Is there any trick to changing / charging the Cali T battery? | FerrariChat
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Is there any trick to changing / charging the Cali T battery?

Discussion in 'California(Portofino)/Roma(Amalfi)' started by GrigioGuy, Mar 31, 2025.

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  1. GrigioGuy

    GrigioGuy Splenda Daddy
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    #1 GrigioGuy, Mar 31, 2025
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2025
    My car sat in the body shop for 4 months. It was started regularly, but not plugged into a tender.

    Since I got it back, I've been having intermittent ESC/Mannito/etc error on the car. They clear up on every start, and then show back up at some point on the drive.

    A quick chat with a tech indicated probably 80% chance of a battery problem, 20% some sensor got damaged. The quote for a battery replacement included $500 in labor. I can see the battery sitting right at the front of the engine.

    I wanted to try a direct charge of the battery first, and then swap it. Any other car, no problem. But I'm leery of the electronics on this thing.

    Suggestions? Tips? Any handy "here's how you do it" threads I missed?
     
  2. vjd3

    vjd3 F1 Rookie
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    Jun 3, 2005
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    Vic
    #2 vjd3, Mar 31, 2025
    Not to be Captain Obvious, but are you consistently waiting for the 3 short beeps after you turn the key and hit the start button? That tells you the ECUs have all communicated and are good to go. In my experience if you hit start too quickly you can get those cascading errors.

    Battery does not look difficult to change. You do have to remove the battery ECU from the top, obviously, but that is simple enough. There is a detailed procedure first post on this thread:

    https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/battery-replacement-ecu-reset-procedures-attached.622919/

    I would definitely disconnect it fully from the car before you try to charge it ;)
     
  3. GrigioGuy

    GrigioGuy Splenda Daddy
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    #3 GrigioGuy, Mar 31, 2025
    Thank you, usually I can find stuff here but my search-fu completely failed on this.

    I do wait for all the beeps (like 15 of them) go through their routine before firing it up. Then I wait for the check engine light to clear before engaging reverse or first.
     
    vjd3 likes this.
  4. mcw

    mcw Formula Junior
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    Aug 10, 2008
    482
    #4 mcw, Mar 31, 2025
    I described what I did for my 2016 Cali T at thread in this forum titled:

    2015 Cali T Hele Battery group type?

    Also, 2016 Cali T also has battery replacement steps on pages 234 and 235 of the Owner's Manual, typically found in glove box or trunk.
     
  5. spaghetti_jet

    spaghetti_jet Formula Junior

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    Bob
    #5 spaghetti_jet, Apr 1, 2025
    This error can occasionally be an intermittent problem with the brake light switch (which is directly behind the brake pedal). No guarantees that is your problem, but a few people on here have had all manner of warnings related to ESC and other systems which turned out to be the brake pedal switch intermittently malfunctioning. They are relatively cheap, and there is even a Fiat direct equivalent, so could be worth just changing it anyway.
     
  6. GrigioGuy

    GrigioGuy Splenda Daddy
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    #6 GrigioGuy, Apr 1, 2025
    That may be right -- the error only fires up when I'm stopped or braking, and a power cycle on the car immediately clears the ESC error. I'll search for the posts on this, but if you have a handy link I'd appreciate the pointer.
     
  7. kd126500

    kd126500 Rookie

    Jan 5, 2021
    34
    #7 kd126500, Apr 2, 2025
    I have the exact same issue on my 2017. I swapped out the battery, super easy to do and this did not solve the issue. If you resolve the issue please post it to the board. Battery is a couple hundred dollars, 30 min job.
     

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