355 F1 system reliability

I agree that the 355 F1 problems are simply a bunch of hype from non F1 owners. I've had my F1 car for over three years and loved it. I've replaced the relay and bled the system and that's it.

I've yet to hear of one person who has actually owned a F1 equipped car encounter the problems that I've seen and heard people carry on about on this site. I'm sure there are people that prefer the 6 speed and that's fine, but don't throw the F1 under the bus to justify it. Please folks, unless you've had one, don't bash it. If there is someone who really does own an F1 equipped car that has had problems I'd love to hear it.

 

I've had mine for about 4.5 years and put about 31,000 miles on it... I'm up to 42,000 total now. Haven't had a single problem other than the LEDs burning out on the gear indicator. Got that fixed pretty easily and cheaply at Ricambi.

-R

 

Similar experience for me. Two years, 7K miles, only the gear indicator LED burn out issue, also easily fixed by Ricambi. Curious to see what kind of clutch life I get, because I think I'm driving it "smartly", the way I would drive a manual car, but that remains to be seen at this point.

John

 

Rich- Love my F1, even if it is on a different car. The time your car would not go into gear from Neutral was probably caused by not pushing on the brake hard enough for the system to recognize it. Ask me how I know. I had a line of cars honking at me on a mane drag when I fouled that one up.

The 355 did not have the digital throttle of the later F1 cars. That is where the unwashed with no experience on 355 F1 (me included in no experience) always express doubts. Sounds like it works fine based on what you are all saying. Are the downshifts in Sport really quick and perfectly synchronized with a throttle blip like they are on the digital throttle cars?

The 355 still looks beautiful and contemporary, helped by the attractive 18" wheels, in my opinion, and nothing sounds as nice as that 5 valve engine at 8500 rpm.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Very, very well said. They have been great especially considering they were such a new technology.

When the break they CAN be expensive but they just don't break that often.

 

I have had the same experience with my two 355 F1. In the last 3 years I have had NO problems what so ever with the F1 gear box or any thing else for that matter.

 

I have the service records for my 1999 355 F1 and, including the 4000 miles I have put on her (since July 2008!), I have had no problems. One of the LED indicator lights burnt out even though the entire LED display was replaced back in 2004 at a Ferrari dealer due to the same problem.

What does Ricambi charge to fix it???

 

To date, not any issues with my F1. As some have mentioned, my LED was missing some bars but that was a easy fix.

By the way, tons of fun to drive!

 

Its the later of the two.

I have never understood all the negative hype regarding these systems. What is true is many do not understand the systems fully or do not have the equipment to properly service it and this leads to negative feedback.

Personally I prefer the non-throttle controlled systems as found in the 355 as it requires the driver participation to drive it well. Just a heal/toe personal preference thing I have never lost the enjoyment from when one is on their game.

 

99 355 f1, no problems minus one LED is burnt out which doesn't really bother me yet. had the car for about a year and a half and have done near 17k miles on it, making the total 31k.

 

BTW...my 355 has 21,800 miles on the odo.

 

My 98 355 F1 has 51,000 miles and I have not had any trouble at all. The only thing was the F1 display had a bad segment which I just replaced. Ricambia has an exchange deal for $180.00 just send in your bad one.

 

My F1 has 32K miles

 

Let's hear it for the F1, LOVE it!!! 2 yrs here, 40k+ on the car, works great.

ok I'll offer one bit to the anti-F1 crowd...it can eat clutches faster than the 3 pedal 6-spd. Luckily the clutch is very easy to get to and replace...and for the F1 enjoyment I'd be happy to replace it every 3-5 yrs if that's what I end up needing.

 

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=261189

 

I used to own a 355F1, some here will remember the thread about the problem with this car. Very long story short, the car would shift to N randomly and flash the gear display. I owned the car around 8 months during that time it spent about 5 months in the workshop. Numerous parts were replaced, no expense spared.

F1 is great when its working correctly but can be hard to diagnose if an abnormal fault occurs, the fault with my old car is still not fixed IMO, there has not been enough testing done after the last "fix" to confirm the problem is gone.

For me, and not to start the debate of F1 v's 6spd but they are different systems for different occasions. If i was tracking my car heavily and only drove it on back roads for a good spirited drive then it would have to be a F1, no question. But I use my car for more than that, I like to be able to parallel park my car with out the harsh clutch pick up on the F1 system, also the F1's fast gear changes are excellent in spirited driving, but how many time in a standard manual car have you slammed your gear change in .5sec while on the way to a friends home for dinner? In the F1 it does this every time......

These are just some of my observations of both 355F1 and F355 ownership.

Ohh, and 3000miles over 2 years is not testament to a reliable car. I do that in 6 months.

 

I was thinking of jumping into this 'F1 love fest' ...... because some of my best friends have F1 GBs ...... "not that there is anything wrong with with it" as mentioned on a certain Seinfeld episode ......

BTW James, now I know why you don't spend as much time on here as I do ................ you are actually out driving ....... !!!!!

 

Yep, it's summer down here ATM, make the most of the sunshine! That, and my new found hobby She is fluent in Italian too

One day I would like to buy you a beer and talk cars Oz, one fine day.

 

Without a doubt my friend ........... NZ has been a place I wanted to visit for a long time ........... or if you ever find yourself in L.A. ...... just drop a PM ..............

 

Its a deal.

 

Rich, I echo the sentiments of the others I have had my car for for over 5 years done over 20K miles(on the original clutch) and have had only one problem which was the failure of the F1 electrical pump motor I asked for help on the forum but the concensus of opinion was that it would require a full F1 module change I did not accept that and started digging around for another (and cheaper) solution I will not bore everyone with the outcome as it can be researched on here I wrote the complete history of how I solved the problem relatively cheaply by sourcing the pump motor and fitting it myself please search for it (think it is under F1 pump failure or system failure) all F1 owners should have the method saved as it saved in the region of $8.5K and believe me it was simple to do.
My advice is to go for it, personally I will never have another Ferrari that is not F1 (had a 328 GTS previous)
Good luck
Dave

 

Hi. I am a relatively new (~10 months) owner of a 1999 355 F1 Spider. Having absolutely no experience with Ferraris going in, needless to say I was beyond apprehensive. I won't get in to the day we received it and the drama in getting it off the trailer....but since that day, there have been a few issues with the F1 that is now not appearing to be normal from this thread. However, they've never been anything super serious, I just thought they were little eccentricities given that it was the first of its kind.

1) Shift to a higher gear and the number will flash like the transmission doesn't know that the next gear exists. This is solved by downshifting and then shifting back up again.

2) Sometimes the car goes to neutral at a stop light after downshifting to first. Again, just putting it back to first and you're good to go...just kind of annoying.

3) Today, I was coming up a long hill and stopped at a stop sign. The transmission downshifted to first, but then had sort of a freak-out moment and the transmission light came on. I panicked a bit but put it in to neutral and back to first and the light went right off.

4) Reverse takes about one to three tries to actually engage. Once in reverse, unless you're actively moving, it goes back in to neutral after about 10-20 seconds. Again, you just have to re-engage the reverse gear, it just takes time.

Are any of these a sign of an underlying issue? We haven't had a chance to check fluids as we haven't been able to decipher all of the diagrams in the manual (am going to check with our local foreign car repair shop on that as I can't find a diagram for my Dad that covers the entire engine....that manual is so useless), but I do have service records for the car indicating that the f1 transmission was replaced about 2 years ago. Thanks!!

Veronica