hello to all ferrari experts My car has been sitting for almost three weeks so i wanted to run it a bit to recharge the battery. tried to start my 550 today and : - alternator light on the left stays on - center warning screen shows a battery giving a few blips with throttle, the alternator light on the left flickeled but returned. Is there anything i can do before getting the car on a flatbed ? cheers
Not really a problem with the alternators on these cars. The accessory belts need to be checked now and again. I would check if the belt hasn't come off.
Most likely just a bad battery that is no longer capable of taking a charge...replace it and you will probably be fine. The factory FIAMM batteries are not known for their longevity.
FWIW, in all my prepurchase research, on FChat archives, calls to service managers, discussions with current/former owners, alternators never showed up as an issue with 550's...... james
the battery is only 3 years old. Even if the car is not used much, it shouldn't be that bad yet ? the car is 98.
Yep original Batteries are pretty useless, if it's 3 years old and you left it for 3 weeks without a trickle charger then it's probably had it. You could try using a proper battery charger and charge it for 24 hours, it might recover but lead acid batteries don't like being fuly drained and left flat for periods my advice, buy a new battery (not from a Ferrari dealer!) and a trickle charger
