California clutch life?

The Cali will hopefully never need a clutch as it has ways to save the wet clutches. if it starts to overheat it slows it down.

 

I was told, 'forever'. But, I'm highly skeptical. Forever is a very long time.

 

And bad news for the spares business.

 

I was told there's no limit to the launch control

 

LEDs should almost last a life time too....as, almost, transistors outlasting Tubes time moving on.

 

Haven't they fried the clutches in the Nissan GTR and the Bugatti with launch control? I wonder if there is any experience there which would be predictive?

 

Forever. That really is funny. I can see it now in the training school. 100 bucks the entire class broke out in laughter. I bet the trainer did it with a straight face though, they really are good at that.

Forever to Ferrari is when the next model comes out. But of course all the failures between now and then will be blamed on the owner.


Daniel, better find a good source for them. When Ferrari lies that bad they are hiding something.

















Forever
I haven't laughed this hard since I saw Animal House.

That really is a good one.

 

Lol!

 

I'm with Rifledriver on this one. With or without L/C, there has to be slippage starting from a stop.

Dave

 

Fellas... I ain't sh%tting... there is no clutch shown in the parts books. Just a 'gearbox' assembly. The 400ia and 412 are reborn !

 

Perhaps when the clutch wears out you have to buy a new gearbox assembly for $30K?

 

That's what I'm hoping for !!!!!!


It's all an evil plot, eh?

 

Uuuhhh......hhhuuuhhhh......

So that begets the question.......as wet clutches, are these sealed units that are placed in non-removeable casings ? What's the gearbox cost there Dan ? Probably no price listed yet.

Wonder what the out of warranty implications are going to be (if any) ? If there is no replaceable wet clutch assembly, then that implies total confidence towards the consumer in the F1 system as now being a complete warranty item, which is a 180 degree turn "policy wise" for FNA.......is it not ?

To wit.......MB warranties the wet clutches in the 2009 + SL63 "AMG Speedshift" transmission........gonna be interesting as customers BETA test the California........while doing so on a closed end lease hopefully.

 

When I attended the launch in Santa Monica, Ferrari had engineers from the V8 program on-hand to answer questions. Even starting back then, Sept 2008, they stated the clutch(es) were in a sealed oil bath, computer controlled, and good for the life of the car. I asked about all the F1 horrors about backing uphill, etc and they said it was totally fine in this car. With my F430, I back down my driveway so I can drive up it in a forward gear. With my cali (6 weeks old), I've been pulling in forward and backing out. I guess we'll see!!

 

Interesting stuff and we will see what happens.

 

The clutch,clutch oil,gear oil are for life.Any parts damage in the gear box need to replace whole gear box assembly.If the clutch overheat,warning signal will appear on dashboard and go to 'limp home' mode.

 

The life expectancy is approximately 700 miles. At least, that was mine, when, at approximately 8:45pm last night, while at 60 MPH, I got a box of "neutrals."

A light came on saying clutch overheat and then the car went into "N" and when I came to a stop on the side of the highway, an emergency parking break kicked in so the car had to be jacked up, put on rollers and flat-bedded to the dealer.

With the engine running, the transmission sounds like a tin can bouncing around inside a washing machine. The car was NOT driven hard at all and Launch (Power Start) has NEVER been used. The dealer was on the phone with Ferrari today, the fluids are all clean and full but something bad happened for sure. I will keep you posted.

 

Great - mines got 400 miles on it...so far so good? I smell a recall coming. (or is that just my clutch frying?)

 

This is my concern about many new cars in general.
The "Sealed for life" components = Disposable car.

 

I should start stock piling these new gearboxes now.

Imagine in 10 yrs time when they are all out of warranty and they start blowing up?

Hopefully by then there will be dudes repairing these boxes and fitting replacement clutch packs in them.

Almost hey?

 

The gearbox in the California is the same design as the box used by BMW for the M3 and Z4, designed and delivered by Getrag in Germany.

Unit used in California (and F458): http://www.getrag.de/en/253, 7 speed, front and midengine, possiblity for LSD and E-Dif, 120 kg (F1 today 80 kg)

It is likely that this box, designed for 750 NM will be the std. gearbox in future Ferraris, as it can handle the torque of the V12s and possible opcoming forced induction highefficincy / low mass 3-4 l engines.

The base design from Getrag fits the torque of 4-5 litres petrol engines commonly used in the premium class cars segment and the torque of 2.5-3.5 l turbo diesel engines commonly sold in Europe. This gives production volume, experience and reliability. Although the California is likely to be used as a dally driver more than other Ferrari models, mileage driven in average will first build up in the BMWs. Goggling for BMW M3 and clutch problems does not given many hits, so it is likely the design is OK.

As a side note, the gearboxes in Ferraris from F550 / F355 and onwards is not manufactured in house by Ferrari, but delivered by Oerlikon, which has found a niche in delivering the same transmission box design in low volume to specialised automakers such as Adton Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati.

This PDF gives list of references for the gearbox:
http://www.oerlikon.com/ecomaXL/get_blob.php?name=Transaxle_cards.pdf&download=1

As the F1 boxes only have been used in the low volume cars, R&D funds and experience form field have been limited. This is the reason why it has taken 10-15 years to refine the F1 box to an OK level.

With the volume of the dual-clutch box in the California, one can expect much higher lifetime of the clutches than the FI. Should there be problems 5 to 10 years from now, then it will be possible to get the boxes repaired by specilists, as there in this case also will be a market for this from the BMWs failing.

 

Fantastic stuff Peter!

Thanks for sharing mate.