| Author | Message | ||
| Tillman Strahan (Tillman)
Member Username: Tillman Post Number: 308 Registered: 11-2001 |
Update: Due to my schedule and my wife's desire to drive the car, I took it down to Norwood's to be worked on. Naturally, it ran fine there. Everything spec'd out fine, so the thought was that the combination of water coming in the torn boot plus a light seeping of oil into the distributor from the seal created the problem. Norwood's replaced the seal and the boot, changed the plugs and checked everything out. The car's back and running fine. Thanks everyone for your help | ||
| Bill V. (Doc)
Junior Member Username: Doc Post Number: 226 Registered: 9-2001 |
Dave--one has to be careful in washing these engines. I apparently ruined a pickup sensor on my '85QV using Gunk in cleaning my engine and one of my banks cut out also. Another thing to watch out for when washing the engine is getting water into the breather holes for the clutch--I've done that twice also. Strange creatures, these Ferraris. | ||
| Dave328GTB (Hardtop)
Member Username: Hardtop Post Number: 381 Registered: 1-2002 |
Tillman, You can just pull back the rubber distributer covers. I would check each resister very carefully for tiny holes burned through. These are the most likely parts to fail when wet. Dave | ||
| Tillman Strahan (Tillman)
Member Username: Tillman Post Number: 278 Registered: 11-2001 |
Thanks for the help, here's the update: Fuel, Compression, Air, Spark. The first three are fine, but I think the last is problematic. The front bank plugs were fine (but curses are due the team who designed that access!). The rear bank plugs were completely fouled and wet with fuel. I cleaned them up, but there was no change. I did go looking for plugs, but I couldn't find any at the three places I checked. I'm going to try to order some online tonight. I found a tear in the top of the rubber cover of the rear bank distributor, so I suspect that there's water in that distributor. Is there any trick to removing that rubber cover, or should I just pull it off? I'd hate to break anything  Any tips for verifying the spark at the plug? Is it like an American V8, where you just remove the plug wire, set it near a ground and listen for the pop? Thanks again | ||
| Jeff B. (Miltonian)
New member Username: Miltonian Post Number: 26 Registered: 12-2002 |
Steve's advice is right on, most likely water in one or more plug holes. Couple of things to consider: 1) Running the engine with a misfire like this can wash down the oil on cylinder walls - bad deal. Run it as little as possible until diagnosed and fixed. 2) Spark plugs do not always respond to cleaning and drying after being "wet fouled". Sometimes they are just plain burned out and need to be replaced. I've seen this DOZENS of times when I was working at Acura. Good luck, it shouldn't be hard to fix. | ||
| Steve (Steve)
Member Username: Steve Post Number: 262 Registered: 2-2001 |
If it is a miss fire after being washed then it will most likely be electrical.Some of the ignation components are wet. I would start by blowing out the engine compartment with compressed air.The worst case situation would be if you have water or condensation in the distributor caps or in the spark plug holes.I had rain come in and filled the #5 plug hole which shorts out the plug and then fouls it. I had to blow out the hole and remove and clean the plug.If these 2 areas don't solve it then you need to look at the coils and then the ing. modules.Another quick diag. is to start the car in a dark area and see if you have arching between any wires.These cars should run in wet weather but when you wash them you sometimes get water in places that rain can't normally get in. | ||
| Craig Dewey (Craigfl)
Member Username: Craigfl Post Number: 517 Registered: 1-2001 |
I would start with the ignition system. Plug wires, extenders and make sure the red seals for the wires going thru the cam covers aren't leaking. The heavy fuel odor may be from a complete bank not firing. | ||
| Tillman Strahan (Tillman)
Member Username: Tillman Post Number: 277 Registered: 11-2001 |
So I decided to knock some of the dirt off the car today, and pulled it into the driveway for a washing. I used low pressure and never sprayed the engine compartment directly. After the washing, the car is very hard to start, doesn't want to hold an idle, sounds _terrible_ and I can smell a heavy fuel odor. Obviously I have at least 1 misfire in there now. I'm guessing whenever whatever it is dries out, the car will be OK again. Surely these things are designed to run when it's raining, so where/how should I start troubleshooting? I didn't have any problems before today. Thanks |