I am looking for a 355. How can you tell if new Valve Guides are needed? Low compression? Leak down failure? High Oil consumption? Smoke coming out tail pipe? Concerning the last one, I test drove a Berlinetta today. Everything was fine for the first 10 miles. I got off and then back on the Freeway. On the onramp I took it up to 7000 in 2nd and 3rd gear. I swear, only 7000 rpm. Sounded great. A mile later, I looked out the back and there as bellows of gray smoke coming out the back. I was going about 70 mph in 5th gear. I backed off the throttle. It cleared up and then started smoking again. For about a mile the smoke came and went. Then everything was fine. I never floored the throttle again. Could this be valve guides? After we got back to his place, we looked under the car and in the engine compartment. No oil. Thanks for your help. Enzo
Not good! Take the car to a qualified Ferrari mechanic to be evaluated. Could be minor but with so many fine cars out there, go for a well maintained high quality car. You won't be disappointed. Good luck.
Does not sound like the guides to me but could be something worse. If the oil is overfilled it will smoke as well. Take it to an Fmechanic and make sure otherwise pass on that one. As for the other statement about buying a 99 please give us a break.
I know this is a dumb questions, but what's a valve guide ? Is it a frequent issue on 355, like the manifold replacement ?
You can find tons of info regarding valve guide issue. It is a somewhat known issue with 355, however it will most like happen to earlier production cars. Later models have newer version of valve guides.
Could be any and all. If you find the right car, have Symbolic do a PPI. They know the 355's very well and what to look for. Darrell.
I would be suspicious of Symbolic as I am aware of some iffy business practices of theirs in sales. I might suggest Gary Bobileff instead and make sure you are clear about what you are looking for.
