[ergoproxy]

Public roads, slow but spirited, about half throttle, 6000RPMs, track/track, and having an incredibly good time. Then came blue smoke and odd smell. No visible or audible dash alerts. Normal oil and water temp, gray bars to the middle. One mile from home so cooled off on secondary road, then parked to find puddle of greasy bluish liquid in my garage. Output largely stopped when engine shut down. Source of trickle appeared to be right middle of tray. After speaking with the tech I hoped for a seal leak on the active suspension but the sweet greasiness is silicone based coolant. White smoke on start up says bad things to me. Car is in for service.

Fluid whodunit, per the tech:
transmission: (2) clear and brown
active susp: green
coolant--see pic

Not too upset, and a little amused. This is the price of supercar admission, sooner or later. I'd already made up my mind to not let stuff get me down. It's the coolest car I've ever owned.

 

[extremeride22]

That's a very positive out look / disposition to have when things go awry, specifically when they are completely out of our control. Also its quite ironic that a Ferrari FF shows up at the scene on a flatbed or is that my imagination playing tricks on me. Well good luck with the little misadventure. Cheers.....??

 

[timborama]

Also its quite ironic that a Ferrari FF shows up at the scene on a flatbed or is that my imagination playing tricks on me

He's in Central US and the FF and flatbed have Europlates. I think his point was, ALL supercars have their issues regardless of brand.

 

[extremeride22]

He's in Central US and the FF and flatbed have Europlates. I think his point was, ALL supercars have their issues regardless of brand.

I wasn't paying that much attention, yet the point was well made. Cheers...??

 

[timborama]

Let us know what the leak issue turns out to be. I've heard of others with loosening hose clamps.

 

[ergoproxy]

I took the FF pic in London in January. Hot pink obscuring the plates seemed appropriate given the F70 name. My car is in capable hands at McLaren Chicago. The pics are unrelated, excepting the probably sad owners.

 

[ergoproxy]

Update:
As suggested, a loose hose clamp. Tightened and all other hoses inspected. Car back home tomorrow.
Yippee!

Other observations:
Handling: No jitteriness, it wants to center up and wants to turn predictably. No incessant corrections or rear engine spookiness. And a great steering wheel for my small hands.

Brakes: Ceramics a bit tough to modulate but preternaturally strong, anti dive effect is awesome. Sits on the spot.

Looks fast sitting still. Not so subtle idle-imbalanced flat crank 8. Charming.

Exhaust: Bit of soft drone, persists with ISG minimized. It's quite loud to observers, and that can't be muted.

Lift--too slow. Really have to plan ahead.

Front license tag--not happening yet. Will test the waters.

 

[Tarrow701]

Glad it was an easy fix and there were no cascading negative effects. Have fun with it this weekend. Just curious, was the loose hose clamp considered a "defect" and fixed under warranty or damage/wear & tear and charged back to you?

 

[LimeyBloke]

Timborama,
Are these loose hose clamps an early serial number issue ?? Can some pro-active tightening be worthwhile ? If so, anyone know which clamps are suspect ?

 

[CA_MP4]

Good to hear it was a minor defect, there is hope no secondary damage came as result of it, i.e. overheating with resulting risk of warped heads und such. I would still keep a close eye on the coolant level to be sure there was no air pocket due to low coolant level.

BTW - I find your comment about the shaking idle curious, for me, the shaking is somewhat embarrassing considering even a Corvette has a smother idle, but I suppose its the price we have to pay for an engine that is based on a race engine - which are all flat crank designs.

Update:
As suggested, a loose hose clamp. Tightened and all other hoses inspected. Car back home tomorrow.
Yippee!

Other observations:
Handling: No jitteriness, it wants to center up and wants to turn predictably. No incessant corrections or rear engine spookiness. And a great steering wheel for my small hands.

Brakes: Ceramics a bit tough to modulate but preternaturally strong, anti dive effect is awesome. Sits on the spot.

Looks fast sitting still. Not so subtle idle-imbalanced flat crank 8. Charming.

Exhaust: Bit of soft drone, persists with ISG minimized. It's quite loud to observers, and that can't be muted.

Lift--too slow. Really have to plan ahead.

Front license tag--not happening yet. Will test the waters.

 

[timborama]

Timborama,
Are these loose hose clamps an early serial number issue ?? Can some pro-active tightening be worthwhile ? If so, anyone know which clamps are suspect ?

No specific builds, can occur on any apparently.

 

[ergoproxy]

Glad it was an easy fix and there were no cascading negative effects. Have fun with it this weekend. Just curious, was the loose hose clamp considered a "defect" and fixed under warranty or damage/wear & tear and charged back to you?

Under warranty

 

[ergoproxy]

Good to hear it was a minor defect, there is hope no secondary damage came as result of it, i.e. overheating with resulting risk of warped heads und such. I would still keep a close eye on the coolant level to be sure there was no air pocket due to low coolant level.

BTW - I find your comment about the shaking idle curious, for me, the shaking is somewhat embarrassing considering even a Corvette has a smother idle, but I suppose its the price we have to pay for an engine that is based on a race engine - which are all flat crank designs.

The shaking seems moody and fierce to me. I can imagine it would annoy passengers, esp the uninitiated. A few years ago Chris Harris commented of a rough idling GT3, "They did that on purpose."

Hopefully no secondary damage. I'm worried about white smoke I saw on a subsequent start up. Hard to believe I could get it super hot with no oil or coolant alarm and no limp mode. The service guys said no consequences as well. What should I do? I'm planning to really thrash it, like immediately. As a test

 

[LimeyBloke]

ergo,
When you pick it up, can you please ask them where/which clamps were loose ?
Thanks

 

[ergoproxy]

Limey--
Sir, the tech says there are two coolant circuits and that draining one still allows decent flow in the other. The specific leakage sites on my February 2013 build 12C (two):

"Right intercooler upper hose clamp and right side lower reservoir hose clamps"

Not clear whether installed improperly, loosened with vibration/temp changes, or just faulty. Sounds like a subcontracted part issue. Odd that the issue is intermittently popping up as opposed to a certain parts batch.

Cheers
Jon