CREATE AN UNFORGETABLE MOMENT BREADOWN In IN YOUR SUBURB

Don't you hate that?

 

mate,,,,you've got to stop posing and hanging out with the latte set

this was god's way of saying "drive the thing more often"

it should be very simple to fix this, just pull the starter out and use a set of jumper leads to test the starter with, they are normally as reliable as the gearbox which are solid items.

It is embarrassing when this happens though.

Is it making any noise at all when you turn the key ?

Can you hear the throw out ring gear clicking ?

 

Part of Ferrari ownership. I have been left stranded by pretty much every Ferrari that I have owned. A FEW that stick in my mind:

Clutch cable snapping in my 308 right outside the nightclubs of king street Melbourne on a friday night (when 308's were newish). Had to get towed home behind my mates ratty old Ford Laser. Drunken hecklers do not make a great friday night.

The 328 that threw a water pump belt in Targa Tasmania. Nothing quite like watching the whole field pass you by followed by the sweep car. Then there is nothing but you and the cows stuck in the middle of nowhere.

The new Testarossa that snapped a throttle cable way out in the Victorian countryside. Long wait for a very expensive tow truck ride.

The new 360 Modena that ceased to function FIVE times (leaving me stranded) before they replaced both ECU's. Anyone know that Ferrari assist tell you they will turn up sometime in the next 2-4hrs? Grrrrrrr

The 355 Challenge that stuck in neutral at Phillip Island and required an expensive gearbox rebuild.

There are more; but you get the idea I am sure !

 

That's the one deserving of the most sympathy IMO!

I'm assuming the 308 was your green one?

 

think of the most remote location in Australia and thats where the new cayenne turbo decided to have a compooter meltdown, it died on the Morphett st bridge (500 meters from CBD) on the inbound lane at 0800am on a monday morning, try ringing the porsche after hours number and get told they only werk 9am to 5.30pm, great and hecklers driving by yelling obsenities. and after it gets towed to the porsche dealership 5 computers later and 2 weeks it got sold with 1500km on the clock and 5 weeks old, and ferrarifixer wants to take one in NT, i would rather p!ss in the gutter and swim. will never buy another porsche their aftersales is non existant

 

Gee mate, even my ex worked out how to get around that one :

you put it in gear and turn the key, a few jerks later she purrs off into the distance and you change gears by matching the revs (lots of double clutching)

It took me 3 weeks to get a cable and by then I had it down pat driving to the RAAF base at Wagga every morning

Ferrari starters are nice and smooth too

 

Yes indeed; but I still love it more than all the others! That car and I have some history

 

sex and kermit, nice combo

 

Like all love affairs that stand the test of time, it's the bad times that make you appreciate the good times!

 

That sucks. I think it is symptomatic of most high end, highly computerised luxury cars. My old X5 had so many recalls that I stopped counting after 13.
I had a 4.8ltr on loan for a day last week and in 24hrs it had 2 electronic anomalies. Decided another X5 wasn't a good idea at that point.........

I hear the S class Mercedes are plagued with electronic drama and air suspension failures too.

 

Too much mechanical sympathy to try that JM. Mind you it was the last straw for the clutch in my mates old Laser. It shat itself very soon afterwards as I recall.

 

Ummmmmmm

 

ermmm every time i hear somebody discuss their car as having history women and sex are usually involved, JM sorta knows what i mean cos he has an affinity with a valiant VH charger!!


and yep the main problem we found with the cayenne was that if u put your mobile in the drinks holder in the console (as u do) it fouls up the main compooter directly underneath it. they make too hard to werk out now, thats why the cruiser or patrol will do for me as long haul 4x4, and Chris's (wife) Ml55 is ok for mild off road, but after 80k it has never faulted once, must have been a monday or tuesday car

 

Andrew the auto electrician that's on the corner of princess hwy and canal rd in St Peters is open 7 days a week.He rebuilt my alternator.I took it to him on a saturday and he had it back to me by sunday.Wasn't very expensive either.Or bring the car to Rudy on tuesday and get on the waiting list

 

It's not hard on the car at all.

 

Hmm, well this wasn't exactly a breakdown... hell it wasn't even to do with my car. Anyway, here's the story:

I was driving home at 5:10pm last Thursday on the inside lane of Kensington Road, heading East towards the hills. Immediately in front of me was an early 90's white Ford Falcon station wagon. A few hundred metres up the road against the curb on the left I could see a small boxy hatchback (late 80's / early 90's) with its right indicator flashing. It was angled about 45 degrees towards the road, and kept creeping inch by inch to the right as we approached. For a while it stopped moving at all and as we got within 50 metres or so, started moving again. The Ford driver lifted off momentarily until the hatchback stopped moving. Thinking the hatchback had seen him, the Ford continued at 60kmph. I immediately had a bad feeling, and started bleeding off speed to create a gap in front of me to allow room for whatever would eventuate, if anything. Amazingly, as the Ford got within 20 metres or so, the hatchback swung out directly across our lane and right in front of the Ford! "Oh crap, this is going to be bad!"

