Starter button disaster....

So the other day I started having issues with the starter button....took a few tries to get it firing the engine. Well today, it totally failed leaving me stranded roadside for almost 4 hours. Worse yet, the dealer (who I really like) just told me that Ferrari doesn't make a replacement button/switch but instead sells it as part of an entire harness which is connected to a motherboard. Total replacement cost is $7,500 for the part!! Ouch!! What's frustrating is the part on most other cars is like a $10 item. Makes no sense. We are going to try and find an aftermarket part but who knows. Has anybody else had this issue or have any great ideas to fix? Thanks guys.

 

what?

 

Find an independent auto electrician for a second opinion, ask him to remove and examine the switch?

 

It can likely be repaired.

 

If its the loom its more complicated but if the switch there's always breakers - it may be that other Ferraris at the same time use the same part or assembly eg 430 599

 

Bambi, I'm sorry to learn of your problem. The good news is that the steering wheel can be disassembled by your dealer.

My '13 Cali30 has the STOP/START option and it was flaky from the moment I picked up the car. The problem didn't affect the driving but was annoying and very difficult to pinpoint. When they finally located the cause, it was identified as a faulty electrical module or connection inside the steering wheel. I recall being told it was part of (?) the ignition module.

My dealer was also planning to swap the whole steering wheel under warranty before they discovered the module in question could be ordered separately. They ordered the thing and replaced the defective one and STOP/START has been working fine since Summer 2015. Saved them all a pile of money!

This photo shows the area where the module was pulled, once the airbag/steering wheel center was removed. It's right up against and behind the Manettino switch. Now notice the ORANGE cable coming from behind the ENGINE START switch being plugged into the same location.

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Here's my defective STOP/START module with 4 electrical contacts. It was connected right behind where the ORANGE cable enters the same spot.

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A photo of the circuit board where several connections are plugged in, including the STOP/START and some wires coming from the ignition module. Notice the ORANGE CABLE also uses a modular connector. There could be a problem with that connector, just like it was with my STOP/START modular connector.

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From these photos, it appears you have to remove the steering wheel cover to replace the button but the problem may also lie with where that ORANGE CABLE is plugged into the ignition module that sits behind the Manettino. I think your dealer may want to check that ORANGE CABLE modular connection before removing the steering wheel cover or replacing the entire steering wheel.

If you have to pay for the repairs outside warranty you should ask the dealer how much it would cost to troubleshoot before having them expense labour costs against you but there are also currently at least 3 Ferrari California steering wheels with ENGINE START buttons for sale on eBay. ***HOWEVER*** I believe the steering wheel is sort of a "smart module" and any replacement needs to be recognized by an ECU in the car before it would work but it can probably be programmed by the factory via the dealer - just make sure to ask them before buying anything off eBay.

Good luck and keep us abreast of developments!

 

Thanks a lot guys.....really helpful input. I will be speaking to the dealer today but if the worst case is to buy a used steering wheel in eBay, that wouldn't be the end of the world. Just surprising that something so simple has become this complicated!! Cheers.

 

I was curious and looked over the eBay steering wheel offers. Noticed a several interesting views of the area on the wheels. One of them posted a photo taken of the side of the ENGINE START button. It looks like it may be replacable without having to remove the steering wheel cover.

As commented before, these buttons are likely shared between models so I'm pretty sure you can just buy the button so regardless of whether the steering wheel cover needs to be removed. It all depends on how able your dealer is with regard to do a bit of digging with their factory contacts.

You can even see the part number to order and the QR code (barcode). In fact, the scuff marks around the opening around the button module would seem to imply this button is a replacement and the scuff marks came from the replacement effort.
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Well good news. The team at Beverly Hills Ferrari is the best!!! The manager Scott really busted his hump to find a way to "rebuild" the small component in the switch that had cracked. Solved the problem for $800 bucks.....a lot lower than $8000!!!!! Also, big shout out to my buddy John Borchelt at MAcarbon wheels who was a big help in thinking thru the wheel replacement options if needed...check his website out if you want to upgrade your wheel. All good...thanks guys!

 

I see you now sport a new user name.

Well, $800 is definitely a lot better than $8000... but $800 is still pricey for a switch repair (electromagnetic relay in the button?) or even a completely new engine start button replacement.

Would love to see what's actually involved...

 

Well, pulling the wheel apart, figuring out the problem, figuring out a fix, doing the fix, putting it back together and testing all takes time. $800 seems very fair to me. And, they could have just said "sorry, you need a new part"

 

Insisting on a new steering wheel when an inexpensive repair is possible would be "unprofessional". People will eventually find out and it's not good for repeat business. At any rate, here's an interesting video showing the removal of an engine start switch from an F430 steering wheel, courtesy of MAcarbon...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03IOOX8az1c].[/ame]

It shows the switch is just covered by the black plastic "cup" which has to be unscrewed with the steering wheel cover removed. Luckily, the cover comes off pretty easily. The switch itself is small and simply held in place with a nut and lock washer.
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Ferrari, right, wrong, or indifferent buy many components as sub assemblies. We could argue wether or not they knew a failure would come, stocking individual parts makes no sense for the company. Sure, when you need one tiny part, it's offensive but I don't think that was intentional.

 

I'm not sure anyone actually gave you the impression that anything was intentional. ??? All parts fail at some point and each part always comes with a certain small risk level for failure. A failure could also be caused by connections not being properly seated, perhaps during the assembly process.

