Any California Ferrari Owners Denied of Emissions Warranty

I own a 2000 360Modena and recently my precats/exhaust manifolds and catalyst converters were damaged beyond repair while under California Emissions Warranty. Ferrari North America denied coverage for the repairs even though I have 7 years or 70,000 miles of extra warranty for emissions related component.

Does anyone here on the board or know of someone with a Ferrari ever been denied of emissions warranty coverage and if so what were the circumstances. Your participation in this thread is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: Note this is only for the 360Modena, it may be different for other Ferraris: An insert is provided in the Warranty Card and service book with California cars which comprehensively explains the coverage and the components that are covered under the Emissions Warranty. The covered components range from fuel pump to ECUs, TCM, Intake manifolds, Fuel Tanks, motorized throttle valve housings, secondary air pump, the catalytic converters and the exhaust manifolds with warm up three way catalytic converters and many more components.

How were the Cats damaged? Road incident? Debris? Adding Diesel to gasoline? Adding Leaded Octane enhancers? Continuing to drive while the "Slow Down" light was lit? Reamed with a wooden pole?

Ferrari blames the high octane fuel from Union 76 I occassionally mix with 91 to get close to 93 octane. There has been a fuel analysis by Ferrari and nothing turned up (i.e. no lead). There were no errors and no CEL and slow down warning! Kind of a bazzar failure and no reasonable answer. ARB is investigating and EPA is getting involved.

I would think that high octane fuel would be kinder to cats than low octane fuel. It burns at a lower temperature (slower) so the whole exhaust system is operating in more benign conditions. It, generally has lower amounts of sulphur and other things bad for cats then lower grades of gasoline. In the limit, 110 race gas is 40% tolulene and 45% xylene with 15% detergents and other additives that drop the octane from 116 (T+X) to 110 (T+X+<stuff>).

Mitch, thanks for your post. The issue is not high octane gas. Of course, all experts agree higher octane gas will not cause damage to the engine. And believe me it is besides the point. Ferrari has flipped flopped several times in the last few months and still no reasonable explanation. I think they throw something out there and expect the consumer to go away. I can tell you that they made a big mistake; I have loads of evidence, written correspondence, phone records and expert analysis.

The reason for this post is to find out if others have gone through what I am going through and learn from their experience. And if I am at fault I will be more than happy to disclose the data so others can learn from it. Believe it is a very expensive proposition and others should pay attention and chime in.

Hi Matt,

I recently called F of SF and told them both of my CATs were making lots of rattling noise. I asked if they were covered under warranty and they said maybe, they need the car. I told them I am at least 3 hours away and would rather FedEx them since I already removed them. I was told they would not cover them unless I took the car to them. I also called FNA in NJ, and they told me I had to work it out with a local dealer.

Not sure what I should do next, I really do not want to waste a lot of time. I purchased hyper-flow cats and they are working out good. Although, Friday I heard a F355 with no cats and a Tubi and I loved that sound.

Hi Tony,

The manufacturer is obligated to examine your cats and determine if the failure is due to abuse or due to other reasons. If you have performed your schedule maintenance (both EPA and ARB are very lenient regarding maintenance) and you have not been in an accident and you have not modified your ECU to gain more HP (i.e. timing and Air/Fuel ratio) you should be covered.

It sounds like the fabric that holds the cats in place has broken loosened the cat in the chamber and that's why you get the rattling noise.

I don't know about the hyper flows but if you ever want to sell the car most people prefer stock equipment to aftermarket. So I suggest at least trying to replace them under warranty (8ears/80K miles). These cats are pretty expensive (about $5k each).

Matt

Hi Matt,

The only real mod I did is put on the Tubi muffler. I hit a deer which caused some paint chipping on the front bumper.... but while braking and trying to avoid the deer I hit a 4 inch high curb which did more damage to the front bumper and right wheel.

The cats where making noise before hand. I had the hyper-flows put in while the car was being repaired. Now I am not sure if I should even bother with FoSF. I still have the old Cats.
Thanks again,
--tony

Tony,

Check your PM!

Cheers,
Matt

[Major Chili]

Matt,
I was told last week by my dealer who is performing the 15K service on my 2005 360 Spider that one of my exhaust manifolds has a crack and is leaking. They said that it was not covered under warranty. Please contact me off line at frank@carguytour.com
Needless to say i am not very happy about it.