"Slow Down" Ferrari Question
 

On the Ferrari 308/328 cars what did the "slow down" indicator light mean other than it's obvious instruction? It seems counter productive as to its intended purpose as a car. :confused:

something to placate the safety nannies?

Tom W

I dunno,but there is a fellow here familiar with Eyetalian Iron so mayhaps he'll read this.........

I believe powerpig has one of these specific cars, he would probably know.

check Ferrarichat.com

the slow down is not a good thing, its Ferrari's version of "limp home".

A posted on ferrarichat said that the "slow down" light comes on when the catylytic converter gets too hot!

Wouldn't that be solved with a bigger cat and larger diameter exhaust?

and here I thought the "slow down" indicator were the 85 mph speedometers.

The engine on a 308 is actually two banks of four cylinders each. Slow down is pretty much a limp home as someone said but will also indicate something is wrong with one of the banks. These are idiot lights for each bank. A street driver should pretty much never see the slow down light come on. It`s in there because Enzio felt he was building race cars, not street cars.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...erraridash.jpg

Interesting, so how are the banks feedback linked to the indicator lights?

The banks operate in a "sync" mode. When racing, you have the choice to slow down or turn one of the banks off. I have lost a bank and was able to get home at 70mph.

That is a fail safe system to run the car on 4 cylinders? There are dual fuel and electrical systems to allow that sort of operation?

Yes, there are two ignition systems and two computers. When you first start it, it takes a moment for the two systems to sync up. One of the computers in mine failed and the bank went out. I was able to get it home and install another computer. Glad someone posted this as it reminded me to make an appointment with the Ferrari shop for the yearly once over.

Do I spy a piece of tape in one of those pics PP?

Glad to help :)

Speaking of which, has your 308 been mechanically problematic in terms of ownership?

Wow, a real life exotic car owner on this board -- Refreshing! :)

There was another guy with either a 308 or 328, forgot his handle. Hasn't posted here in a long time... Used to take it to the track quite a bit.