How to check my oil level (F430) ?

I am continually stunned by how many people ask questions here that are answered in the owner's manual, or problems that arise from not reading it! I think we should have a sticky admonishing people to read their manuals before asking questions.

Dave

 

Be careful telling people to read the manual. You have no idea the hate mail I get from this place from people not wanting to be told that.

This is a 360 from a couple of weeks ago. The other shop diagnosed it as a head gasket failure. I wonder how many head gasket jobs are sold because of this?

We sucked almost 2 quarts out of the plenums.
It was about 3/4 inch deep.

Oh well, hire second rate people and you get second rate results.


If it wasn't for fixing screwups we would have to lay people off. I've said it a thousand times, the cars are very reliable, most problems are as a result of human intervention.
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Wow, an expensive fog machine .

 

They can't be bothered. They would rather ask someone they do not know on the internet and get 3rd hand inaccurate information.

 

Holy smokes.

 

seen that all to often. Cost one fellow new cat converters, o2 sensors, and removal of the intake as Brian has showen to get all the oil out.

 

I can't remember how many times I have read the stories on here about problems that happen to Ferraris because morons that own these cars can't read. We ought to have a banner across the top of this site. READ THE FRICKIN OWNERS MANUAL BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THIS CAR; ie; if all else fails read the instructions. At least Brian can benefit from this stupidity. Regards, Vern

 

You are distorting the truth. I READ the manual, but it specifies a Shell brand fluid which is not available here. When I called you to ask about which fluid to substitute for it, you curtly said "READ THE MANUAL, PUT IN WHAT IT SAYS". So I emailed you to cancel my appointment, but there was no hate in my mail.

 

A simple sticker on the oil filler cap would save this headache from occurring so frequently.

Yes, people *should* read the owner's manual. However, if you've ever read an Owner's Manual for an American car you know that it will inevitably be filled with pablum meant for avoiding lawsuits rather than useful info...

...so first-time Italian car buyers should be given a little forgiveness for thinking that we shouldn't be in a rush to read said manual.

That car in your picture...that was my 348 the first morning that I woke up with her at home. 800 mile roadtrip through a hurricane to get her home. Slept. Woke up the next morning and thought "I'll just go check the car out to see how she handled the roadtrip."

Yeah, I should have read the owner's manual first, but I didn't. No salesman warned me about checking the oil hot, either.

So I checked the oil that morning with a cold engine and freaked out! Added a bunch of oil, started her up...fogged the freaking neighbors in!

Called Ferrari of Atlanta (not where I purchased the car) and the mechanic there ("Chris") chuckled a little and said "Oh, you saw a bit of white smoke today!" Then he told me to drain the excess oil, clean the intake tubes, MAFs, and air filter/box. Oh, "and be sure to just check the oil when the engine is hot in the future."

OK. Now I've got it.

...but would it have *really* pained Ferrari to have had a simple label on the oil fill cap?

I mean, think about it, your gas cap has a label that says "unleaded fuel only" on or near it...like you can even *find* leaded gasoline anywhere! That message is in our Owner's Manual, too.

Yet our oil caps don't warn us to only check the oil level when full.

Sheesh. A little label would go a long way here.

 

FYI, I'm in the states and I can buy leaded 100 octane fuel near me (yes, at a regular gas station and it's just another pump, not buying it in drums as race gas or anything). If not for tons of warnings, most people wouldn't know the difference and cats would be smoked every other day. As for a sticker on the oil cap, oil changes are not always done by the owner, they should be done by those who are capable of working on the vehicle. Although it is considered basic maintenance, so is a brake job, and half of you probably don't do that on your own. Pumping gas, however, is done by the owner on a regular basis. That's the difference, if you don't want to read the manual when doing things such as checking oil, take your Ferrari to a Jiffy Lube. They'll RTFM as everyone is saying and get it right.

 

That's such complete rubbish.

Somehow you've managed to rationalize that putting a label on an oil cap is bad, though you can't say why it would be bad to have.

Oh, and putting a label on the gas cap is good, even though you seem to be the only newbie around who can find leaded gasoline.

Sheesh...
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I never said it would be bad to put a label on the oil cap, I'm rationalizing why it's more necessary to put it on the gas cap. As for being the only one, I don't know what to tell you about that, It's always been around me. So here's his rationalization... It didn't say what to do, so I just went off and did it on my own. Does that make more sense than my statement? That's like saying "my automatic transmission dipstick didn't say to check the level in park or neutral, so I just checked it in park." Congratulations, it won't be accurate if it's a Chrysler. Does that mean it's the manufacturer's fault for not putting procedures on the dipstick (as many others do), or is it your own fault for not finding out?

 

Much better post. Those are legitimate points.

Here's the answer: when a manufacturer sees or anticipates an obvious, common user error, it should proactively label something.

For instance, kids in the front seat: airbag warning label for such cars.
Unleaded Fuel Only: for modern cars (especially if an area sells leaded gas).

Now, if checking the transmission level in the wrong gear means only a half-quart error that won't cause a problem one way or the other, then no label is needed...but if overfilling by a half-quart could cause a tranny problem, then put a label for the right gear on the dipstick.

Same for the oil cap. Wet sump cars don't need a label on the oil cap (though putting the type of oil to use there would be clever).

But for dry sump Ferraris, where checking the engine when cold could convince an unsuspecting owner (well, thousands of us) to add too much oil into the car, then yeah, add a label to the oil cap to only check the level when the engine is warm, etc.