The Ford driver slammed on the brakes and jerked the car to the right, but the hatch continued moving to the right as it attempted the U-turn...
He managed to get in around 1 second's worth of braking before smashing into the side of the hatchback just ahead of the driver's door, flipping the hatch around violently 60 degrees or so to the left. During the impact, the area was sprayed with glass, some of which bounced off my car. After the impact, the Ford drifted to the right across the other side of the road and up onto the curb about 20 meters further down the road.

By the time of the impact, I was only going 40kmph or so, and came to a gentle stop in the middle of the road with the carnage laid out in front of me. The girl in the hatch looked unconcious, there was massive damage to the right front (the wheel was cambered inwards about 60 degrees) and a large pool of fluid was forming underneath the car. I put my hazard lights on, hands still shaking from the sudden surge of adrenaline, and in no time traffic behind me and on the other side of the road from the opposite direction was speeding past the wreckage rather hapzardly, making a racket as it travelled across the broken grass. My biggest fear at that point was getting rear-ended by the following traffic. After 30 seconds or so, I managed to find a break in the traffic, pulled to the left and went left again straight into a BWS car park. I then went to assist and was at the scene for just over an hour before continuing my journey home...

 

dude... wtf are you doing in that area at that time? if you ever want to see a crash, just go to that part of the road or toward that roundabout thing at around 530pm and you're almost guaranteed to see some action.

stay away.

as for the story that started this thread... Andrew that comes across as such a poser story that would be a Commodore driver's wet-dream to see....

 

Umm, I once drove 20k in peak hour city traffic without a clutch cable - if you're used to double clutching, it's not that hard...

 

so next time u wanna come and play with my 72 wheeler kenny to port agutta, u can use the 18 speed road ranger with ease, but then synchro's are for *******

 

Think I'll decline to comment on this one...

 

Ok, technical points...

Starting in gear places huge loads on the starter bearings and bushes that support the armature. Ferrari starters are tougher than most, but you will slog them out quite quickly with repeated use of this type.

Elecrically too, you'll overload them, but again, they'll take a bit of abuse. The extra load will superheat the windings in the motor and also the feed wiring and associated parts. Long term, the armature will lose power and the starter will get slow and noisy.

Driving the car without using the clutch can be quite un dramatic, but it is easy to get out of rythm and do damage to the gear dogs and the selector forks.

Bottom line, tow it if you can. You'll be better off long term..

Moretti... where did you hear 348 starters were solid!! I think I've done starters on every other 348 I ever worked on.

Goober. I'm amazed at your stories about Cayenne and ML. My neighbour has a ML420 and it's the biggest bucket of puss you could imagine. Constantly problematic and expensive to fix, if even fixable. And my shop is up the road from a german car specialist where I get my roadworthies done, and they love ML's, because they earn them lots.

Scott, I though you drove the 4.4 X5, not 4.8?? Anyway, I've heard good things about X5!

 

not to be nit picky but they never made a ml420, it's a 430 and yep it's rough but it aint an ml55, there is a whole lotta difference between them. the ML55 was designed for the US market and it's success over there created the supercar war for 4x4's being the Cayenne and X5 4.6 then 4.4 and subsequently the 4.8is. The Ml range was first developed in 1995 hence it is last century technology and it cannot be compared to anything designed this side of 2000. Ours has been maintained as per it's schedule and at 75000km has only been in warranty for air flow meter failing, head filling with water, and SRS malfunction, the vehicle has travelled from Adel to Thredbo 21 times and numerous trips to watch the crows in Melb, all without fail, and yes i do know of lesser ML models being a problem but have yet to hear too many come from the AMG range.

 

Well, my most memorable story was when I broke down in peak hour traffic (what else) on the exit ramp off a freeway (of course), when I was still living in Perth.

It was 42'C and the fuel pump decided to die. It did that, just as I pulled off into the exit ramp.
The ramp had two lanes, no emergency lane (very tight). I took the foot off the accelerator to slow down, and then when I pressed it again, nothing happened. The car spluttered to a stop, 50metres from the emergency lane, half way up the exit ramp, blocking one lane of traffic.
It was peak hour, on the last exit off the freeway, and I was blocking one of the only two lanes available, so you can imagine what followed.
Since I was up on a hill, I could see behind me the traffic banking up for as far as I could see.
RAC was constantly engaged due to the heat taking it's toll on cars, so I had to wait an hour until a tow truck finally arrived.
During that hour, I coped lots of abuse from red necks "Buy a Commodore!" and I even heard on the radio 'Looks like a Lamborghini broke down on the Hodges Rd exit off the Mitchell Fwy and traffic is banked all the way to Whitfords Ave!' - if you know Perth - that's a LONG way, and also, obviously traffic reporters don't know their car makes.
Finally made it home with the car on the truck, spoke to the mechanic on the phone, went out to try to start it and of course, it started perfectly and drove without any mishaps to the shop. We replaced the fuel pump just in case since the ECU found fault with it.

That was actually the only time I was left stranded.