New 550 Owner

Thanks!
Polish is turtle wax hybrid ceramic polish & wax.
Paste wax is turtle wax graphene
Spray is turtle wax ceramic wet wax
The pads we used were just generic microfiber amazon stuff.

 

Had a few updates on the 550.

Last week I got the dreaded "Slow Down" light. After looking up the issue I tested the cat ecu's using the battery trick, turns out one of them was fried as I was also getting the light immediately on a cold start. I decided to get the upgraded ecu's made by technistrada. I found just the driver's side was bad but decided to just replace both since I'm sure the passenger side would eventually fail as well.

The technistrada ecu's came in today already, much faster than expected coming all the way from NZ! Plugged them in, took the car for a heat spin and worked like a charm. No more "Slow Down". I hope these last for a long time.

Secondly, even though I just had the annual service done last month I've decided to replace the oil my mechanic used. Shame on me I had forgotten everything I read on proper oil viscosities and didn't re-educate myself before the service. My mechanic had recommended and went with 10w60 because of the south Florida heat, but I decided to just go back to 0w40. I was going to wait until the next oil change but I need to replace my oil pressure sender anyway so might as well do it all now.

Will post back with my first diy oil experience on the 550.

Illustrations below!


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Hahaha, yes, reminds me of when I owned an M3, carbon grills added the equivalent of about 10hp in weight savings.

I did read the green ones were better. Not sure if they are original to the car, but if so I figure 20yrs isn't too bad.

 

Hey all, wanted to post up some work I did this weekend in case anybody was interested in seeing what the parts look like.
1. Oil Change
2. Oil Pressure Sender
3. Front Shock Actuators.

I replaced my oil back down to 0w-40 from previously having 10w-60. My Oil Pressure Sender was also out of whack, always reading max 140+ psi for any rpms over 3k. I'm sure the higher viscosity oil was not helping, as was evidenced afterwards by the pressure readings at idle. My fuel pressure's are now as expected, about 70-80 psi on cold start, warmed up then on idle is about 15-20 psi, and back to 70-80 psi during higher rpm driving. Previously my idle oil pressure was about 40-50 psi which I think was mostly due to the higher oil viscosity.

I did not purchase the Ferrari branded sender, I purchased the VDO direct part. VDO makes the senders for Ferrari so they're actually the exact same units. The only difference is VDO puts on a different screw thread to fit the Ferrari housing. The VDO branded is $40, the Ferrari branded was $150. So I purchased the VDO sender and separately a thread adapter to fit the Ferrari housing and it worked like a charm.

To remove the original Ferrari sender the open wrench I used was actually a standard size of 15/16", it fit better than the metric sizes. Also had to loosen the swaybar to get enough room for a wrench to fit. Thankfully mine came out relatively easy with a small tube I used for additional leverage. I've heard bad stories of people not being able to get them off so I was as careful as possible tapping it little by little.

Additionally I also purchased the Ricambi protective boot to prevent the contacts from getting dirty. I honestly was not happy with this boot, it just doesn't seem to have been designed correctly for these senders and is a huge PITA to get it to fit well. The main problem is the adjacent section of the boot where the wiring goes through was made sideways towards the front of the sender, but in reality the wiring should be almost directly to the back of the sender. So any which way you try it would put so much pressure on the wires that I was afraid they would crack from being pulled. After almost an hour of trying I did manage to get it on snug in a half-assed sideways position where I felt comfortable it would be okay, but still looks bad.

Lastly I tried to just inspect and re-fit my 2 front shock actuators. I've been getting the dreaded suspension warning light on and off since purchasing the car. The actuators themselves were in great shape, no housing cracks anywhere, and I bench tested them with a 12v battery and they were spinning just fine as expected. The problem was I noticed the wire harness was badly cracked and spun incredibly tight. The rubber wrapping was completely hardened and cracked, so I couldn't remove it and really see if there were any damaged wires without risk of damaging it completely. I thought that if my bench test worked then hopefully the wires inside were still protected. I ended up just unwinding it as best I could and then re-wrapped it with electrical tape. Initially when I put the actuators back on I still got the warning light which was annoying. But I thought it would be good to just disconnect the battery to reset the computer and start from fresh. After this the warning light was off, I drove the car for a test period and everything stayed off and okay. So I'm crossing my fingers that it stays off for the foreseeable future!

All pics are below.


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I thought about rewiring, but to do it properly you would need to open the housing and get inside which is where I believe the twisting originates from.
I'm scared of breaking the housing and then be in a worse situation.

The other option is to just splice in new wires as close as possible to the base of the housing.

 

Ahh, very nice thanks for that! I thought I had read most of the actuator problem threads, but that one I missed.

 

Finally got my right of passage to rear spacers on the 550. I decided to go with 25mm HE type-1. Below are pics and comparisons. Very happy with the look, and for the price I think it's a must have for every single car. It does finally give a proper full wheel fitment look that should've always been that way from factory.

The fronts are not really necessary, but I will be getting spacers for them anyway to get a better matching look.

Secondly, coming soon, I will be replacing the air vents for the brakes. Both of mine look to have been torn through by a friendly mouse. I think I'll make a separate thread for that installation in case anybody wants to search it out. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks Tarek!

For anyone interested, I made a separate thread documenting the brake duct replacement:

https://ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/brake-duct-hose-replacement.642314/#post-147911982

 

Sad time in South Florida fellas, the 550 is gone...but never to be forgotten.
I didn't think this would happen any time soon on such a short stint, but I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
This is her in our final farewell! Until we meet again...

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Here's the new gentle giant, at least I was able to keep it in the Blue/Tan family!


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I'm with you 100%