488GTB 2018 Leak, Horrible Experience

Udi,

First, welcome to Ferrarichat!

Second, I'm going to go out on a limb here and infer from this thread that I bet your closet must be immaculately organized as compared to mine I'm already picturing you with perfectly shined shoes and a nice silk tie. And a Porsche.

Third, as others have said, take a deep breath. It's just a car, Ferrari or not. They all start leaking with age, eventually. My advice would be to hit that area with some Berryman B12 carb cleaner and then monitor it to see if the leak returns quickly or if it's just a little bit of oil seeping out. I would also check to see if the surrounding bolts are tight or not, as Ferrari has been known to get a little sloppy now and again with assembly (especially with the 488).

It could just be a slightly failure of sealant in that particular area or maybe some unnoticed porousness in the casting. It's hard to say. I wouldn't be too worried about it just yet, however. If it were my car, I'd probably just run a bead of RTV ultra black sealant along that seam and call it a day.

Anyway, Ferrari of SV is an excellent dealership and I've always found them to be very fair and helpful. Their service center is also top notch. Perhaps they over looked the leak initially or they just thought it was normal wear and tear of a car with almost 7000 miles on it. I agree, however, it's a bit early for leaking of any sort on the 488 gearbox.

If the leak is on the DCT gearbox itself, I think my main concern would be to establish whether or not it has resulted in enough leaking to actually lower the current oil level of the gearbox oil or not. Have you asked them to check that? If it's just weeping or seeping, I think really just putting some RTV along that seam might be a reasonable solution to consider (especially as opposed to having to drop the entire gearbox out to address it).

Keep us all posted and again, welcome.

Ray

 

This man’s worth listening to. He’s had what, five consecutive mid engine V8 Ferraris? And some of them had had the dreaded sticky buttons and bad batteries, lol .

Mine’s a driver’s car (458), so little things here or there (which I think is your case also) don’t rattle me. My ownership experience has been nothing short of excellent, or I would’ve bailed a while ago. Frankly, I can’t wait for my F8 Spider to arrive.

Hang in there, it’s worth it. Hopefully all will work out.

 

Myself, being a bit OCD like you, and also being a software engineer, etc., and very detail oriented, I personally am very suspect of anyone else wrenching on or near my car(s) and try to avoid getting into situations where I cannot do the work myself. Basically, I do all my own work on the cars and motorcycles, etc. and never let anyone else touch anything I own. So I definitely feel your pain here.

The times I have dealt with Silicon Valley Ferrari for information and checking on parts, etc. it has always been very positive. I believe Jason is the GM there still? He's always struck me as a straight shooter.

I've had mixed results with SF Ferrari, but a lot depends on who you are dealing with there. If you do deal with SF, I personally would seek out Edgar in service; he's the only guy I ever let touch my 458 or 488 up there. He's young and very knowledgeable. Before I let FofSF do the free service on my 458, I spoked with Edgar first hand regarding a few points on the 458 and he obviously knew his business and had done service on a lot of cars. I was very impressed with him and word around the dealership was that he was the best of the service guys - although I hear all of them are top notch there.

Anyway, keep us all posted. I still vote to clean the oil up with carb cleaner and maybe seal the edge with RTV ultra black. Okay sure, the RTV sealant will be on the outside vs. between the flange, but at the end of the day, I think it still could potentially avoid much bigger work (especially if Ferrari is planning to pull the transaxle out to fix this).

What's the location of that top pipe area you showed a photo of?

Ray

 

They are offering you to buy a different Ferrari...what is going on? Very strange to me.Yellow flag just went up....

 

I agree...both Kirk (@Cigarzman) and I know what it is to prioritize concerns....

 

Thats barely even a leak, its sweating there...you have a warranty, its a used car, all is good..i'm sure no one tried to scam you or pull the wool over you, as a matter of fact they are offering you to buy a different car, thats more than fair if you're not happy..get over it, get it fixed and enjoy the car..not like its dripping fluid all over the place

 

That is not a leak. That is a sweat. I’m surprised they even told you about it. It could have been cleaned with brake cleaner in 20 seconds. Knowing what I know of Ferrari’s warranty process I’m surprised they will even entertain this. Ferrari are notorious for refusing warranty claims. I have lots of fiddly issues on my 488 and warranty is being very picky.

