Hi all

For the past week I've been having some issues with the 612 and wondered if any fellow owners experienced the same -

I only use her a couple of times per week but when she isn't being driven, she is plugged into the wall socket to keep the battery charged.

So last week I started her up and got the yellow engine light on the dash. Called up the dealers and asked them what the problem was, they said as long as it isn't red you're ok. They said to bring it in and within 5 mins they can fix the issue as apparently this can happen when refueling and air enters the fuel tank? Never heard of this before but I went along with it. Either way they said I could drive it no problem. So took it to the dealer a couple of days later and they sorted out the problem within 15 mins and I was on my way. No issues.

Yesterday I start her up and take a short cruise in the early morning and notice something seems a little funny - like the car's power all of a sudden has disappeared and as though it was running on 6 cylinders as opposed to 12. Came back home and parked it, turned it off and then when trying to switch it on again, all I got was the ignition sound but it would not start. Called the dealers again - was told that its 100% the battery and that the battery needs to remain plugged in for 4+ hours. So I plugged her in and went to work - came back home in the evening and tried to start her up - no luck.

I sent them a firm message this morning and they are sending the truck to pick her up and drop off a replacement Maserati probably to use in the meantime - we have a long weekend coming up and I was hoping to be able to enjoy her during that time.

Either way - I have no clue what could have caused this - bought the car in Jan '11 and only has around 2,000 miles on her today. Is this Italians then? I'm the kind of person who loses confidence in a car very quickly as soon as reliability issues occur and when that happens, I usually end up selling. Had 3 Quattroporte's in the past and all ended up with engine issues - was a nightmare being broken down on the side of the highway on several occasions. Hope Ferraris aren't the same!

Hoping members with similar experiences may be able to shed some light on this?

Thanks all.

 

We had the same battery issue with our 599.

 

^^ So its just a matter of what - replacing the battery?

 

All the time, keep in mind it was driven once per week.

 

We have the same issue in our 575M. Drive the car every now and then, and whenever I do, a red light pops up followed by "slow down" and the car is dead slow, I floor it and the car has no power whatsoever. This has happened maybe a handful of times, but after using the car regularly the issue goes away automatically. Dealer did say though whenever the red light shows up, I should directly take it to them for a checkup

 

sorry cant help here because mine never had ur issues.
but i can say in 2.5 years of owning mine, i never use the trickle charger, it never fails to start even after leaving it for 2 months. and it is the ONLY ferrari that can still be started while being unplugged for that long.
but after it starts, it runs a little rough if u leave it for a few days, but it smooths itself out after few minutes, its almost like the engine is coughing and clearing its throat, my 599 goes through the exact same thing and needs an even longer warm time to be driven smoothly after it sits for a couple days.
forgot to mention, my 599 has all kinds of warning lights go off when not driven for a while, most often is ecu or electrical failure but after warming up or restarting those warning lights never came back, the 612 is samiliar but i dont recall as many warning lights if at all. just the transmission light go on a few times, but goes away when i restart and dealer fixed that saying the toggle switch is to blame.

 

When I asked two salesman at the local exotic dealership which sold all the different supercars, if I were to trade in my GT2 for a different supercar what would they recommend? They both said the GT2 is just as good or better in performance to any gallardo or ferrari and is much more reliable. The only reason to switch is if I wanted to be more flashy, but they added that I would have it in the shop almost monthly for one thing or another. It was good to hear that from guys who sell and deal with customer problems from all these different cars.

 

^^^^^ Porsche is notorious for shitty battery issues. Damn things are always needing jump starting if they sit.

ask me how I know!

 

Same with the Scudi... I actually think its our $#ity fuel

 

my 430 keeps eating up those batteryes at an alarming rate. before i exchanget it with my brother, he said he had this reoccuring issue where every few months, regardless wether the car was on a charger or not (he did not drive it at all btw), he would have battery problems which eventually led to replacing the battery a few times. the problem would worsen gradually, to a point where the car would not start at all even after recharge. looks like some power leak or whatever, and no way to fix it.
the 599 is more solid, i used to drive it like 1 or twice per month prior to the conversion, and the battery had no issues. the orange engine light would pop from time to time, but would disappear if you open and close again the gas tank, go figure.. the hand break on the 599 is my real pain, it is just dead.. again... i do not even use it much, only for parking on the hill. the ferrari tech said it was a common issue on the 599.

from my experience so far i can speculate they will not find a permament solution for your battery problem since the issue sounds similar to the my 430, and it might come back later. hope you get lucky and they do!