode. Lots of bumpy 2ndary roads here in Hill Country. Redhead, your VIN break on the part occurs AFTER all the barchettas were built, well before my car. Where did you find that #?? I will ask tech @ dealer soon, and will look @ 600mi 575 built a few months after mine to see if twisted R wires are present there.
hey Lee, the assembly number is different from the VIN number. So, make sure you are looking at that, and Killing two birds with one stone DOODSTER!--The Assembly number is located right underneath your hood, pop the bonnet and right to the right..(facing the car) should be a small lil plate that say Assembly number *****. This is just as important as your Chassis number as many thing on these cars are done by Ass. Nr. (as the Ferrari parts books call 'em) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~HTH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ p.s.-....(my info was out of a 97 550 Part book. The latest parts CD does not have this information on it)
I should mention: I do not use sport mode. Uh uh. Jeff: Keeping it all spun up - I"m not convinced that it will pull wires. Nevertheless, it's better to be safe than sorry. By the way, the outer shielding being brittle is normal. I've honestly undone all of it on one side and put high temp tape wrapped around - that didn't help much as it's all sticky, but the point is, so long as the wires are mostly covered (and thus not twisting themselves) you are ok. Lee: only way to get it off is the clip. If I am unclear, let me know and I will try to take better pictures (I apologize for the crappiness). --Dan
Also, I was under the impression that 575s do not have actuators as part of skyhook? I have checked a number of 456s, F50s and 355s for this problem - none of them have it... --Dan
Dan my main slow ass kart driving man, you are correct....and I forgot the mention this to Lee. The 575 does not have the 158732's (accuators) on them as stated above. We have never seen another F car with this issue...only the 550 front's.....go figure...
The word I've been given is that this is an issue with the front geometry of the 550 design itself. There is apparently some form of "resonance" (for lack of a better word) that simply can't be avoided. As every car is different, it may be some slight tolerance in build that is the difference between a side that spins and one that doesn't. On the whole, it seems that the right side (passenger side) actuator spins considerably more than the opposite. Frankly speaking, this one is easier to get to. --Dan
