Hello to everyone, i bought a ferrari F355 6 months ago and i love it but in the last month i've been having problems with my battery. Well basically even i charge it up over night, yes it will start but then if i leave a day or 2 it wont. So i'm sure the battery has to be changed. Question number one: is changing the battery difficult? Is just that my Ferrari dealer is quite far for me and don't really want to go all the way over there for a simple battery and question number 2 witch battery would you raccomend? Thanks a lot Francesco
Changing the battery isn't difficult, awkward at best. Can't really recommend any particular battery sorry.
To get to the 355 battery you will need to remove the right front wheel and remove the plastic liner/cover (held with 5 or 6 screws). My battery was replaced last month with an Optima 34/78 ( or any group/size 34 battery should fit AFAIK). edit: Oh, while you're in there....attach a quick-connector for a Battery Tender for future use....you'll be happy that you did this down the road.
yeh removing the wheel would make it less awkward to remove, but not necessary, we just locked the wheel over.
Group 34R is the correct battery size, but a Group 34 will fit just fine as the cables are longish and will reach. (the difference is the 34R has the terminals in a reverse orientation, SO PAY ATTENTION WHEN CONNECTING UP THE CABLES!) The top rated Group 34 battery (by far) in the latest Consumer Reports tests was the Sear DieHard Platinum battery. It is a sealed, absorbed glass mat (AGM) type battery. It received an "excellent" in all tests. The next best was the Optima red top battery, it rated "very good" in all tests. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02850034000P?vName=Automotive $179.99 Comes with a four year, free replacement warranty, the best in the industry.
Hello Guys, thanks for the quick reply, very valuable information. So if i want get my battery tested, without going to a ferrari dealer how would you do it? And if a battery is needed (Group 34R) would you just go to any service station (i was thinking of Alfa romeo one
Hello Guys, thanks for the quick reply, very valuable information. So if i want get my battery tested, without going to a ferrari dealer how would you do it? And if a battery is needed (Group 34R) would you just go to any service station (i was thinking of Alfa romeo one, just because my ferrari dealer is so far for me, i mean is just a battery). whats a battery tenfer? Thanks a lot
I would recommend the Odyssey battery. Half the weight and twice the performance of the batteries listed above. Bob
Bob, actually that is incorrect. The Odyssey batteries are also AGM design. They are smaller, yes, but also of less output. (no free lunch) These smaller batteries obviously work in these applications, but they are NOT of equal specification to the oem battery. For example, the Sears DieHard Platinum AGM battery has 880 Cold Cranking Amps. Odyssey sort of cheats and uses their own cranking amps ratings, rather than the standardized rating system for CCA. If you dig a little you can find it in their specs. The PC925 battery that I believe many 360 and 355 owners are using from Odyssey is only a 380 CCA battery. The oem battery is rated around 650 CCA. The point is that these smaller Odyssey batteries work fine when they are fresh and new....but I question after a couple years of use, and perhaps on a cold winter night, it might leave one stuck with not enough juice to start. Problem is we just don't know. What we do know, is that people are using a much smaller capacity battery than Ferrari specifies. I notice that Odyssey sells an identical looking battery (other can the color of the case) to the Sears DieHard Platinum, called the PC1500. In fact the same manufacturer probably makes it for both Sears and Odyssey.
Seeing your battery is also going flat after a day or two I would also recommend that you drop by an auto electrician and ask him to test just what drain there is on the battery with all things turned off, you could perhaps have a smalll electrical problem that is draining your battery and in fact your battery could be quite ok if this was the case. Well worth a check first.
OK all good ideas. The Interstate MT_34R is another solution. I just installed a Mercedes batteryinn 355 because it has the correct tangs that mate with the Ferrari mounting system. There is a lip on the forward edge of the battery tray and of course the rear mount bolts down. Just be really careful when attaching the positive terminal. The battery weight is something like 42 lbs. And you can repair and replace all the missing hardware that so-called ferrari mechanics have lost. FWIW. Jeff Pintler 89 348tb, 86 tr
I just installed the Interstate MT 34 R (has a NASCAR picture on it) battery this week into my 348 (front of car location). By coincidence, the previous owner of my 348 had installed this same battery back around March of 2002, so a good 7 years of hard life out of a cheap $90 battery. 700 cold cranking amps and 875 amps warm. Picked it up at a local Goodyear store.
Sorry I'm really late to the party on this one but just curious on what size wrenches I need for the terminals and the lower single bolt that holds the battery in place? Just purchased an F355 and even though the battery seems fine it is over 4 years old and I figured better to change it before it leaves me stranded.
Its up to you but you could just test it. Mine has never left me stranded due to a battery. Alternator is a different story. Bought a cheap tester to plug in the lighter Usually just test it a few timeson a trip
That's a great idea. I completely forgot about those cheap little testers. I'll pick one up and test it out. Thank you.
Of course that was 5 plus years ago and thousands of miles of being paranoid with no alternator failure.
Luckily the previous owner had the alternator replaced about 10k miles ago so hopefully I'll just have the battery to be paranoid about
