F8 F8 Battery Dead - after 1 month

If the F8 battery compartment is anything like the 488, then its certainly doable but not trivial. Open the passenger foot rest door, remove the cover under the glove box, undo the battery quick-disconnect, remove the cross bar above the battery, remove the battery protector in front of the battery, swear mightily trying to get the copper-colored lock nuts off the battery hold-down j-hooks, disconnect the negative battery terminal, unsnap the red cover over the positive terminal, remove the 2 screws you can't see at the front of the plastic tray on top of the positive terminal, disconnect the positive terminal. Try not to strain anything trying to lift out 45-50 lb battery out while lying on your side bent over the door sill. New battery going in is a bit worse as you have to get all the cables back in the correct places to get the battery to sit properly.

There are some youtube videos on removing the 4 battery which are very helpful.

 

I wouldn't count on it.

Here's a video I made of swapping out the battery on my 488 GTB a while back. No idea what the F8 is like, but probably similar:



Ray

 

Yeah I just watched your video, there is nothing in the F8’s owners manual about reconnecting the battery..

Just says never to do it.. so I guess I have to wait to get stranded somewhere and call for help

 

Haha. That's one way to go all right.

Ray

 

Hi Ray
I followed your advice and the Braille in my 58.
A wonderful match! Also the cheapest way to lose some weight in a super car where each additional pound lost usually costs 1,000 due to the fact that we are already at an optimized weight. Say the AGM weighs 49 pounds and the Braille weighs 18 and some change. Weight saving is 30 pounds! That's 30K in Ferrari Carbon

When my F8 died in a grocery store parking lot, I had to wait 2 hours for the flat- B bed and watch all my groceries get warm. I decided during that wait to do the Braille in my F8 and just pay the dealer to do it. (If I would let them put in a replacement of their choice all free. But because I wanted To do it custom-- well...Ever seen GoodFellas "Pay me" restaurant scene

The lithium might do better than a high quality AGM in the 488 and F8 because a Lithium recharges faster and easier while driving than an AGM And we already know that Ferrari has decided to under charge the battery while driving. So the longer you drive the more you drain your AGM below where it ought to live

This is why after a long drive with an aging FIAMM which is anything between 1 month old and 16 months you run the risk of a non-starting event Such as when you stop for gas or a coffee or to pick up stuff at the shops. To protect all the EVU software and electronics , the system prevents start-up if it decided your battery is too low , even when it might be capable of a singe attempt! Thank you to the Nannie's.

I've determine that the battery gauge doesn't reflect the health of the battery before start up at all It show 12.6 v but your battery could be lower or higher than that!

Only once the car has started , as you sit at idle does the gauge reveal the true charge of your battery. WTf
Just like how the F8 updated tire system won't show you a thing until 5 minutes of driving .

I don't know what the heck the battery gauge reflects as one drives. But before you shut off the engine as you idle you will see the state of your battery health

 

Can't beat the Braille. In the 488 or later - with the new odd-ball charging system - I'd recommend using the Braille lithium charger to top things off every 2-3 months just to be on the safe side. Otherwise, works great. Too bad Ferrari changed the charging system function from the 458 to the 488, because in the 458 the i48CS was absolutely bulletproof.

Ray

 

Talked my service advisor and was told they have had better experience with Interstate batteries for replacement (so another option). Also said obviously Ferrari recommends the dealership do the install, but they have had customers do it themselves. See if I can find out the exact battery reconnect procedure for the F8, I’m assuming it maybe similar/same as the 488.

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Most any group 48 battery should work. Just make sure the positive terminal is on the correct side, etc.

AGM are slightly better than traditional. Costco sells a nice group 48 AGM battery and it comes with a 3 year warranty. That's what I put in my 458 when I sold it.

Ray

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Use a memory saver when changing the battery. No relearn or any problems. Plugs into the OBD socket.

 

Thanks for the video. It was a great help to watch it before I set out to replace mine today. I only swore once thanks to the video. Took me two hours. My battery was totally dead, i.e. 0 volts! My key fob started the car but would not lock/unlock the doors, nor would the electric trunk release actuate. I took it for a 20 minute drive/errand and shut it off once and it restarted fine. When I got it home, I got out and tried the fob again and this time it worked normally, and the electric trunk release actuated. Looks like it's back to normal. Maybe just driving it allowed its electronics to re-learn.

