Wednesday 9th May 2012

Ferrari recalls V8 engines...

...but only a very small number are affected

---

So is the bloke who discovered the fact the calibrations were out on the milling machine that makes crankshafts for Ferrari's 4.5-litre V8 engine a hero for discovering the fact or now wearing concrete socks for bringing shame to the name? Who knows but the fact remains that a very small number of Ferrari Californias and 458 Italias are being recalled for a minor warranty repair.

Tyre smoke? Or something more ominous?

OK, not that minor. The engines need a new crankshaft, a two- to three-day job down at your local (official, natch) Ferrari emporium.

Ferrari is quick to point out that it discovered the fault internally and only 206 engines out of a total 13,000 or so produced so far were assembled with the miscalibrated crank. Of these apparently six 458s and 10 Californias are here in the UK and their owners will shortly be receiving letters 'inviting' them to come and have their crankshaft replaced at Ferrari's cost. There have been no reported failures yet but Ferrari admits that under extreme use there is a risk of engine seizure so it's taking no chances.

[Mermaid]

Shows how reliable a Ferrari is.

In the yesteryears no one would have been surprised if an engine blew up

[LordFlathead]

No such thing as bad publicity.

While you're in there.. how about a stroker crank for some compensation

[Stew2000]

Mermaid said:

Shows how reliable a Ferrari is.

In the yesteryears no one would have been surprised if an engine blew up

First one that came to my mind was the 308 Dino.

[anonymous-user]

MassivePedantsHat

I think you'll find they make crankshafts on a grinding machine, not a milling machine.......... ;-)


/MassivePedantsHat





PistonHeads, where geekery is an artform

[Watchman]

Max_Torque said:

MassivePedantsHat

I think you'll find they make crankshafts on a grinding machine, not a milling machine.......... ;-)


/MassivePedantsHat





PistonHeads, where geekery is an artform

On one of those megafactories programs on Discovery, they definitely used a multi-tooled mill to make crankshafts. Can't be certain it was the Ferrari one but nonetheless...

[peter450]

Seems like good service, cars are complex machines and mistakes are inevitable no matter what the company or price

Ferrari have spotted it, there sorting it, as they should

[anonymous-user]

Watchman said:

Max_Torque said:

MassivePedantsHat

I think you'll find they make crankshafts on a grinding machine, not a milling machine.......... ;-)


/MassivePedantsHat





PistonHeads, where geekery is an artform

On one of those megafactories programs on Discovery, they definitely used a multi-tooled mill to make crankshafts. Can't be certain it was the Ferrari one but nonetheless...

Dosen't actually make it a mill, although i realise with multi axis machines these days it is a question of semantics to a large degree. If the work piece is revolving it ain't a mill broadly speaking ;-)

[esso]

....well you would have thought they would be CNC machined and fully inspected on a CMM machine....so how did the faulty ones get through quality control????....or do Ferrari have them knocked up by `Fred in a Shed`????

(by the way...this is tongue in the cheek humour....so don`t take my comment seriously!)

[toppstuff]

I have to say it, but if this was McLaren I think PH would have people here rubbing their chin and wondering, sagely, if Ron had lost it and how the McLaren control mechanism had failed.

But because it's Ferrari, people forgive them.

Maybe it's just me. Much as I love Ferrari ( and, rather unfashionably, I would take a black California over a 458 every day) I still cannot forget that they are made in Italy by Italians. A decade of driving Alfa Romeos' has taught me that "passion" is often a euphemism for "lack of attention"...

IMO of course..

[Pothole]

Stew2000 said:

Mermaid said:

Shows how reliable a Ferrari is.

In the yesteryears no one would have been surprised if an engine blew up

First one that came to my mind was the 308 Dino.

same engine as the other 308s...

[Bhuvsta]

Well this has certainly vindicated my choice of a Honda Civic over a Ferrari!

[RyanB88]

Fair play to them for admitting their mistake and sorting it like any good company should

[EDLT]

toppstuff said:

I have to say it, but if this was McLaren I think PH would have people here rubbing their chin and wondering, sagely, if Ron had lost it and how the McLaren control mechanism had failed.

But because it's Ferrari, people forgive them.

Maybe it's just me. Much as I love Ferrari ( and, rather unfashionably, I would take a black California over a 458 every day) I still cannot forget that they are made in Italy by Italians. A decade of driving Alfa Romeos' has taught me that "passion" is often a euphemism for "lack of attention"...

IMO of course..

I was thinking the same thing.

How many crankshafts do they make per day? To churn out "only" 206 before noticing the machine isn't set up properly is a bit absent minded passionate. Did this happen on a Friday?

[Watchman]

Max_Torque said:

Watchman said:

Max_Torque said:

MassivePedantsHat

I think you'll find they make crankshafts on a grinding machine, not a milling machine.......... ;-)


/MassivePedantsHat





PistonHeads, where geekery is an artform

On one of those megafactories programs on Discovery, they definitely used a multi-tooled mill to make crankshafts. Can't be certain it was the Ferrari one but nonetheless...

Dosen't actually make it a mill, although i realise with multi axis machines these days it is a question of semantics to a large degree. If the work piece is revolving it ain't a mill broadly speaking ;-)

Definitely wasn't a grinder. It had a number of lathe cutting tools on a wheel that revolved as the crank revolved. It *cut* the crank - didn't grind it. I was surprised to be honest because I couldn't help but wonder how they got it perfectly round - each tool would cut a piece off and I thought would leave a flat or even concave "divot". And although the crank was rotating too, I just was rather amazed at both the speed of the operation, and that they can get it round this way.

[HiSpeedGas]

Well done to Ferrari, sod the reputation lets stand by our product and own up to it! If you ask me a few other makers could do with taking a leaf out of this book, Vauxhall with fire problems, was it clio's with bonnets flying up, the list goes on.

[h0b0]

toppstuff said:

I have to say it, but if this was McLaren I think PH would have people here rubbing their chin and wondering, sagely, if Ron had lost it and how the McLaren control mechanism had failed.

But because it's Ferrari, people forgive them.

Maybe it's just me. Much as I love Ferrari ( and, rather unfashionably, I would take a black California over a 458 every day) I still cannot forget that they are made in Italy by Italians. A decade of driving Alfa Romeos' has taught me that "passion" is often a euphemism for "lack of attention"...

IMO of course..

Ferrari have always been about passion McLaren about precision. That's the difference

[anonymous-user]

Anyone?

[vtecbwahhh]

I just hope nothing goes wrong with any other Ferrari V8 engine's (458/Cali) in time to come, but i suppose that's Ferrari for you.

[bertie]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Remember the Ferrari Machanical shop also make the Maserati V8 engines.

They haven't made 13,000 Californias and 458s by a long way.

[chris116]

I imagine someone will have got their arse kicked over this, it's normally a big fk up when engines get into service with this sort of problem.