 

Surprised about some of the harsh comments in relation to the OP. The OP just purchased a car and 3 weeks later there is an issue. You can define it whichever way you want. That is an inconvenience no matter how slight. Car is at another dealership not in the OP’s garage so he is not able to enjoy at the moment.
Glad you have the extended warranty and hope this get sorted out quickly so your car is back on the road.

 

This. Completely normal on a FI engine. There is going to be some crankcase pressure. Worst case it's a seal or o-ring. What likely happened is the engine bay didn't get detailed. Dealer #2 catches this "leak" maybe wants to make some warranty money, wouldn't be unheard of.

Side note, Ferrari SV has always been very helpful sharing records etc whenever I was looking at cars that came through their dealership.

 

IMO you are getting angry at the wrong item. Your angry not at the Ferrari but at the dealership. Dont get angry at the Ferrari as these things can happen. Likewise if you bough the car brand new and a leak developed you would throw it away ?

Thats nonsense. You should be chasing the dealer that sold you the car.

The other dealer could be setting you up for a big bill , consider that ?

And whats this on a Roma , got one and got rid of it due to electrical ?

Now they are offering you another car ?

Mate i dont say this often but something stinks.

 

I don't understand the Dealership keeping your car waiting for a response from Ferrari for a non essential leak. The dealership did give you a nice jester offering you another car. I understand your frustration paying for what was a certified car, thinking you bought something exceptional only to find out an alternate definition of the word exceptional. I've had 6 Ferrari cars & must say I've enjoyed them all! All had some small noyances , but all gave me such pleasures. Only you can activate current options as there is no right or wrong decision, There are plenty of 488's out there!

 

This is a dry sump engine, and they rarely have positive crankcase pressure. One of the many benefits of drysumping, is that it puts the engine under a vacuum. Usually between 6-10 psi of vacuum depending on how well the engine is sealed, number of stages, rpm etc.

Sent from my SM-G930F using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

I stand corrected. Maybe some oil seepage through charge tubes. Will be interested to see what was replaced if OP decides to keep the car.

 

I assume posting on this site means you want some kind of advice/opinion. For what its worth, if your car was just a few months older then the 3-year warranty would be expired and even if you bought the New Power warranty this issue would not even be covered. And you simply would not have paid enough money into the system for them to show any good will either. That being said you must still be within the original warranty period or you purchased the extended full warranty in time. You are lucky here as well because had this been a 12-cylinder car the extended 2-year warranty is +$13,200.00. Just a little perspective. Recommend getting it fixed under warranty and drive it.

This is not a beetle car from a German company. You will lose your shirt on this model and the dealer won't start to care about you until you've spent a heck of a lot more money. I think the 488 (someone correct me) will also get the sticky parts at some point so figure in tearing up everything that's not leather or metal and having them redone for a neat fee. Probably expect some issues with removal and re-install. You may need an airbag and a handful of other needless nits as well. Also, the 488 has an issue with the tail lights never turning completely off so there a nice journey ahead with software warnings and dead batteries. You may also not want to slide a paint gauge over the car.

We know all these things yet we do purchase these amazing cars because something in us comes alive when we drive them, hear them, look at them or even smell the leather. That feeling in the other brands lasts about as long as it takes to get the car home from the dealer. Special cars come with a little compromise. Hope things work out for you.

 

I paid $11,200 AUD for my 488 GTB extended full factory 4,5. Thats about 8.4 K USD . Looks like its cheaper there in the States ? IIRC its about $5000 ?

 

V8
$6,300.00 4th year warranty extension
$9,900.00 4th & 5th year warranty extension
$4,500.00 1 year of New Power Warranty + cost of NPW Inspection ( now required )

S