Cold Start

with regards to any engine most wear occurs at initial start up and colder the temps the harder it is for oil to circulate quickly ... I would keep the car on a batery tender if possible and start her up less often if not driven especialy in the cold temps

 

If the battery becomes a problem - get a jumper from any auto store - you just plug it in in your condo and on full charge will start your car at least 20 times - good one will cost about $120 - I have 6 cars, 2 atvs, and a mule and in the cold one always needs a jump - just walk around with it and jump anything

 

Do not jump start the car!!! This can cause major damage to the Ferrari and it's electronics. Get a battery tender if possible and let it run on a trickle charge while the car is not in use.

As I am sure others here will chime in on this subject. Again Do not USE a battery Jumper on the Ferrari!!

 

Same here. I am no expert but I think it's normal, well.. IMO at least!
The only difference is that I didn't get the CEL.

 

Hangarsixco is right on --- jump starting a 360 can be a very bad idea. Sometimes it works fine and sometimes it fries $12K worth of electronics. Get a high quality battery tender and always keep it plugged in. Mine uses a pigtail lead hard wired into the factory recommended terminals behind the drivers seat. The 3 extra seconds to plug it in (cord underneath driver door) when I park is nothing and my battery is always fully charged.

In a 360 it's super easy to use an old racers trick for cold starting after a long sit in the cold. Insert the key without pushing the immobilizer button on the FOB and turn the engine for 15-20 seconds. Then withdraw the key, press the FOB button for two beeps, reinsert key and start the engine normally (no gas peddle!). That pre-circulates a bit of oil to help minimize cold starting wear.

 

Nice input Camdon!

 

I think your car is OK- sometimes the 360 sputters like that on the first start of a day, especially after sitting for a few days or weeks- the sputter should clear up in a few seconds (my mecahnic said don't touch the gas pedal when this happens, just let the car get to normal idle on its own). If it did it for longer than a few seconds and in your case the CEL came on, you did the right thing- just turn off the car and re-start. I have been driving my car pretty much every weekend this year, and I noticed my car stopped doing this after a month or so of regular weekend drives- these cars just like to be driven regularly

I agree with the comments to leave the car on a battery maintainer, don't jumpstart. Don't bother starting the car if you're not going to drive it for several miles to get the oil up to temp- better off letting it sit if you're not going to drive it anywhere. Idling for 15 minutes makes no sense, if you going to drive the car just drive it easy below 3,500 rpm or so, and skip 2nd gear if the gear oil is cold and you car doesn't like 2nd until the gearbox is warmed up. I let the car idle for about 5 seconds before backing out of my garage and driving the car easy- best way to "warm up a car" is not to just warm it up by idling...

If your car will be sitting for a long time due to snow/road salt, just leave it on the maintainer and don't start it for the sake of starting it. I also fill up the tire pressure to about 50psi to try to decrease any out of round ness in the tires and put a sticky note on the steering wheel to remind myself to re-adjust the PSI. This is somewhat anal as my car only sits for 3-4 months, and in any case a couple of miles on the highway in the spring warms up the tires after they have been sitting in one spot for a few winter months, and any slight shimmy the tires sometimes get when sitting for a while goes away.

This is the battery maintainer I use, although there are many on the market- the mechanic that did my PPI suggested this one and I have seen it advertised in car magazines and the porsche club magazine before (and they are pretty resonably priced too) I also bought the extension cord that gives you even more distance if you need it for your parking deck- the wire can go under your door if you car is outside on a parking deck, in the garage I just leave a window cracked enough to get the wire out of the car:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-Deltran-Battery-Tender-Plus-12-Volt-1-25A-CHARGER-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5d2c4dce8eQQitemZ400175255182QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BATTERY-TENDER-PLUS-JR-25-FT-EXTENSION-LEAD-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem588ae1813cQQitemZ380287156540QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

It's posts like this that after owning my first Ferrari then Lambo Murci and now back to Ferrari that make me smile. I absolutely love the Comradery here....;-)

 

Interested to know more about the ticking from the battery area...

 

William- if a battery is on it's last legs, it will lose its charge quickly in the cold- lots of people in general wind up needing new batteries around this time of year. May be time to throw in a new battery if yours is losing charge too quickly...if you have a new battery and whenever you're not going to use the car for say 3+ weeks you can use a battery maintainer, I'd bet the life of the battery would be 10+ years.