Smokey Mondial: Normal?

My Mondial 8 "used" oil. I believe the manual says 1 qt for every 600 to a 1000 miles. But it been a long time and I'm not near my resources.

As far as the smoke, is it oil or coolant?

Also, I was told back then that these 2 vlv motors were nearly impossible to keep leak free.

 

Could be oil leaking from valve cover or somewhere else and getting onto the exhaust which would cause smoke.
I had never thought of this before but I'm wondering if you would smell it from the engine when your driving like you do in a front engine car or because the engine is behind you maybe you don't get the smell as your moving forward.

 

Hello Ken,

Sounds normal to me. All these old cars leak oil, seals are getting old and you can expect some drips. Don't start using synthetic oil, you will start getting more leaks everywhere. Conventional oil expands the seals better and holds it all in. The smoke you are describing sounds like oil on a hot manifold or exhaust. You want to try to see where the smoke/leak source is coming from. As far as the fuel gauge not being correct when fuel is low in tank, well that's normal too. My gauge works best when its full fuel, when it starts getting below mid level, it starts to go out of wack, swings towards empty and back and forth. I believe the Mondi 8 has a K-Jetronic system which is mechanical, with a high-pressure pump which streams fuel continuously to the injectors; it does not have a computer, just a few relays to handle the cold start sequence etc. Using injector cleaners won't hurt it, might clear out some of the old gas grime.

In general:
White smoke - water / coolant problem
Blue smoke - Oil problem
Black smoke - Fuel Problem

Best

 

smoke just from the "engine bay" is an oil leak getting burned off. With warm oil it will pool at the low spots of the heads/cam cover seal and drip out an onto the exhaust manifolds.

smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe specifically is internal

 

Hi Ken,

My 1986 3.2 started smoking about six months ago up through the engine vent grill. So bad I worried it might catch fire. So backed the car up onto jackstand ramps and found oil moving down the engine onto an exhaust port on the passenger side. Either a main or cam seal. These are not catastrophic repairs but local wrench could not get to it right away so I did the following. Not that I recommend the following.

Added one of each brand of engine seal more or less all at the same time. The smoke stopped almost at once but the car was using a quart of oil every tankful of gas. To my way of thinking that was just fine. Then something weird happened. After, perhaps, 1,500 miles the car stopped using oil. In fact it is still overfilled as an artifact of past months. All that stuff is still in there.

This car is my daily driver and I have put on 10,000 miles in the last two years. I got exhuberant at first and scattered a clutch plate back in 2013. Since then the only maintenance is a $450 NAPA Bosche starter. One thing you should know is two valve engines are prone to carbon build up on the valves. The photos I have seen remind me of my old man's 1956 Plymouth flat head.

This can actually be dangerous because the carbon insulates the valve from heat disipation. The valve can actually separate from the valve stem. I don't know what circumstances would cause this but speculate extended high rpms and high temps. BMW back in the 1980s used the same continuous fuel injection and cleaned off the valves with crushed walnut shells. I believe by running them through a running engine but am not sure of that.

I used carbon cleaner every tankful for a year and a half but there is controversy about techron. Anyway, my engine got WAY better. Also, I used 8oz of two cycle oil for the mechanical fuel injection every tank but have recently switched to Marvel Mystery Oil. It seems to be the additive of choice among those who do such things.

 

I do not know if your car has an O2 sensor or not. Mine does have one and when I took delivery of the car it would have a bit of sulphur smell from time to time which indicates rich. I attribute that to carbon build up in the cat. Why? Because after decarboning the system and running it vigourously that smell not only went away the car got WAY faster.

My K-Jet is adjustible for richness via a hex screw that is buried deep inside the base of the fuel distributor. It is located at about the 5 o'clock position. That mixture screw is factory sealed but mine had been opened up. So after the sulpher smell went away I opened it up and added 1/8 turn clockwise [I THINK it was clockwise] to richen it up. Just to make sure it ran cool for the valves. The check-engine light comes on from time to time which I suspect is a rich condition indicator but do not know for sure. I do not get a sulphur smell ever.

I suspect many of these cars have not been run much at higher rpms but I make it a practice 1) never to warm up at idle; 2) after warm up almost always shift at 4,000 rpms or above. I generally cruise at about 3,000 rpms or above. I also do lots of full throttle in normal driving. However, I seldom go anywhere near the red line since I once scattered the clutch plate doing so. However, my car pulls very well from 4,000 to 6,000+.

The brakes had not been exercised and would lock up irratically. So I tortured them. Not something I recommend to others, but I was getting billows of fumes in the cabin braking hard from 70mph. I am a "G" force guy and every time I am out driving I practice hard short stops and have gotten better and better at it.

There are a number of 'exotic car anxiety moments' you might encounter. Windshield wipers are weak, but mine got better with exercise and always use them in the car wash. I lost an entire bank of cylindars a couple of times but the first time one of the connectors had simply fallen off. The other time the bank came back on by itself but I poked at the wiring of the moduals and never have had a repeat. The modules themsleves are inexpensive. My vent fan died and was revived when I tucked the all the wiring back under the fuse box cover.

The cabin heater temp control stuck on. So I found the heater hose in the trunk and carefully clamped a needle nose pliers over it. The next year the regulator was working again but I keep the pliers in the trunk.

These are rather simple cars, and in my opinion quite rugged. My sister bought a 2009 used Buick the same time I bought the Ferrari and she has been towed in twice, a replacement tranny cost the same as the clutch I trashed early on, and I have never been towed in.

I am happy to provide any of my soothsayer advice any time.....

 

Sorry to hear that.

Turns out, the belt service is due, for time anyway.

However, the first time I changed the oil in my Mondial 8 I used Mobil 1. Well, it started to leak in numerous places. So I immediately switched back to conventional oil and the leaking stopped. Until a cam belt drive pulley bearing went bad later on...

About the sitting part? That's why I'm selling mine... just not enough time to properly exercise two Ferraris.

 

For better or worse, it's easier to buy than to sell.

But I hear ya about cars that sit. My post from another thread:

Having something as cool as a Ferrari to look forward to is a very good thing!