430 F1 gearbox issue

Hi folks,

I'm a relatively new F430 owner based in Switzerland. Got the red beauty back in August 2020 with just 33k kilometers on it.

I've been having a blast driving it, and so far - for more than 4t km - with no issues.

However, my car broke down last weekend totally out of the blue.

Been driving though the alps and had the car stopped (after some really easy driving on the motorway) on a parking for more than 30mins.

When I tried to start it, it would not start as the gearbox stayed in gear 1. I then pulled the paddles and it shifted to neutral and started normally.
But then I was unable to engage reverse, and after a few seconds the F1 error light came on (very slow on and off sequence) and the eDiff / Slow Down message appeared. I tried to restart the car, and I could hear the F1 pump going for a couple of seconds (less than 10 for sure). Still the error remained. After a number of tries, it finally worked and the error went away.

I drove around the parking and shifted multiple times from reverse to 1, 2, 3 and back with no issues, smooth and normal.

Then I continued calmly on the motorway, but after a while the Slow Down message appeared again and the car was stuck in 6th gear. I barely made it to a Ferrari dealer, but the car stalled when slowing down in their driveway.

After that, the pump would not run at all anymore and the gear was stuck. Their mechanics tried to bypass the relay, but the pump would not run either.

The car is now with the dealer and I'm waiting for the diagnosis.

I just wonder if it's possible that the pump broke in that short time frame without showing any issues before? I am aware of some problems when the pump runs for a long time or very often, but I did not notice that behaviour before. I did not pay attention how many times it ran, but I can say for sure it would run way below 10s when I open the door or turn on the ignition.
I never had any issues with gear shifts either, nor did the car fail to change gear before.

Any thoughts from people knowing the F1 well?

The clutch has been replaced back in 2016 but the car was rearly driven since then, only about 2000km (plus my 4000 since August). The F1 was filled with the Liqui Molly hydraulic oil on the clutch change.

I've been in bad situations like stop and go and traffic jams but even then I never faced any issue or error. It really came out of the blue.

After the error light came on (and off, slowly) and the Slow Down / eDiff error there was also the manetino error and the car would go from Sport to wet mode. Not sure if that means anything?
Check engine light did not come on.

Hope to get some insight - I already read about the scuding Smart eMT module which I probably ask the dealer to install anyway.

Thanks for your help
Alex

 

My car is from April 2005.

i’ll check for the procedure anyway.

 

thanks Daryl for the information. When your pump (or better said motor) died, was it from one day to the other? And it would not make any sound anymore when it’s dead (complete silence)?

I still have not heard from the workshop, probably not a good sign…

 

Thanks Daryl, it does help. I did not experience this behavior, but apparently the pump is dead.


I have now received the diagnosis from the dealer, and it really looks bad.
First of all, the pump is dead. They are yet to confirm if it's the whole thing or only the motor.
Question here: I am aware there was an older and an upgraded version of the motor. Can both be used on the same pump? If it's only the motor needing a replacement, I'd prefer to use the newer version, but I don't know if that fits?

Furthermore, the accumulator should be replaced. I read that this is kind of a maintenance thing anyway, so I guess that is fine (I also read it's the same unit as for Alfa Romeo and Fiat, but I'll have the dealer confirming this).

Also the eDiff control valve is broken/leaking and needs replacement. It seems that this was/is the underlying issue.

 

I actually trust the dealer quite a bit, they are relatively famous here in Switzerland and even own their own racing team.

when I mentioned about only replacing the motor, they said they will check again if it’s sufficient. I did not have the feeling they want to oversell the whole unit. In any case, they full unit was quoted at 1600$ which isn’t a tremendously high price (I’ve read posts where people talked about 4k+…). But they mentioned that Ferrari does not sell the motor alone.

as for the valve, the lead technician already mentioned this possibility when they had the first look out there in the driveway. He mentioned that he had seen this issue which will lead to the pump failure - saying in fact the pump is not the issue itself normally.
When they had it in the shop they found a pressure error on the ECU but also a leakage on the valve.

btw the control valve seems to be quite pricey, I got their quote over 400$ but was unable to find any shop selling it for less than 600$. So I guess it’s a good price and it also speaks for the shop to not over charge on parts.

 

Thanks Mike, I’m going to check it out. I’ve seen a lot of shops in the UK for Ferrari, I guess there is quite a community there!

 

Hi folks,

I got my car back from the dealer and following parts (regarding the F1) have been replaced:
- Accumulator
- Gear box regulator valve
- F1 Pump motor (old design motor)
- Relais (replaced with Scuding Advanced EMT)

On my 350km way home I ended up in a very bad traffic jam towards the end and the Scuding device threw an error. Unfortunately I did not read yet the manual so I missed getting the error code (when I got home I read the manual but when I came back the module reset already). I noticed the pump running relatively often during the drive (blue LED showing), at least every 2 minutes.

Today I went for another drive and after about 1hr I got an error again. This time I could retrieve it and it's error 7 "pump runs too often". At this point I was driving slowly (30kmh) without gear changes. However the car was quite hot. Before, during the 1hr drive there was no error, even when changing gears often, but again I saw the blue light coming up a lot of times even when driving at constant speed without gear changes. At least every 2 minutes, sometimes more often, sometimes less.

What is the normal behaviour of the pump? Should it run that much even if I don't change gears?

I tested while having the car in ignition but without the engine running and I could achive multipe times 4-5 shifts between neutral and 1st gear before the pump would run again. But the car was cold at that time. Leaving it in neutral or 1st, without changing gears, it took 5:30 / 5:40mins until the pump runs again, for max. 2 seconds.

The pump would always run for 2-3 seconds maximum (except when opening the door - then 6-8seconds) - also during the driving.

Any thoughts? I had the Liqui Molly hydraulic fluid in the system before the issue and I saw the workshop replaced with the Shell Spirax ATF again (I forgot to tell them). I don't know if they have drained the system completely. I imagine they did, as the accumulator was changed, I asked them to be sure (pending response).

Is it possible that the old style motor is not as powerful as the new one and thus it runs more often? Does anybody know if the Scuding EMT is working the same way for both motors?

Thanks a lot,
Alex

 

According to their tech yes they did. They mentioned it could be normal in heavy traffic as the clutch is also operated by this system and if all comes together it can use a lot of pressure.

I think I’ll reach out to the scuding folks to get their input

Unfortunately the weather is very bad here in Europe at the moment and I don’t have much opportunities to go for test drives