Wire diagram for the "R and Auto" buttons

What are you trying to do? If you press the auto button the button will "remember" this and start up on auto mode all the time (until you press it off again). If while in auto mode you change gears it will automatically revert back to auto mode after the gear change.

By default the F1 (on 08, 09s) is in "auto easy exit mode." What this means is that on startup it is in auto mode but (unlike auto mode) it will EXIT auto mode with gear change accomplished with the vehicle in motion. If you shut down the car in either manual or auto easy exit mode it will start up again in auto easy exit mode.

So auto (button) mode shutdown -> starts up in full auto mode.

Manual or auto easy exit mode shutdown -> starts up in auto easy exit mode.

The only time it does not start up in the mode it was shut down in is if it is in manual mode. In this case it will start up in auto easy exit mode and only a single paddle shift with the vehicle in motion will change it to full manual mode.

You are looking for a solution to a problem that does not exist.

 

In auto easy exit mode (which is the default) all you have to do is perform a single gear change to revert to fully manual mode. You are going to start out in first gear anyway, no?

 

You said it's an 08, right? Look in the owner's manual. It explains in detail what I have just mentioned. I believe the earlier iterations of the F430 started out in manual mode but I could be wrong. The 08's , however, start out in "auto easy exit mode." It will say "auto" mode on the gear display but have an arrow pointing downward. That is "auto easy exit mode." If it says "auto" but there is no downward pointing arrow it is in full auto mode as you would get by pressing the auto button on the console.

The button on the center console only toggles between full "auto" mode (button pushed once) and "auto easy exit mode" (button pushed a second time. There is no option on the center console to enter manual mode. You would probably have to re-program some transmission ECU to do what you want done. Good luck.

 

Next time you start up try this: make a note of the gear indicator. If it says "auto" but has NO downwards pointing arrow then it is in full auto mode. In that case press the auto button on the center console once until the downward arrow appears. From then on the car will start in "auto easy exit mode" (the only other option). Any manual gear change with the vehcile moving will subsequently change the mode to full manual. When you start up again you will again be in "auto easy exit mode." Don't need to press the auto button ever again.

If on startup the gear indicator says "auto" but the downward poiting arrow IS present, you are done. It already is in "auto easy exit mode." Any gear change subsequently with the vehicle in motion will enter manual mode.

If you want the car to start in "auto easy exit" mode you MUST shut down the car in either manual mode or "auto easy exit mode." If you turn off the car in "auto" mode it will restart in full "auto" mode. Any gear change that you then manualy perform will execute but immediately revert back to full "auto" mode.