Misfires

Blue smoke is oil...so it could be that the oil burning is fouling your plugs...perhaps the problem are not the injectors but the spark plugs getting fouled...

 

These misfires at idle can be very difficult to diagnose...I recall there was thread covering the same issue.

Make you sure check everything before you rule anything out...

Trying switching parts from one bank to another before buying anything.

Test everything, ECU, Coil Pack, Plug Wires, Spark Plug

Its either Spark or Fuel, or both...you need to narrow it down. Check your grounds as well...

If it is in fact fuel delivery, trying switching the injector and see if the problem "follows" the bad injector.

 

Hindsight now, but it's not a good idea to clean only a couple injectors and leave the rest. They all got fouled together, and they all should be cleaned together. Otherwise, you're liable to have some cylinders running richer or leaner than others, and that's not good for any engine.

If I were you, I'd pull the rest of them and have them cleaned, but find yourself another injector cleaner - $100 apiece is way too much even by Ferrari standards!

You may have one or more spark plug leads going bad too - so as a temporary troubleshooting measure you could pick up a couple good quality leads for another car with deep plug wells and a coilpack system, ie perhaps Ford EDIS leads would work.

The Ferrari plug leads can't be easily removed from their covers, so I'd just "carefully" disconnect them on both ends, then route the new lead(s) from the coilpack to the suspected cylinders and hold them in place temporarily with plastic ty-raps. Sounds mickey mouse, but it's only a test, not a long term solution.

If you find you have an ignition problem with one lead, your choices are to replace all six leads on one side, or I have a pretty cool COP (Coil on Plug) conversion that several 550 owners are running which might be interesting. Send me a PM for details.

 

What does you code mean? random misfire? If so, I might have a clue for you to check. As you well know, there are many reasons for a misfire code, but there are a couple easy known failures in these cars you might want to check. When I was misfiring in my 575 it was the intake gaskets and that is one well known weak spots to check. I could even hear it after someone clued me in.

 

I believe the computer is sensing one or more units misfiring, not necessarily the injector or the plug malfunctioning.
If your car smokes blue at start-up, it is definitely oil and the plugs would be the first thing I would check, as excessive oil would produce carbon deposits on the plugs.
If smoke is only present at cold start-up in the morning, it means the oil seepage is minimum, and is only happening during the night and / or during the time the car is not in use for an extended period of time with a cold engine.
When the engine is warm there is not enough seepage to be noticeable.

 

You should not need to replace the injectors: just have them serviced and tested by a shop equipped with the proper testing equipment.

 

Did the junk get past the filter into the injectors?

 

Thanks,

IMO this will happen again due to the cr@p plastics and cr@p gas we have today. It may take years for you to get to this point again. I wonder if Brian gave you any time frame for this to happen again. Anyway, looks like we need to , at least, find better filters. Junk really should not have got to the injectors but should have plugged the filter and killed the fuel to all the injectors.

 

Considering the millions of rubber pieces in there, even a 99.999% effective filter would not be able to prevent a few pieces making it to the injectors. Still, I am interested in what brand of filters were on the car?

Do you have a habit of having your tank full, or relatively empty? Based on cases I have seen myself I have the feeling that this happens more with cars that sit a lot, but especially so if they sit with relatively empty tanks.

Seeing this definitely makes me want to check and replace my fuel pump rubbers asap.

 

What's scary is that some injectors could be blocked more than others. This could lead to a lean condition in those cylinders. Not good......

I've looked for the micron & efficiency ratings for the OEM Bosch filters without much success. One reference from Bosch Motorsport says they're rated to filter down to 5 microns, but they don't give an efficiency rating. Baldwin's crossover to the Bosch filter are rated 12 microns without an efficiency rating. Canton's EFI rated filters go down to 1 microns, again without an efficiency rating: https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/product/25-908/25-908----CM--15-GM-EFI-INLINE-FUEL-FILTER-SHORT-16MM/

So just from the micron rating, it would appear the OEM Bosch filters are pretty good. We probably just need to get in the habit of changing them more often (like every major?) and perhaps cutting them up to see what they've caught. If they're full of rubber, then it's time to pull the fuel pumps and inspect the rubber cushions, etc.

Erik, do you have any idea when your filters were last changed?

 

Nice info on filtration efficiency: http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/1289/oil-filter-efficiency
The Beta rating is what to look for apparently.

 

Erik, did you find any info about when those filters were last changed? It would seem unlikely that all that fuel system degradation occurred within the last year or so, but perhaps the guy who changed the filters last time didn't think to cut them open and inspect them as Brian did.

 

Doing this repair on my 550 this winter and expect to see similar results, although (currently) there are no driveability issues....

 

Carl, based on the amount of rubber breakdown I saw in mine at 12 years, I surmised that if I replaced the gaskets every 10 years I would probably be okay. This doesn't allow for changes in fuel that may or may not occur during that time (? increase in ethanol in the fuels)

Regards,
Pete

 

Ethanol tends to seperate if the car sits a lot and causes rubber degredation. But if the same injector is fouling,I would perhaps do a leak down.?oil getting past valve guides when the car sits?