Fcar owners often only have one dealer they can rely on. A dealer service garage must have the expertise to fix both small and big problems. Engine start button problems are probably amongst the smaller issues expected to be handled by local dealers. I know the auto industry in general has been using part-swapping as a "technique" to "fix" problems but I certainly haven't noticed that at FoO.

From personal experience, my dealer has always actually thought through problems and come through with real fixes. They are not out to gouge me. They want customers to be happy and buy more cars when the opportunities present. They even gave me free flatbed service and free testing service on one occasion, after my warranty had expired. I hope all Fcar dealers provide the same level of courtesy and service.

 

Mike, my point was posted above. $800 given the time needed to diagnose and fix is very reasonable in my eyes. That is all.

 

That's fine Dave. I don't think it was the first time they had a flaky engine start switch so I think it could have been done for less. That's all.

 

That is a lot of speculation and to my earlier point, they are not obligated to perform component level repair. Everyone likes to play Saturday morning quarterback once the fix is in. The OP was faced with a much larger alternative and folks crap on this effort, sorry, but that is wrong. Time is not free. If I was the OP, I'd be very happy.

 

Mike - that's a good video of the wheel disassembly - thanks for posting.

This wheel construction is similar to others such as the 612. One thing I want to point out: John says the center metal trim is only held in by the leather. That is not entirely true. The back side of the metal trim has some posts and those fit into hard foam in the wheel. Sometimes that foam pulls apart on removal.

 

I would obviously disagree. I don't live like that.

I ask you how many Fcars with engine start buttons have gone through that dealer? Is it plausible the OP's engine start button is the very first time the dealer had been asked to fix a flaky engine start button? How many hours of labour does $800 buy? From my own experience, standard labour rate at my Canadian dealer is approx CAD160/hr. Assuming the USD rate is also $160, then $800 would buy 5 hours of labour exactly.

The video I attached starts off by showing an F430 steering wheel (very similar to the Cali's) already detached from the car, without its airbag. If you follow the well-made video, even if you include all the extra prologue comments from the MAcarbon spokesman, he is able to casually remove the engine start button and place it on the workbench withing 4 minutes and 5 seconds. If reversed, the operation would probably take 10 minutes or less in total. All this assumes the button did not simply suffer from a loose connector problem and actually had to be removed for a fix.

So essentially about 4.8 hours went into checking connectivity on the relay switch in the button, performing some minor repair as well as removing/replacing the airbag and removing/replacing the steering wheel.

IMO, dealers do deserve to be properly compensated but since there was no explanation on what the fix actually involved, we are left to wonder. As a businessman, I would expect more details on an expense. I've never had any problems with that from my dealer. The photos I attached earlier were actually taken and provided to me by the master mechanic and the shop manager of my dealer.

 

John obviously makes his living performing these operations so unless you have even more experience disassembling these steering wheels I would have to take John's word for it.
John does repeatedly advise on being cautious when removing the (centre) cover and also mentioned this was probably the 15th or so steering wheel that they had disassembled. He appears smooth, methodical and incremental when lifting the cover so no foam was apparently damaged. He accomplished the task within 15 seconds.

The small posts on the back of the cover you probably referred to seem actually quite short so I imagine to damage the foam, you would have to pull the cover off at a fairly sharp angle right from the start. If the foam is also fragile as you say I think the posts would be meant more as guides for accurate alignment than as fastening points. They would add to securing the cover but since the leather surround along the 3 spokes of the wheel features long shape-fitted surfaces that apply snug pressure against the metal cover, the leather would keep the cover much more securely against the wheel than the fragile foam can.
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Michael,

We deal with interior parts all day. I know John from MA carbon - great guy. The posts that you show with the blue arrows have foam around them. In this case, it came out easy - not always the case. I did not post that to pull it from the sky - I posted based on experience and a wheel we just dealt with a couple weeks back.

 

Yes, I know the posts I highlighted are the ones inserted in the foam (cushion) inside the wheel. That's why I highlighted them. The ones in my photo are clean, without any signs of foam or indications that they damaged the foam.

I can also see how the procedure can sometimes require a bit more effort, if the leather around the spokes is a bit thicker or fuller. However, I don't think it would be due to the posts being harder to extract because those parts unlike leather are machine-made, and would always be of the same dimension and fit.

John extracted the cover perfectly by gradually lifting at each of the 3 corners where the cover meets the steering wheel spokes. Like I said, it only took him 15 seconds. Even if he took 15 minutes to remove the cover, it wouldn't account for the rest of the 4 hours 30 minutes of labour.

 

4th_gear,Michael,


Your quote from febr 1 , 2017 regarding steering wheel bad soldering problem.

My dealer was also planning to swap the whole steering wheel under warranty before they discovered the module in question could be ordered separately. They ordered the thing and replaced the defective one and STOP/START has been working fine since Summer 2015


Question.i also need this NVO part see picture,it is part of the steering wheel., do you know or have a Ferrari part number ?
how to order,and which dealer ordered this part separatly ? on the parts list you can only order a complete steering wheel.

on the module (yellow sticker ) its says : NVO F 149 FULL.

hope you can help .








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Herman - Digitek, the sub contractor is out of business. Another sub picked up some of the components but will not sell to anyone other than the OEM as they are under contractual obligations.

My suspicion is only dealers, on very limited basis, can order component level parts. I would contact the same dealer you worked with prior.

 

Dave,

I know Digitek is out of business,it is now MTA S.p.a. in Italy.
i thought , 4th gear Michael,,as he mentioned, his dealer could order the NVO part separately.

My dealer says ,you have to buy a complete new steering wheel. $ 7000 .