Distraght 2009 Cali Owner as DCT Problems and no warrenty advise appiciated

The trans is made by getrag. Same box used in many diff cars from MBs to other ferraris.

I have personally spoken to 2 different service managers of large Ferrari stores on the west coast of the us and asked them about the dct and failures.

Bottom line, rare.

Solutions:
1. Replace box with new one, 30k
2. Send box to one of the recently authorized Ferrari dealers to have box fixed. I have never heard or spoken to anyone having to do this. Again, true dct failure is rare.
3. I know of someone who has taken a 458 dct apart and has learned how to fix the problem. The problems with the dct are failure of electrical components that don't cost much to replace. Same source told me that the electrical fails are known problems and the newest dcts have the fix.

Bottom line is that the dct issues are rare but when they happen there are paths to repairing other than paying the dealer to have the entire dct trans replaced.

Call dealers, stop by and get to know them. Remember, Ferrari dealer service must to the line for Ferrari. If Ferrari says replace the box...that is what they will tell you. However, do some digging and ask questions and you will find out there is always another way.

 

I agree with above.

Personally, I would raise a stink with the dealer before paying for a whole new (actually remanufactured) box given they opened it up before.

If the box broke on it's own after the warranty expires, that's just tough luck. Stuff happens. But, if they replaced something and it still broke... I think they need to do something.

It's out of warranty. I would be surprised if you pay nothing to get it fixed, but it's possible given the situation.

The real issue I think is how much you will be asked to pay. To be fair-- that's why they offer extended warranties.

 

The early DCT box may have had some flaws related to the electrical connections.

I bet the gears are all fine. It is due to maybe the heat, vibrations, fluid movement which causes the electrical connections or sensors to go bad.

I was told that the 458 uses essentially the same box. Since the 458 has more power, it is not a matter of the engine over-powering the box. This was a concern for BMW, and a reason why they eschewed the DCT for a different box in their most powerful models.

I think that even if your car is outside of warranty, due to the low mileage, you can make a case to Ferrari to cover you or at least give you a break. Maybe ask to buy an extended warranty for 2 years- thats 10K but still a deal given that a new DCT is probably around 29
K with labor.
After all the Cali was supposed to be a daily driver. They said the transmission should last 100,000 miles with normal use. You didn' track the car. 30K miles in 4 years is not much.

Porsche and Mercedes trannys last longer than that!

Keep us informed as to what happens

 

Sounds familiar. Service departments don't seem to do much repairing these days. Often "repairs" mean swapping parts until they stumble across the actual culprit. The prevalence of electronic components have made this worse. Like PC repairmen swapping entire boards because somewhere on that board is a cold-solder joint that's separated.

It's ridiculous to spend $30k on what's probably a $20 electrical fix plus 5-6 hours labour but they justify it because "you can afford it".

If you have written records or corroboration from the dealer that Ferrari knew of your problem but decided not swap the DCT at the time then I think you have a case for redress. It means the problem started BFORE your warranty expired and it was not properly addressed at the time.

If the problem is just electrical, the bulk of actual costs to Ferrari is labour which may also mainly consist of "sunk cost" if the service department is not 100% busy.

 

My DCT failed under warranty and I had a great conversation with the head service tech at Ferrari. I posted this in another thread but I thought I would quickly summarize:
Two failure points - bad electric connectors on '09s that was fixed by just soldering the connections directly to the casing. Oil leaks between the different gear box components that is almost undetectable. Up till now Ferrari has not been authorized to work on the gear boxes so the only solution was a replacement. Getrag is going through certifying specific shops to work on out of warranty boxes, no idea what the status is.

R-2-4-6 is the one side of the gear box so I hope that it is electrical. I had the oil leak and I was able to shift into every gear but lag became incredibly obvious.

I agree with the other posters to jump on your dealer showing past history and their inability to fix the solution properly when still in warranty. Getting them to put in a new DCT is huge, they have software now that tunes each gearbox

 

It's in all our interests that Ferrari continue to fix cars outside the strict warranty dates

Our cars will be worth 10% less if they don't when we try to sell our car not covered by warranty

I hope you are covered

 

If Ferrari are going to tout their latest as usable cars rather than fragile toys to be driven a few hundred miles a year, they had been not stick owners with having to pay the entire replacement costs of DCTs that fail like this. California buyers especially are ditching their SLs, BMW M6s and Jag XKRs for them and if Ferrari expect to continue to earn these conquests, they had better stand by their cars else resale values plummet after warranty expiration and owners can't afford to keep buying.

 

Thanks for enlightening us. I think such defects would warrant factory recalls if they had been found in less expensive vehicles. Both Getrag and Ferrari were shortsighted in deploying transmissions that could not be more readily serviced in the field.

I don't know how the costs of swapping and shipping failed units around are being split between them but it does strike me as Getrag not having a complete training and servicing program in place when they started marketing the DCT technology. It's not like Ferrari is their only customer. They should have had this sorted out long ago.

 

How common is this issue? Assuming we're talking DCT electrical issues on early boxes, is this a one in 100 cars thing, one in 10 cars likelihood or 430 manifolds level?! (Virtually every one will be affected at some point)

 

How common, 45,000 total miles in two Californias and 12,000 miles in an FF and no troubles with DCT. There are posts here though of at least one guy that had problem after problem.

Rick

 

Mileage and MY has lots to do with it.

If your first Cali was built in 09, and you did 30K-- your DCT would have developed the same kind of problem.

The reason why we don't see more is partly due to low mileage.