348 oil comsumption

My 348 burns no oil, leaks no oil.

First, repeat your oil check with the engine running and temp gauges showing activity (i.e. warm or hot).

Second, watch your exhaust when you first start your car with a cold engine. Do you see gray/bluewhite smoke?

Third, examine your radiator fluid for oil contamination.

 

Are you totally sure it isn't leaking oil? Most people just look at the valve covers, and if there is no leaking they think everything is fine. Not only do you need to look at gaskets on the valve cover but you need to check the condition of the cam seals. If everything checks out there then you will want to have a look under the car to make sure that you don't have any oil coming out of the two weep hole on the bottom, for the rear main seal. Then you have the connections for the oil line going to the tank from the block, the line going to the oil cooler from the sump, plus the cover on the bottom of the oil tank. Then there is the issue of the oil plugs.

So, make sure you have checked EVERYTHING before you assume you aren't leaking oil.

 

The owners manual says it uses about a liter of oil every 600km. That explains why so many people find their cars low on oil.

 

I'm not a 348 expert, but older cars tend to burn some oil. My 328 was down half a quart over 800 miles or so. No blue smoke, runs great, minor oil leak right now but not enough to account for half a quart.

 

That's what my owner's manual says and I find it to be true. It's important to check it regularly. It's a nice ritual when you stop for gas (and a good time to show off that gorgeous motor). As for being good for the car, it's not ideal, but keep in mind that most cars carry only 5 quarts, so don't panic. The big deal is heat. A 200 cubic inch motor generating 300 horsepower is making a lot of heat in a small area, so oil breakdown is a factor. That's also why many people have gone to synthetic. It has much greater capacity to deal with the heat without breaking down. 3 gallons of oil is a lot easier to keep cool than 5 quarts. At any given time, there's probably not more than 2 or 3 quarts in the motor itself, so don't worry too much that you've done engine damage. The system is designed for VERY high performance use and quite adequate for any track usage-high loads at high rpm. Street driving like we usually do is an extremely light load on that system. Think about it..this system could do hours of laps at the track. Atsa lotta trips to the 7-11.

 

Also, I think oil helps to cool the engine, and I'd surmise that the Ferrari engineers came up with the oil capacity based in part on that. So, I'd suggest the reverse - that the harm that can be done by being low on oil (besides reduced lubrication/pressure) would be the engine running hotter than it needs to.

Not sure any harm was done here, but I check the Ferrari oil level far more frequently than on my daily driver.

 

Oh man, I'm no expert. I'm just a 348 owner like you.

Obviously you will want to add 2 to 3 quarts of your favorite 10w40 synthetic (I like Red Line).

I'd suggest pulling your spark plugs (all would be best, but at least pull one) to examine for oil/fouling.

Other than that, keep a close eye on your oil pressure gauge (hey, that's why it's dead center in your console) and regularly monitor your temps.

See how many miles it takes for you to go a quart or two low. If you go 250 or more miles without being a quart low, then I'd just write off the experience as that of someone before you not filling up the oil level properly...especially if your spark plugs aren't fouled.

Nice job on doing the tests, by the way. That paper towel trick is clever.

 

I suspect the smoke you're discribing is condensation in the exhaust ect.
being burnt off when the engine is cold.
my 348 does the same thing, it's water vapor, not oil.
clears up in short order while the engine is warming up.

 

Hi,

I agree with Tamf328 it will be water vapour.

Sounds about the right level of oil useage for the miles that you have driven the car, my Spider uses about the same level and that`s not burning any oil either.

Keep a closer eye on the level as you use it, one more point use a Nomex glove when you check the level that nice ali cap gets really hot!!

Regards,
Phil.

 

My 348 runs like all my other cars on Mobil1 0W40 fully synt.
I've done about 5500 miles now and my car uses NO oil.

But there are several cars which use oil.. cars that always have to do higher rpm's when the oil etc is still cold..

This Mobil1 is the best there is, don't use Shell for heaven's sake...

Eh.. you do know that you have to check the oil with the car running huh ?
I noticed nobody mentioning it here in this particular tread...

 

Right. Likewise, it's my understanding that if you have water physically dripping out of your exhaust, that you are running too rich (a correctable problem).

 

According to the 348 Workshop Manual, page A7 "Oil Consumption-.21 to .42 Gal./600 mis. according to driving and other conditions"

Poster's note: Soooo....if your car's not using any oil, you're not driving it hard enough!

 

Just picked up my first Ferrari (328 GTS) in August and am loving it.

It has a little oil leak on the passenger side behind the oil pan and gearbox pan. What little I can see by wiggling under and looking sideways, it seems to be coming from up high. Also, the shifting has seemed to get a bit more difficult. Being in Chicago and it is getting cold, the second gear is often a surprise if it works on a cold start, but seems to be fine after warming up. How often would the oil leak be from the gearbox? I cannot tell if it is motor oil or not as the spot on the floor is about 3 inches in diameter after about a week of sitting.

