For those of you that don't know, I had to have a new motor put in my 430. The headers blew and a few pistons had damage about a month ago. Long stor short, Ferrari of North America flew me a new motor from Italy. My dealer, the service manager and the people at Ferrari of North America are all stand up people who take care of their customers in a big way. I have had a lot of problems with the car which is an 06' F1 Coupe with less than 7000 miles on it. Anyhow, I returned from a two week trip overseas to my car sitting in my garage. (They flat bedded the car to my house while I was away). All I can say is HOLY ****!!! I now understand the meaning of having a hand built car. The new engine has a slightly different sound to it and is definitely more powerful than the old one. It's not that it's much quicker, it just pulls harder and has more power in reserve. I drove out to the shop to take a drive with the tech to see if he felt a difference too. He said "It pulls harder now, huh?", before I could say a word. He said it's probably the best driving 430 he's driven. What's amazing to me is that it feels more like all the systems are working in unison. Im jet-lagged as hell and amped on coffee, but I do know that I have the car back and Im really glad that I gave Ferrari a chance to make things right. I learned a lot during this process. I was frustrated by the problems I had with the car before the engine blew. So when that occured I was at the end of my rope! But, I just had to have patience (not easy for me sometimes) and trust that everything would work out. It did and I now have a better car than I bought.
Did they offer to extend your warranty on the replaced engine? I had one replaced by Porsche about 5 years ago, and PCNA added 2 years / unlimited miles of warranty on the replaced engine only (not the whole car)...was a nice vote of confidence by Porsche. It's funny because I acually ended up using that warranty once for a rear main seal, once the car was out of the original factory warranty, but my dealer was excellent - and PCNA didn't give them any grief..I'm wondering if F is similar when it comes to engine replacements (hope not to ever have to find out) glad to hear it woked out for you..
Great News! Im glad it all worked out for you. How about some more pics of it? (you know how we all love pics)
Great tale of success, was this FoBH? I'd second the request for extending the warranty so at least the new engine is covered for the same duration, it seems quite reasonable.
Do they reset the cluster back to zero since its a new motor? It sounds awesome getting a new engine. Ferrarijoe
In his earlier threads he stated that they would not be re-setting the odometer, but all the numbers on he engine match up with the car. Great to hear you are up and running again! Robert
Exactly as you said Robert. The car has 7000 plus miles on it and the engine has about 200 miles on it. All numbers match and all is well documented. I just got back from a morning ride and I really laid into it on the PCH. No doubt, the car is markedly faster. Im soooooo psyched!!! Im thinking this car is a keeper. Thanks to all you for the very nice comments. This is a fantastic web community. A couple guys have asked what dealer I purchased the car from. As much as I want to share this info I feel that it's best to leave that info out of this discussion. I hope you understand. I am VERY happy with how everything turned out in the end, but I know from experience that what you say on the Internet can and will come back to haunt you. Best, Ape
Great to hear things worked out, and as someone previously stated, this should reassure every owner that Ferrari is serious when it comes to customer service. Although I knew they were high quality, I'm stunned by the service you received. Ever think how much it would cost to ship a V8 across the world overnight? ;-) Congratulations.
When we were done with our Cosworth Racing Motors and they were sent back to Steve Jennings (for rebuild) in California from Indiana, we paid anywhere from $800-$1200 and got no frequent flyer miles. So I can't imagine overnight from Italy.
Ape - you make sure one weekend you take PCH far down enough to newport coast drive cuz you still owe me a ride glad everything worked out!
