Wow $300 for a gas cap ,I guess you can't get it at Pep Boys

 

As I read through this guide again all that comes to my mind is this , "GET WELL SOON OUR GOOD BUDDY DANA!!!!!!!!!!"

 

hell good! one of the detailed writing on da 360 thanks mate.

 

Barrister, you have now owned the 360 for 6 mths. How's been the experience thus far? I own a Porsche TT as well but have been itching for a switch to a Ferrari after all these years of being a Porsche fan. I love the shape of the 360 and of course the sound. How's been cost of maintenance?

 

You are new here and wouldn't have known. Barrister has been recovering from injuries during that timeframe so while I won't speak for him, I doubt there is much information for him to share at this point.

 

Thanks brother.

That's right. I only owned the 360 for 2 short months and only put about 1000 miles on it before a motorcycle accident took me out of the game for about 6 months. I just started to drive again about a week ago. It was great to get behind the wheel of my cars again.

I will have an update on my impressions of the 360 when I hit about 3000 miles.

Thanks for reading my post!

 

UPDATE AS OF FEBRUARY 11, 2010.

Here's a short update on my experience with the 360 since getting out of the hospital.

For those of you who might not know, I spent 9 weeks in the hospital and another 6 months at home recovering from a near-fatal motorcycle accident. I am still in the process of recovering but I am much better.

During the time I was in the hospital the 360 didn't get driven much. A good Ferrari mechanic friend of mine drove it a few times just to be sure that there were no problems. But it sat undriven for the majority of the 6-7 months that I was recovering. It had the Ferrari trickle charger on it, so the battery stayed fresh. But otherwise it was basically just in the garage.

About a month ago I finally got well enough to take it out for a spin. I wasn't in the car for 20 minutes before I got the dreaded F1 warning lamp and the car died. It started up again but died at two stop lights on the way home. Of course, I was very concerned.

I took the car into my mechanic the next day. On the way over there, the F1 warning lamp came on again and the car would not shift out of 6th gear. Luckily, after a few minutes the light went out and I was able to drive the car normally. This had me more than a little freaked out to say the least.

Once my mechanic got into it he found several problems.

He first thought that it might be the F1 pump. This is a "wear item" on all Ferraris and is a common source of the warning light and inability to shift. But no matter how many times he tested it, the pump came back with normal pressure. He was a bit stumped. After digging a bit deeper he found that the "clutch sensor" had become corroded and was no longer functioning. The clutch sensor sends information to the ECU letting the car know what gear you are in. He mentioned that it looked like it had gotten wet and without lubrication from being driven, the part had gone bad. I learned two important things from this. First, don't spray water directly into the engine bay. Some parts - like the clutch sensor - can corrode if they get wet and the car is not driven. Two, the car really needs to be driven at least once a week to keep everything in good working order.

As a result of the clutch sensor going bad, the ECU did not know what gear to shift into. This caused my clutch to basically disintegrate from the inside ring out. A very strange wear pattern indeed. The clutch sensor could have been switched out on its own without the need to replace the entire clutch mechanism. But given the wear on the clutch (over 10,000 miles and an original clutch), I had my mechanic swap it out for a brand new factory clutch.

While making this repair, my mechanic also found that my car had been struck with one of the classic 360 gremlins - cracked motor mounts. The transmission mount was totally cracked in half. So he replaced this as well.

While I had the car in for this work, I had him do the annual service also.

When I got the car back in about 4 days, it ran like . . . well . . a Ferrari again. The clutch was so much quicker and smoother. I realized immediately that this may have been a small gremlin in the car from the time I bought it. My initial inspection showed that my clutch had 60% life left in it. I only drove the car about 1,500 miles before my motorcycle accident. The only way it could have worn down in such a short time was loss of the clutch sensor.

I have driven the car about 500 miles since - including a great 100+ mile drive today - and it is absolutely perfect.

Now for the big question: how much did this cost me? Trust me, I was petrified over how much the bill was going to be. I have heard horror stories of problems such as this running $10K - $15K at dealers. But before I tell you how much it cost, let me say a few words about finding a skilled and trustworthy independant Ferrari mechanic. Most of us who own Ferraris are roped into taking the car to the dealer. This sucks royally. Dealers - while not all bad - are forced to overcharge for parts and labor in order to meet their massive overhead. When I bought my Ferrari, I found that the dealer I bought it from often used an independant subcontractor to do some of its work when they were really busy. This is often the case with smaller dealers that often sell primarily used cars on consignment. I used this independant mechanic just after I bought the car to resolve the check engine light problem described in my original post. We hit it off and I trusted his work. As a result, I have had him do all of my Ferrari service and repair ever since. He is a magician and has never let me down. Also, he charges less than half what the dealer would. Finding an independant Ferrari mechanic like this is like finding the goose that lays the golden eggs. I don't know what I would do without him.

Here are a few tips on picking a good independant Ferrari Mechanic.

1. Make sure that the mechanic is Ferrari trained and certified. My independant Ferrari mechanic used to work for Ferrari of Newport Beach and has every piece of training and certification that Ferrari offers. Also, be sure that the mechanic has experience working on your model. The guy I use is an expert on the 360 and has worked on literally thousands of them.

2. Be sure that the mechanic has all of the official Ferrari diagnostic equipment. These pieces of computer hardware and software are very expensive and Ferrari doesn't sell them to just anyone. Many independant Ferrari mechanics claim to have these pieces of equipment but actually pay their dealer friends under the table to use their's. This is not a good practice. Make the mechanic show you that he has his own stand up diagnostic computer and the handheld error code reader from Ferrari.

3. When you visit the independant mechanic's shop, look around and see what other cars he might be working on. If there are no other cars up on the lifts in his garage, that is not a good sign. Also, if all you see are Toyotas and Fords, you may be in the wrong place. The first time I visited my mechanic's shop, he had a yellow 16M, a red California and a TDF blue 599. I knew I was at a place that others trusted with their prize possessions. So I had no problem leaving my 360 there.

4. Until you fully trust your independant mechanic, have him at least show you - and maybe even let you have - any of the old parts that he switched out of your car. My mechanic showed me my old clutch, the sensor and the cracked motor mounts from this most recent repair/service and asked if I wanted them. I didn't want them but was impressed that he showed them to me without even having to be asked. This way you can confirm that the work was done and gain some knowledge about how the parts wear.

5. This is kind of optional, but I like it if my mechanic is an enthusiast himself. I like a guy who loves the Marques he works on and has an encyclopedic knowledge of them. My mechanic is a big Ferrari nut and loves F1 and other types of racing. He respects the beauty and mechanical genius of the cars. This is not an absolute necessity. But it is nice.

So, in the end, my repairs ended up costing me just under $5,000. That included the new clutch, motor mounts, and the annual service. At the dealer, the annual service alone would be around $2,000. My mechanic charged me his price on the parts and finished the work in 9 hours - the book on the work said 16. I could not have been more happy.

So it looks like I will hit that $1.50 per mile mark that I told all new 360 owners to expect annually in service and repair costs. I wish the clutch problem had not happened. But I think that I minimized the damage the best I could. And I am back in the car again! What more could I ask for.

My independant Ferrari mechanic here in Orange County is not yet a sponsor of our site. I hope he will become one soon.

Until then, if any of you have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks and good luck!

Dana
Barrister

 

Great update. Glad to see that you are out and driving again. Enjoy it!

 

Nice mate, i'm really glad you're getting better and able to enjoy your passion again - i recall you scaring the shit out of me around some of those canyons!

 

Thanks H! You are the best brother.

Ha! That was a great time wasn't it!

UBC came by us like a whirlwind in your uncle's 430 too!