Thanks

 

Guilty as charged...



(hey, you try pushing your 348 hard with your 4 year old sitting next to you listening to Veggie Tales!)

 

OIL 101-notes from a 40-year shadetree mechanic about oil.

The oil serves 2 primary functions in the motor.

1. LUBRICATION
The oil lubricates the turning and sliding parts. The turning parts (crankshaft, cams) are generally lubricated under pressure through passages drilled in the block and heads, under pressure supplied by the oil pump. Our motors have two oil pumps. One oil pump picks up oil from the sump. That's the oil that has just been through the motor lubricating it. That oil is hot and contains the microscopic particles of metal that have worn from the engine surfaces. It's then pumped through the cooler to the oil tank where you check the oil. The other oil pump picks up oil from the oil tank and pumps it through the filter and the motor. The sliding parts (pistons, valves, cam followers) are generally lubricated by "slosh" or overflow from the clearances between the turning parts and their respective bearing surfaces. These clearances will get larger as wear progresses, thus increasing slosh and decreasing pressure. It follows then that the last areas in the motor to receive oil are the most heavily affected by wear. Control of wear is the job of the oil. It's not possible to eliminate wear, but it can be slowed down. Later, I'll discuss how lubrication issues contribute to cam belt life. Totally preventing consumption of oil during the lubrication is technically impossible. Why? Lubrication of the cylinder walls and secondarily, the valve stems. The cylinder walls are lubricated by slosh as the piston goes up, then wiped nearly clean by the rings as they go down. The key word is "nearly". The cylinders have microscopic grooves in them to promote sealing during combustion, and lubrication. The oil left on the cylinder walls is either burnt during compression or later scraped from the cylinder wall by the rings and returned, partially carbonized, to the sump. That's why older oil is black and thick-the carbon.

2. CLEANING

As described, above, the oil is the primary cleaning agent in the mechanical system. The carbon from the oil singed in the combustion process and the particles from wearing parts is returned to the sump in the oil and pumped back through the system. Hopefully the oil filter picks up most of these little buggers. That's why a good filter is important. The better the filter element, the more of that crap that will be trapped before being pumped back through the motor as abrasives. There used to be "detergent" and "non-detergent" oils. I haven't heard that term lately.

Side notes:

As the oil is pumped throughout the motor through the oil passages under pressure, it seeps out into the areas that are lubricated by slosh. So, as it's pumped through, it loses pressure, ultimately all into the sump. So, the last place to receive pressurized oil (the end of the pressure line, so to speak) is the first area to be affected by loss of pressure through wear and subsequent friction. Guess where that is? Right, the cams. Guess where we worry most about failure? Right again, the cam belt! So changing your oil increases belt life. Kinda pretzellogic, but true.

Garage queens: The weight of the parts in the motor displaces the oil in the areas bearing the weight of the parts. Lower areas of the main bearings, lower surfaces of the cylinders where the rings and pistons rest, cam followers. These surfaces are subject to unlubricated wear and friction when the motor is started and until oil reaches them. That may be why they have cam belt problems and are subject to increased wear. How often was that extremely low mileage car started and run while sitting?

I hope Rifledriver and Dave Helms and anybody else have more to contribute here, adding info and correcting any errors.

 

According to the factory 348 Workshop Manual, p. B10
"To check the oil level, run the engine at tickover (idle) for several minutes (oil temperature greater than 70 deg. C) and then check the level immediately after stopping the engine."

 

Mine uses some oil as well - but as plugzit notes the owner's manual suggests that will happen so I'm not fussed about it.

Also I do drive the crap out of mine and it is now over 48,000 miles.

Cheers
Kevin

 

You might want to post this in the Technical section, or maybe the 308/328/Mondial section.

One thing you probably already know is that 2nd gear access in the 308/328 sometimes requires that the oil be warmed a bit. Colder weather would delay that. It's very common for 2nd gear to be unavailable for a couple of minutes after startup.

Another recommendation - something I do for my 328 - is to get either vinyl garage floor covering or tile under your car. Old Ferrari's drip stuff, but if you can wipe the floor clean it makes it easier get a sample of whatever is dripping (gear oil, motor oil, antifreeze, Moretti beer...) and assess the amount.

Congrats on it, 328s are great cars. I've had mine nearly a year and had only trivial issues.

 

Best answer yet (LOL).

Regards,
Phil.

 

I have to add about 1/2 qt every 500 miles. I can see where it goes, onto my garage floor.

 

I always thought you checked oil in the sump with the engine running. Does this change the reading any? Dumb question, but where does the oil in the sump go when the engine is cold?

 

When the engine is running, the oil is returning to the tank from the engine. The turbulence in the tank from that gives a false reading. When the engine is off, the oil slowly leaks back into the sump by gravity. Another reason not to rev a cold engine.