Just turned 53 years of age & luckily managed to purchased my first Ferrari ( 360 F1 00 plate) Still just getting used to driving it - starting to enjoy it more every time i go out in it. Had my first dashboard light come on & off showing ‘Slow Down’. Normally goes out after a while but had to stop the car today to switch off the engine & re started it. Didn’t come on again after that. Hoping to go out in it this coming weekend for the day but already worrying having to visit a local specialist within a week or so of ownership. Any advise greatly appreciated.
Mine (575M with essentially the same F1 system) did the same thing and it turned out to be one of the two catalyst ECUs failing intermittently. Get someone with an SD2 or equivalent to do some analysis and see what your problem is. I replaced both of my cat ECUs to forestall a future occurrence and will probably replace the two thermocouples next time she is serviced. If it turns out to be a cat ECU, a Maserati cat ECU has the same part number and is less expensive.
See my post on January 13, 2019 for procedure I used to cure my SDL . (exhaust temp ECU) I am 150 miles away from the nearest SD2 tester (6hr round trip/ probably 2 trips) So I was determined to find and cure problem myself.
It would be lucky for you if the problem is a thermal control unit malfunction. Worst case is cam timing is off and it's running super rich. The way to find out is to monitor the cat converter temperature with a laser thermometer the next time it is throwing a SD light.
Absolutely easy to tell by using an infared thermometer on the cats...but I'm 99.6% sure that the problem will lie in the Cat "ECU's" themselves since it's a VERY common failure point...OP, before spending thousands at a dealer, please do a scan, swap your ECU's to the opposite banks, and replace if necessary. I will put $ on a failed ECU, aka Vescovini unit. Let me know if you need help with the process
Sometimes it is not even the ECU. I had relatively new ECUs, and my problem turned out to be that the ground to the ECU was not good, which was quickly and easily fixed once identified. There are MANY threads on this issue in this forum and the 360 forum. I recommend that you find them and read them all. It will be time well spent. Good luck!!
Congrats & welcome to Ferrari ownership. I see your car has already started breaking its new owner in Swapping the Cat ECU's from side to side will be the cheapest test you can do without an expensive Ferrari diagnostic box, but if codes are already stored in your main ECU's, simply swapping the Cat ECU's may not produce results. But it's worth a try.