 

was this on an F8 or 488? So it sounds like you RnR’d the battery without doing a procedure for reconnecting the battery, and eventually everything worked normally?

 

As if the sticky buttons and paint swirls from the factory weren't bad enough.

Demand will always outstrip supply so I suppose they can't justify the added costs to improve quality control.

 

Battery failures in my 488, and most recently my F8. Both failures occurred prior to one year of ownership and required replacement of the battery (with an Interstate AGM).

Ridiculous!

 

Another Li ion battery option, not as pricey as the braille. Would also need to buy the CTEK Li charger and Ferrari magnetic pigtail:

 

It’s official now, dead battery with 2 years 5 months of service. At least it’s stuck at home in my garage…

 

6 months already and all is well with my battery, knock on wood. Always on the battery tender. In case I do get a dead battery, can anyone share what’s the procedure to have your car towed to the dealer as far as releasing the parking brake, etc to get it on the tow truck? Thanks!

 

I picked up my f8 at Christmas and it sits on my charger at all times. Interesting but when I drive the car and then park and place it on the tender the battery shows the yellow “charging light” for about 3 hours before it’s topped off “green”. I would think that driving the car the alternator would charge it? Maybe there is some other issue here and maybe it’s not just crap batteries installed by Ferrari?

 

For info - my F8 Spider does the same thing following a drive when I put it on the charger.


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Same here, that is “normal” for the Ferrari electrical system.

Personally the antigravity Li ion battery seems like the way to go, especially if you’re gonna keep the car long term. I’m gonna let the dealership give me a new Interstate battery under warranty for now.

 

The battery tenders Ferrari uses are typically made by CTEK. The CTEK tenders run seven steps every time the tender is connected. My actual CTEK tenders have different lights for the tests, my Ferrari tenders have only one light and do not show the different steps that are being taken, but the tender does not immediately start charging the battery so it is expected that it will take a while to full charge, no matter what state the battery is in:

STEP 1 DESULPHATION
Detects sulphated batteries. Pulsing current and voltage, removes sulphate from the lead plates of the battery restoring the battery capacity.
STEP 2 SOFT START
Tests if the battery can accept charge. This step prevents that charging proceeds with a defect battery.
STEP 3 BULK
Charging with maximum current until approximately 80% battery capacity.
STEP 4 ABSORPTION
Charging with declining current to maximize up to 100% battery capacity.
STEP 5 ANALYSE
Tests if the battery can hold charge. Batteries that can not hold charge may need to be replaced.
STEP 6 RECOND
Choose the Recond program to add the Recond step to the charging process. During the Recond step voltage increases to create controlled gassing in the battery. Gasing mixes the battery acid and gives back energy to the battery.
STEP 7 FLOAT
Maintaining the battery voltage at maximum level by providing a constant voltage charge.
STEP 8 PULSE
Maintaining the battery at 95–100% capacity. The charger monitors the battery voltage and gives a pulse when necessary to keep the battery fully charged

 

Well, I just joined the club of having a F8 battery failure

Pff... car is almost 2 years old. Sits on charger all the time.

 

Buy a Yuasa, they do a lot of bike batteries and i fitted one in my 430 about 5 years ago and still going strong.

 

Its a battery. Suck it up ladyboys.

 

I have said this, nobody seems to care much.....When your car was shipped what it take...how many MONTHS to get here......MANY...you think it was on a tender there...ha ha ha ha ha....SO,....these batteries take a hit right out of the shoot and stand little/no chance of long term performance and most likely poor performance, that is how it is. So when you put your FRESH battery in there and maintain it properly, it will last a whole bunch longer than you might have thought.

 

All cars go through the same months of shipping and storage without battery tenders. And while Ferrari seems to have more parasitic draw than other cars for some reason, they still hold fine in my experience… of my 12 years of Ferrari experience, they seem to die about once every 3 years and that’s without using battery tender/charge thingys…. My Mercedes is on 4 years and 1 month plus it’s original build, shipping, storage, dealer stock time and it seems to be perfectly fine and strong still…. I’ll admit the Ferrari would impress me if it did the same.


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