Recurring Engine Failure Light

My 2011 California has been to service at Ferrari LI twice n the last few months. The first time it was for an annual service where they replaced the engine cushions, etc so it was more expensive than usual. When the car came back I drove it for the first time and a engine system warning light came on so I had the dealer pick it up. They said there was a fuel pump issue and replaced it and it was fine for about two weeks and tonight the light is back. Needless to say I am VERY frustrated. Any idea what could be going on? i have spent over 8k now in service and it just doesn't seem like an end is in sight. I used to have real faith in the car and its reliability but that is seriously fading.

 

There are hundreds of faults that can cause the engine failure light to go on. You would have a better chance of winning the lottery than guessing what is causing the light to go on.

It is difficult to diagnose engine failure lights even with the factory diagnostic computer. You need to have a good technician download the fault codes stored in the car's ECUs in order to
figure out what is going on.

You have had to take it in once for regular maintenance and then had one issue afterwards. It is not what I would call unreliable car.

 

I agree that a recurring Check Engine Warning light is annoying.

Here are some possible causes,
The fuel filler tube has an upper and lower seal which can leak. This is pretty straightforward to replace.

The Evaporation system of tubes and connections may be leaking, especially common with a car your age. Usually not expensive or very complex to fix. Just change the tubes and valves.

The variators may be failing. This is an expensive engine out affair,

 

Forgive my ignorance but what's a variator? Also what would be the signs that the variators are failing? The car seems to be driving fine so I really do t get it. Also how do you do the reset with the door I want to make sure I am doing it right. Thanks much.

 

It is a fruitless endeavor to try and guess what is causing the engine light to come on.
You would have better odds trying to guess the name of my dog.

Variators failing on a California, Really? How many variators have you had to replace on a California? I can tell you how many our dealership has replaced, exactly Zero.

You need to have the fault codes downloaded from the ECUs on you car to even begin to find out why the light is coming on.

Otherwise you might as well be using a Oujia board as a diagnostic tool

Don't try and do any resets on the car. This will only cause more confusion for the technician trying to locate the actual cause of the problem.

 

Variators! Yep I know about them failing, they failed on my California. That why I was chiming in.

After a series of about ten Check Engine visits, none of which worked, including a needless oil change, the factory agreed to change the variators.

Guess what. The Check Engine light went away for good.

Of course you need to use the computer diagnostics! But you also need someone who can understand the fault codes and a smart experienced mechanic.

Different problems will start to occur with age and higher mileage.

My variators issue began at around 45,000 miles, (The computer codes showed that the right and left bank were not reaching certain values.)

I've had to replace the some Evap valves and the fuel neck on my 458 spider. But she has 72,000 miles,

So yes if you don't service older cars or those that have mileage, your dealership hasn't seen or repaired these kind of problems.

 

We service older cars and cars with high milage and have yet to see variator issues with Californias. I am not saying it can't happen, but there has not been a trend with this problem.

Perhaps that is why it took your dealership 10 visits to properly diagnose the variator issue with your car.

I have replaced a bunch of fuel filler neck pipes on 458's but none on a California.

I was just trying to make a point that there are so many faults that can cause an engine failure light to come on that it is virtually impossible to diagnose a car over the internet without a bunch more information (fault codes).

 

My Cali was a 2010.

The variators help adjust the valve movement profile. All together there are 4 of them.
The engine doesn't run rough. It just wont produce the same amount of power and torque. Sometimes they make a rattle noise.

(It's not a common issue with Ferrari. But it happened to me. More with certain Maserati's.)

For my own curiosity, what was the fault code for the last check engine light?

 

Have you dealt w the transmission issues on the earlier cars?

 

Yes, we are starting to see more transmission issues on early DCT cars. Mostly sensor problems, but they are not inexpensive to repair.

 

Yes I've had my share of DCT problems in my early Cali. After my 4 th DCT swap, I stopped keeping count!

I saw the internals and there was never an issue of the actual gears. It had to do with sensors and perhaps electrical wiring issues--shorting-maybe due toover heating?

Anyway, I don't want to wish anyone my bad luck so I'll just bite my tongue.

 

I heard that the early DCT cars suffered from, of all things, a zip tie that was not up to withstanding the heat in the transmission, it would become brittle and abrade the wiring to the sensor. The littlest thing ...

Brian, can you comment on failures you've seen on Californias that would not be covered under the New Power warranty? My car has the extended full factory warranty with a year left and I will have a decision to make regarding extending it. Curious what expensive issues might occur outside that coverage ... sounds like motor mounts and headers would be on that list.

 

my car is a 2013 with a build date of Dec 2012 would this still fall into the early Cali category. It is a cali 30 with the special handling package. I am thinking not but rather garner the groups input as it always is helpful

 

The light magically went away and been driving with no more warnings...

 

amen to that. happy driving.