A friend bought a Hurricane Sandy water damaged 10 year old Ferrari
from NYC. Apparently it was in a flooded underground garage.

It is stuck in gear. The clutch throw out bearing used my annular
hydraulic cylinder invention I invented back in 1969.

You cannot get it out of gear without oil pressure. There is a DC
motor power pack that powers up when you operate the ignition key.
That is not working. Other than the electro hydraulic shift
mechanism, the six speed transmission is entirely conventional. See
the pictures.

Does anybody know how to get it out of gear with out the electrical
system working?

The transmission would be ideal for an RX8. The small displacement,
low torque, high HP rotary really needs a fast shifting transmission
like this. To get any kind of acceleration at high cruise speeds you
must shift down several gears in the RX8.

BTW the 3 rotor RX8 race car has beat this car in the Rolex GT
races.

Paul Lamar


Hi Paul


10 years ago I was project manager of automated manual transmissions at
Renault.
Our supplier was the same as Ferrari : Magneti Marelli.
Our system on Twingo, Clio, Trafic and Master is also called Selespeed
(a name from Magneti Marelli also used on Alfa Romeo)

The system on the Ferrari uses an XY arrangement which means X is
selection and Y is engagement.
If gearbox is stuck in gear then the engagement position sensor should
read a high (close to 5V) or a low value (close to 0V); it depends if an
odd or even gear is engaged. Middle value corresponding to neutral
position should give around 2,7 V (count for some dispersion from one
gearbox to another)

To get the engagement actuator from engaged to neutral you should apply
the same pressure (under normal operating conditions around 40 bar) on
both Y actuators (solenoid valves). The easiest way to do that is to put
12V on the electric pump till you get somewhere around 40 bar and then
cut the 12 V supply. The accumulator is then full. Then you apply 12 V
to both engagement solenoids. The piston should return to the middle
position. Do this with the car's wheels in the air so you don't get any
unnecessary resistance. The pump is normally controlled through a relay
and an analog pressure sensor with low pressure setting to activate the
pump and a high pressure setting to shut it off. (think of something
like 37-45 bar range)

The Renault AMT components are the same as those on the Ferrari (why
bother changing components if you know they work allright?)

In theory you can do this at standstill without disengaging the clutch.

The clutch doesn't use a pressure control on the solenoids but a flow
control. This is much more difficult to control if you don't have the
ECU with software attached to it.

I would suggest to test the sensor readings first.
You can also actuate both engagement solenoid valves first and then
launch the pump until engagement actuator changes position.

Perhaps it is just the relay that got salty water problem. Check if the
relay is actuated by the transmission control unit.
It could be as simple as that.

Good luck and if you want some live help call me on +33 6 1103 4127

Best regards

Randolph Toom
Paris - France

Unfortunately the entire electrical system is not functioning. We don't know how long it was under water.

Paul Lamar

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