What would you do in this situation?

Red is the colour to have in my opinion contrary to you not liking it. The 98 Roosa Corsa Fiorano package is definately the one I would go for.
But you will be the one driving it.

Mine is red and it looks fantastic!!!

Personal preference. Make sure at the very least the engine is checked out. Leaks etc etc

 

+1---Red or not this seems like the best car of the bunch----I don't want another red car either, but if it were me I would go for the 98 GTB

 

+2

 

+3

 

I would go for the 98 F355 GTB Rosso Corsa "fiorano package" (cross drilled rotors, red stitching, challenge grill, quick steering rack) Fresh major and 19000 miles
I had the fiorano package on my earlier car and it really makes a big diference!

 

OK, hold-up. I think we are jumping the gun here with this trading it for another thing. Every attempt they tried before to repair the problem failed quickly. Then the last time they said they " adjusted something", did you ever figure out what that something was? I ask because it seems they may have been on the right track if it lasted for the last month and only acted up recently. Maybe it needs a better adjustment or the "adjusted" part needs replacing and you may have it solved!

 

If you actually trade it... my vote is to go this route...

98 F355 GTB Rosso Corsa "fiorano package" (cross drilled rotors, red stitching, challenge grill, quick steering rack) Fresh major and 19000 miles

Its newer than yours, its the GTB you want, it has alot of more expensive options and goodies added, and you dont have to worry about a major next year! Who knows, maybe actually owning a red Ferrari may grow on you! And the resale value of a red fiorano is solid!

I promise you one thing, if the dealer is offering to trade you any of those cars straight up, THATS the one thier hoping you dont pick!

 

The dealer is clearly at wits end to make such a grand offer to you. I would take the offer, but only after checking one more thing.

Here's how you defined the problem:

To me, "no codes" being stored in the computer is the prime clue. It makes me wonder if the computer itself is losing power. Without a computer signal, perhaps the F1 hydraulics go into "safe mode" (i.e. into Neutral).

Interestingly enough, Ferrari 348's and 355's can experience a loss of power to our engine computers when the fuse box relay fails for a given ECU. Such relays can fail if there is a problem with the ground to the relay (grounding problems are common to many Ferrari models), or can fail if there is an issue with the power to the relay, or can fail if the relay pins have corrosion, or can fail if the relay itself is bad.

But in all cases the relay can be removed and the power connection "hot wired" for a test. That might be in order here.

...Or...

Perhaps there is a way to rig an LED to be on when the F1 computer is getting power. Should your car drop into Neutral again on its own, you could look to see if that LED had turned off (and if it was off, then you would have identified the problem as being a power issue to the F1 computer).

Now, if the problem reappeared and the power light was still on, then at this point I would agree with your assessment to call the car a lemon and trade out of it.

But I'd try that power test/light for one last go at it.

 

There is another way to test what I am suggesting above (induce the problem yourself): yank out the relay to the F1 computer while driving. If the car goes into Neutral, then you may be on the right path to identifying a power problem to the F1 computer.


Of course, there are obvious dangers with yanking out a relay to an important computer while driving! You'd have to get the right pros at your Ferrari dealership to OK the right test.

 

Does the F1 gear indicator flash when you first get in the car?

 

Since your 355 has but one fuel-management ECU (M5.2), that's what would happen if power was cut to said ECU (e.g. the relay to said ECU turning off power to the ECU, then later turning power back on).

Not saying that's your problem, but your above symptom sure looks like it.

 

Don't really understand why, but this thread keeps on drawing me back to it. Sorry if I'm out of order, but......

a) this is the car you REALLY want to have, right?
b) the other cars don't really offer a 100% alternative, right?
c) if you swap cars, the dealer is going to have this one back on his sales lot, right?

is that said dealer then going to just "write off" the car as unrepairable? I think not. So, he's going to repair it somehow, even if it takes a few weeks. Then it's going to be for sale again in A1 condition. In the meantime, you'll have taken 'second best'. If that happened to me, I'd be pretty gutted.

So, assuming you weren't going to be buying it just for the NZ summer, surely a few more diligent weeks aren't going to be that bad in a retrospective way in a year's time?

Hell, there are 348 owners out there (me, for instance) who have taken two years to finally solve all of the weak links in their SLOW DOWN light sagas.

Oh well, there you have my two cent's worth!

On a more technical note, although none of the manuals say it, surely it's time to start swapping out ECU's, relay boxes etc., from one of those other 355's, one component at a time, to see if any change happens. When all else fails, it's the only fault diagnosis method left.

On the subject of unfathomable failures, can you believe that my 348 relay box had a broken INTERNAL circuit board pathway (open circuit)!!!! I fixed this by finally soldering a bridging wire from pin to pin as I couldn't get the relay box itself apart. This sort of thing you'd normally only ever find out by swapping out components. (I actually traced it with the circuit diagram but that was an exception).

To be honest, I'm also hoping you don't change the car so that we can all get to know the answer to this gripping tale!

All the best

Drew

Just a final thought ..... when tracing electrical gremlins, we use a "freeze spray" (sorry I don't know the good translation from German!).You spray it around a suspect electrical component and see what happens. It often exacerbates any weak or intermittent problems enabling a more dedicated fault finding. It's a sort of technical way of tapping the relay!

 

I would for sure go for the "fiorano package" That is the one to have! Any pics of it? I would love to see the red stitching.

 

James,

all the best with your decision anyway! Will we ever know what the fault was?

In the meantime, I had to chuckle at your comment - it reminded me of....

A golf pro played an amateur and gave the amateur any handicap he wanted.

The amateur demanded "two gotchers".

Not knowing what these were, but determined to honour the agreement, the pro consented.

As the pro went to drive off the first tee, the amateur reached over, grabbed his fleshy parts and shouted "Gotcher!" The pro missed the shot, of course.

Anyway, the match continued, and the amateur won in spite of only ever having used one of his "Gotchers".

The pro explained his loss with the use of the "Gotchers". When he was asked how that ruined the game and not just two shots, he replied "You try teeing off while you're expecting the second Gotcher!"


Drew

 

What happened to the photos?

 

Wow! Sure is purdy!! How much was that one going for? And how about your Spyder photos!?

 

The fiorano 355 is the best of those choices.............. but there is no way I could live with myself in a red f-car. Just too 'textbook' for me.... ........... long live the 'nero alleanza' !!! ........