Ferrari 458 Transmission Failure?

A $71K leak. Holy ____. I would find a trusted independent shop. Good luck.

 

I second the indy. The dealers will screw you up one way and down the other. Maybe post in the regional forum and see who they use in your area. Also post in the 458 subforum to see if anyone else has had a similar issue.

 

The dealers have only one solution for all transmission issues: new transmission.

You buy a brand new one and they bolt it in. There is not much actual diagnostics going on at most Ferrari dealers. Just bolt in new parts mainly.

Do you have any photos showing the leak, how bad it is and/or where it's coming from?

Ray

 

As an independent I have struggled with these transmissions and the repairs that I can offer. While I have been trained in the repair and complete rebuilding of the dual clutch gearbox, there are a number of special tools needed and it is a complex job. However, there are a number of shops and facilities that offer rebuild services. Shop around and find a competent shop that can diagnose the issue and direct you properly. There is an internal seal that does fail and requires a complete disassembly of the gearbox to replace. Similar to water pumps, there is a weep hole to alert you to this failure. It is important because it will now have the two different fluids mixing and that is not good. This could be where your transmission is leaking from and why they cannot tell you 100% how bad the repair is. Like you said, it runs great and is probably not damaged at this point.
Good luck and shop around.

 

I believe there is a guy in LA area set up to repair/rebuild those. A truck ride to LA is just not that expensive.

He has done You Tube presentations explaining what he does.

I don't know how many people I have explained this exact scenario to during their consideration of buying a dual clutch equipped car.

 

There goes my wish of getting into a 458 someday. If I can't fix it, I don't want it.

 

The 458 is an amazing car.

While I definitely relate to what you are saying about not wanting any vehicle where you, yourself, cannot do all the maintenance from A-Z, I don't think I'd let possible DCT gearbox issues prevent you from owning a good example. I will say, I would probably lean more towards buying a used 360 with a manual gearbox, if I were planning on keeping it long term and doing all the maintenance myself.

As Brian mentioned above, I think there was a guy on YouTube who posted videos of tearing down the 458 gearbox. I might have them linked in my YouTube files. I'll check in a minute here and see if I can find them.

Ray

 

Getrag Ferrari transmission Rebuild by Renn Haus - YouTube

 

This video gives a pretty good run down:



This one below has super annoying music playing, but it does show a lot of the internals, etc:

 

The 1st video I posted above shows the main shaft seal stuff. If it's leaking from the seal(s), you generally have to replace those. I just replaced both seals on my Toyota gearbox over here... always a fun job pulling the gearbox out.

Ray

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The Hollywood dude seems to know his stuff. Watching these videos can certainly strike fear into owners. Favorite quote: "Take pictures. Don't call me!" LOL

On a serious note, I have always hated the concept to "lifetime" fluids, including Toyota's WS fluid. My motto is to change it. My independent--literally one of the best in the world--states Ferrari recommends 80K mile DCT fluid change intervals (this is not in the WSM of course) and that Challenge cars go for ever without problems. They have the Shell F3 but rarely need it.

My 458 had the DCT fluid changed 4-5 years ago so I think I will leave it alone for now. Final thoughts from a curious novice: I can't help but think that all seals benefit from frequent driving and that heat is the enemy. So drive them often, but stay religious on fluid change intervals and levels.

 

When we had a Lexus IS250 that supposedly came with the WS (world standard) life-time transmission fluid, I used to drain out the fluid at the bottom of the transmission at every 5,000 mile engine oil change, and put exactly the same amount of new WS fluid back into the transmission. The first transmisison died at about 20,000 miles under warranty, and the second transmission lasted until 200,000 miles and we donated the car to charity.

Life time fluid, Hah!

 

That is an awfully thin service manual. It's good they even have it in print.

 

Right? haha. That's actually just the supplemental manual for the gearbox only. I have a transmission from an early Toyota Supra in my '90 pickup, so I had to buy it separate.

The shop manuals for the actual truck and its electrical system are much, much larger

Ray

 

I heard the US Postal service never changes the oil on their mail trucks... and that seems to be working out fine for them

In the auto industry (these days) "life time fluids" is loosely understood to mean "we expect it to fail before you'll need to change the oil anyway"

On my Toyota gearbox there, the oil always came out pretty clean when I changed it. However, when I actually disassembled it, the insides of the cases were lined with sort of a sludge. A sludge which no routine oil change would address. Also, both magnets were covered with metal shavings. So just changing the oil isn't bad, but it's probably not going to keep the inside of the unit spotless.

Here are a few pics of the gearbox above during service, as an example.

Cleaning, inspection, kevlar clutch, static balancing flywheel / clutch cover assembly, etc. In a couple of the initial disassembly photos, you can get an idea of the sludge which was lurking around in there, despite recent fluid changes:

Ray

Image Unavailable, Please Login


Image Unavailable, Please Login


Image Unavailable, Please Login


Image Unavailable, Please Login


Image Unavailable, Please Login

Image Unavailable, Please Login


Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

My ‘13 has been tracked 35 days last year and is over 40,000 miles. The car has been one of the few on this site that’s been driven hard.

I’ve had zero DCT issues, and no leaks.

My opinion - these cars are babied and not driven enough. That is not what a Ferrari is for. At least not for me.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The 458 is a hell of a good car. It's the best V8 Ferrari which has ever been made as far as I'm concerned. Certainly the most enjoyable Ferrari I've ever owned.

I'd think a well maintained 458 could go 100K miles without even trying. Like you say, it's the museum queens which have problems.

Ray

 

I find it odd that the 458 gearbox experiences electrical failure..but the 488 gearbox experiences mechanical failure..it's almost like they traded one weak point for another. Have yet to see a broken fork in a 458..but think I'm on the 6th 488 with a busted fork. Weird.

 

What does that run roughly to get fixed?

 

14-25k best case scenario. Worst case is a new unit..depending how bad the damage is.

 

What is causing all your 488 transmission issues? Any idea? I have not heard of repeated 488 transmission issues. I googled this as well and can not find any reports on various forums etc. I am defining curious as a 488 owner with 7800 miles on my 2019 now and warranty is up this October.

 

Most have been covered under the extended warranty..thank goodness. I have no specific answer to your question but it is usually related to a hard launching. In speaking with the dealer, they have said there was a casting problem with the fork material. Hopefully it has been rectified for the later cars.