Preface: I did use the search function but I didn't come up with anything and then another time it didn't seem to work at all. With the coming winter I felt this would be a handy thread for others as well. The 360 I have been babysitting seems to seriously drain its battery. I have been using a high quality battery tender and have even driven the car around to keep the charge up, but after less than a week it is nearly dead again. In my first readings on Ferrarichat last year, I seem to recall some discussion about the 360 being unduly hard on its battery when it is left unattended. Does this make sense and, if so, does anyone know the current draw of the 360 while everything is off? The owner is one of those prickly engineers (who designed and marketed his own battery tender) and he doesn't believe that this is happening. The 360 in question is a 2003 with approx 3000miles. Any assistance is appreciated.
Bill, this happened recently to a fellow U.K. F-chat member,360spider.I've placed this thread in the U.K. section and i'm sure Joe will see it and respond . Tony
I got tired of wondering where the battery drain was on my 328, so have just started disconnecting it when it's going to sit a while. Easy to do, just unplug the connector behind the drivers side headlight. I'm surprised the 360 is draining even when you've got a tender on it, that sounds like a pretty serious draw. Good luck.
Bill, I have a 2003 360 F1 (800 miles). I have let it sit for over 2 weeks with no battery problems. It sits for at least 1 1/2 weeks between drives with no problems. It sounds like you might have an abnormal drain going on.
thanks for the input so far. I can see where I wasn't as clear as I should have been though. An example would be that I will leave the tender on the car for a day or two and then remove it for a week or so. After those 7-10 days unattented the car will have lost a considerable amount of its charge. The car hasn't sat without being driven or having the battery tender for more than 20 days since we got it. It just seems like an awful lot of drain in such a short time. I hate to leave it with the tender all the time because the the car is, sadly, left alone and I can't bring myself to leave it plugged in the wall without someone there to monitor it.
Bill My 360 would be on charge constantly, even so after a 2-3 hr drive the battery began to go flat, overnight without the tender and it was a no-go. Sounds like a similar Bad Battery prob
Honestly, I haven't just unhooked it and let it go unpowered. The dealer and the manuals put such fear in me about the alarm and other "stuff" that I didn't want to be the first one to just disconnect it without a good reason. With others claiming somewhat similar battery problems, I guess I will try a full disconnect and see how long the battery hangs around on its own. Great service guys. I really appreciate the input. At least the battery is somewhat easy to get to. Still looking for a challenge grill if anyone has one collecting dust.
Bill I just started having the same problems you have described. The car is one year old with 3000 miles. When the car was new, it would sit for 1-3 weeks without ever being driven or started. I never had any battery problems. A year later I drive the car more often but now I am experiencing a battery drainage. The dealer tells me that I am not driving enough. The car came installed with a Battery Tender Plus that I am now using. It's connected 24 hours 7 days a week. It's solved the problem for now. The dealer offered me a new battery which I will probably have installed when I get some free time. I still think there is some inherent problem with 360's and batteries. As an aside. I called Battery Tender to ask if these Ferrari batteries were just plain junk. The service person said even the best batteries will lose half their charge if a car is not driven in 2-3 weeks. Even cars that are driven 3 times a week for short runs, 15-20 minutes will lose half their charge. Now I don't trust the car. I don't want to go on too far from home and turn the car off and not have it start again.
The first thing my mechanic did when I got my 360 is provide me with a good battery tender. He claimed rapid battery drain-down is a typical problem with the 360.
my battery tender is on the car whenever it is not driven. also did the same for my TR for 4 1/2 years. no problem there either. keep the tender on. nothing worse than wanting to go for a drive and having a dead battery!
Sometimes during the winter....I do not drive my 2000 360 Modena for 2 weeks. However, everytime the car starts. * knock on wood * But during the winters in NYC...the car may not start in the first ignite but definitely on the 2nd try.
Yes, the 360 sucks more power than your average car. With a fresh battery, 3 weeks should be no problem. With a battery subjected to this drain for a couple years, 1 week may become a problem. To disconnect the battery, do NOT unhook anything. Just pop the trunk lid... on the upper left of the back wall is a big black knob... turn it to "OFF". Battery is disconnected from car. HOWEVER, before you do this, make sure you know the code for the stereo, or you'll never be able to play it again.
also remember the location of the manual release if you close the trunk with the battery off as well as that the car needs to re-learn its parameters for a few seconds once power is on again
Excellent info guys because my next question was what the pitfalls were with just disconnecting the battery. I am heading to the car in the morning and I will disconnect it and check the status of the battery over the weekend. I do believe that regardless of the car, the battery is discharging way too quickly. I have several other cars that are unattended for weeks, even a month, at a time and there is little loss. thanks again bill
I chased a battery drain in my F355 to the aftermarket stereo. It was wired directly to the battery so even when the car was off, the stereo was on.
for whatever its worth; it was advised to me not to shut off the battery with the black nob since the car has alot of computer/data. makes sense to me, thats why I use a battery tender.
The manual recommends turning off the car via the black knob for extended periods of disuse. Much of the computer data is held in non-volatile memory, so its a non-issue. The rest is data that need not be preserved. However, I am not saying anything against the battery tender... but if that's not working for you, the black knob is a fine solution... and the solution Ferrari recommends. Brian
My 02'360 is about 18 months old and never had a problem with the battery(yet?) I have made it almost a religion to drive it at least once a week, but a couple of times it has been sitting for 3 or 4 weeks, I talked about it to the service people and they advised me to switch it off just in case. But everytime I left everything (alarm armed), and when I got back thirsty to drive it it fired up everytime(so far). There must be some sort of a leak in your car. Cheers
There was a TSB for the alarm system power cord replacement a while back. This was done on my car during a service even though I've never had the battery drain problem. I use the car regularly and have racked up about 23K miles so far. Were any aftermarket electronics installed in that car? that might be the culprit.