Ferrari Mailing List: F355 Spider Seat Problem Fix

[Charles Perry (charles]

For those of you with F355 spiders, you can sympathize with my
continuing headache with the seat position sensors that fail, which then
make the seats and/or the top inoperable.
 
I have replaced or repaired these sensors numerous times in my 7 years
of ownership and there have been related threads on FChat about
converting the 355 into a manual top to avoid the headache. I think I
have found a fix and wanted to share it.
 
A gentleman by the name of Jeff Carriker at Carriker's Automotive Repair
in Asheboro, NC is rebuilding the sensors such that the part that fails
(a small plastic ball/socket clutch inside the sensor) is no longer
used. This should fix the problem indefinitely (assuming the seat track
mechanism is never jammed on anything under the seat, which Jeff points
out). Jeff had me remove the seat tracks from the bottom of my seats and
send them to him. He rebuilt the sensors and I had my rails back in a
couple of days. He needs the whole rail (rather than just the sensor) so
that he can zero in the potentiometer to match the seat travel
(something the old but crappy clutch mechanism automated). Then you just
reinstall the seats and all is well - no SD2 needed or anything else
complex. If you're handy with a voltmeter you could probably zero them
yourself, but removing the rails wasn't awful.
 
He charges $350/seat, which seems like a lot, but the sensors are around
$160 each at Ricambi and mine were lasting, on average, about 18 months.
Multiply that by 2 seats and it pays for itself quickly enough. Moreso
if you've ever been stuck with your knees wedged in the dash and the sky
threatening rain when the sensors quit. Jeff is trying to get a couple
of sets of tracks converted so that he can just send them to people and
take their tracks back as a core exchange.
 
He can be reached at (336) 629-2886.
 
Anyway, the long-term durability of the fix is yet to be proven for me,
but I'll keep everyone posted. So far I'm a happy customer.
 
-- charles
 
 
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Charles G Perry IV
Vice-President, Engineering
 
Carolina Sound Communications - MuzaK
7630 Southrail Road, BLDG B
N. Charleston, SC 29420 
(843) 571-4488         www.carolina-sound.com
<http://www.carolina-sound.com/> 
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