 

Well, I'm obviously no Ferrari owner at 19, I can only dream... And I can understand exactly where you're coming from if a problem were to occur because there was no warning such as there is on most cars. I wouldn't completely fault someone for overfilling their oil in a car like that, but on the contrary I can't blame the manufacturer, either.

As for the transmission story, Chrysler transmissions (especially for their RWD models) don't allow ATF to circulate through the system when in park, it locks the L/R clutches in the transmission and ceases flow. With no flowing ATF, you might as well check it with the car off, very inaccurate. Just a tidbit of useless information. ;-)

 

Well, it's not really *blaming* the manufacturer...it's more a comment on professionalism.

If you've got people driving in via your busy docking exit ramp, then a professional will proactively put up a sign that says "Exit Only" instead of telling each driver that he's so stupid that he's driving in the wrong way (after the fact).

Yeah, the drivers should know. If they had half a brain they'd see the other traffic and clue in, or they'd read the map that clearly labels the entrace and exit. So you don't have to blame the dock/ramp people...but you wouldn't call them very professional if they stayed reactive (e.g. yelling at stupid drivers) rather than being proactive (e.g. putting up the sign).

The classic example of the above is San Diego Harbor. Right at its entrance SDH has this lengthy underwater (barely!) jetty that is *clearly* marked on the charts, but there's no sign and just two marker buoys...so each year boat after boat drives over the jetty, hits the submerged rocks, and sinks in waste deep water.

Yeah, it's marked on the charts. Yes, the boats that sink were being stupid by not refering (or deferring) to the charts...but it's also pretty p!ss poor "professionalism" for SDH to not bother with being proactive (e.g. a visible fence with signs along the length of the submerged hazard).

I mean, it's not SDH's job to be your nanny with signs everywhere...but on the other hand it reeks of amatuerish snobbery for SDH to let a known hazard go essentially unmarked.

So there are two sides to the story. Do you want to advocate professionalism or do you just want to yell at stupid boat/car owners?

 

Look at the difference in plenums, this one has separate spun trumpets pressed in.
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Haha, point taken. I still think you should read an owner's/service manual before you touch anything on a car, especially a Ferrari where so many things are particular/unique compared to most vehicles. But hey, everyone makes mistakes, and I'll agree 100% that Ferrari could do a better job of helping you avoid them. Hmm, I'm not used to people I debate with on a forum being mature enough to keep it civil through the disagreement, this is a nice change of pace from 300ZXClub.com.

 

Who's talking about you?

Between the phone calls and emails I get 50 or more a week from people all over the country that want me to assist them in fixing their car for free. Most often from people that will never be a paying client and most often from people who seek an answer that can be had from the owners manual. I spend a great deal of time with many of them. I have loaned books and given away parts. Some people use my time wisely and benefit from it. Your 2 phone calls took more time than just fixing your car would have taken and one of them was spent trying to explain to you what was printed in black and white in front of you.

As to your appointment. There are 2 of us within a 400 mile radius that are equipped, experienced and factory trained on your car. If you are not interested in my services you really wont like the other guy.

Good luck.

 

I am going to agree with you wholeheartedly. Here's the drill. Whatever you buy be it a Ferrari, a yacht(boat manuals are notoriously useless) , or any other expensive piece of equipment . Do two things. Get a briefing from the senior service technician. Then go home and read the manual cover-to-cover. If you have further questions, go back to the service technician. Take notes. In my case:

Check the oil in the 360 after it is hot and immediately after shutting down.
Check the oil in the 575M after it is hot AND with the engine running.

If you have no oil spot in the garage and you get a low reading, check again and ask before acting. What could it hurt?

 

LOL! Well said. By the way, I *loved* my '84 300ZX, but when I owned it back in 1983 there was no 300ZXClub.com...the "internet" back then was comprised of a few dialup BBS's and DARPAnet, which wasn't quite as live and let live as chat forums of today, and your userid+password just to log on took more characters of typing than did this post.

 

Haha, old fart... Well, unfortunately '84s are slow as balls... But we're not gonna go there. I have a 93 TT myself, it's my 'tweener until I can afford a real car (Porsche, Ferrari, etc.) I'm just happy that I can debate a point here without being "flamed", if we had our disagreement on 3ZC and you were a typical member it would've ended in "WTF FGT GTFO HOMO"... Most of them have the mindsets of 13 year olds. It does feel odd being here though, where the majority of the members are over double my age by a good margin ;-)

 

Haha, old fart... Well, unfortunately '84s are slow as balls... But we're not gonna go there. I have a 93 TT myself, it's my 'tweener until I can afford a real car (Porsche, Ferrari, etc.) I'm just happy that I can debate a point here without being "flamed", if we had our disagreement on 3ZC and you were a typical member it would've ended in "WTF FGT GTFO HOMO"... Most of them have the mindsets of 13 year olds. It does feel odd being here though, where the majority of the members are over double my age by a good margin and have a monthly income of double what I'll make in a year in my prime... ;-)

 

Haha, old fart... Well, unfortunately '84s are slow as balls... But we're not gonna go there. I have a 93 TT myself, it's my 'tweener until I can afford a real car (Porsche, Ferrari, etc.) I'm just happy that I can debate a point here without being "flamed", if we had our disagreement on 3ZC and you were a typical member it would've ended in "WTF FGT GTFO HOMO"... Most of them have the mindsets of 13 year olds. It does feel odd being here though, where the majority of the members are over double my age by a good margin and have a monthly income of double what I'll make in a year in my prime... ;-)