? oil pump failure

I have a red F 430 spider 2006 model with abt 40000 km on the clock. While going for a drive on 16/02/14 at fairly slow speed of 210kmh in 5th with revs about 7000rpm I suddenly felt a slight change in engine note. Looking at the dash I noticed the oil pressure gauge was at 0 with the small red light on. I quickly pulled over within a few secs and switched off the engine. Since it was on the highway with not much of road shoulder I started the engine to go a safer stretch wen I noticed white smoke from the exhaust!!! Switched off again and my friends (driving in a group) pushed the car to a safer stretch. Checked the dash. No rise in water or oil temp. Checked the exhaust tips and no oil stains. No oil on the road. Engine compartment was clean. Dipstick oil levels normal. Started engine and white smoke again. Stopped engine and had the car sent to the Ferrari service centre 200km away. This morning the chief mechanic spoke to me. As far as he can tell it looks like an oil pump failure with everything else following that ie most likely piston rings and pistons are shot. Maybe even the valves and maybe the cylinder sleeves and worse case scenario possibly the crankshaft and bearings and conrods. Aarrrggggh! !! First time they are seeing an oil pump failure..."One of those things" my heart is broken. My red beauty is broken. Damages to pocketbook range from USD 20K to USD 50K and repair period of 5 to 6 weeks....

 

That is tragic. I feel for you. The good news is that its a machine and it can be repaired. Good luck. Maybe it will turn out to be less serious than originally thought.

 

Yeah we re just estimating for now, damage may be that dramatic, after all...

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm having nightmares now. If it was an accident then I can claim against the insurance but something like this has to be borne out of my pocket Ouch!!!

 

Worst nightmare someone could have....

 

how long is the pump supposed to last?

 

Ouch I feel for you. Not sure what the white smoke would be? The first thing to fail when oil pressure is lost is the crank and bearings. You would hear major rumblings or knocking sounds. Pistons, rings and cylinders are not pressure fed so may be ok. You may have caught it before any major damage. Wont know till it comes apart.

 

Didn't hear any major engine rumbling or knocking. Just hoping it's not major (relatively speaking). They will only open the engine up next week. Will keep you posted. Flirting with the idea of an engine swap. What do you guys think?

 

that depends on how much a new engine would run you

my engine's always got small noises when starting cold, i was toying with the idea too

 

Pistons and cylinder walls are lubricated by pressure spray from the connecting rods (also helps cool the pistons). I wouldn't have thought that a failed pump would cause white smoke. If the rings had failed allowing oil into the combustion chambers I would expect clouds of blue smoke.
When the lubrication system fails you usually have a very short time to turn the engine off with no major damage. How long -- not sure but if you caught it quickly then you may have caught it in time. Major damage as potentially reported by the mechanic would have resulted in major noises coming from the engine due to metal on metal as the bearings spun (the first thing to go).
Just my thoughts from 60 years of working on cars.
Alan

 

That. Sucks!

Here's the real question... HOW did it fail? Was it a metal failure of the pump drive shaft? Seal or line that went?

Sorry to hear.. That really blows.

 

a real world scenario of my 1995 nissan 300zx. I am currently working on it.
The story is also a oil pump failure because the car was flooded , yes, you hear it right, I drove the car directly into a flood of water.

Long story short, I dried the car and everything looks good , only to find the engine got wierd , consistent noise after about 300 miles of the flood. I dissembled the engine and found the crankshaft was gone together with the engine block ---- the end of the crankshaft basically got in touch with the crankcase without any oil.

the wear may be caused by a brief period of time of the oil pump failure ( i.e. the pump may be working intermittently, but i never know)

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That is actually called "crank walk" which is a common failure point on that engine, and some others including the Supra 2JZ and Mitsubishi 4G63 engines. That was most likely due to a failing thrust washer on the crank, which caused too much crankshaft endplay leading to the crank touching the side of the block or main cap.

I don't think crank walk has anything to do with you driving through a puddle...

 

So sorry to hear!
I have an engine (360) which suffered by oil starvation. The pump oil tensioner fail and the chain went crazy inside the block. The engine got sized and three pistons out and crankshaft!
Lucky the heads survive.
Good luck man!
Again, sorry to hear.

 

White smoke is usually steam and your theory that it wouldn't be oil would normally be correct, anticipating blue smoke, but in this case the same shaft drives both the oil and water pumps so cross contamination could be possible.

 

Scott
Unless I'm missing something the water pump is driven by a belt off the crank -- see diagram.
Alan
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Alan
This photo is for a 360.
430 totally different

 

good luck.
sorry to hear.

 

Wow, those prices would be devastating. You might be way better off in having any serious repair worked tended to outside of the dealer network, assuming that your price sensitive. I know I would be.

 

At those price quotes, I wonder whether a totaled car purchase would be the way to go. That way you get an extra of everything on the car...might be ice to have a spare of everything on the car...

 

Coming from the perspective of a guy who does not know much about the mechanical details of the inside of the engine and am not qualified to debug the problem myself, I would do a few things under your circumstances:

(1) Don't panic or jump to conclusions. A responsible mechanical will warn you about the potential worst case to allow you to prepare, but should also acknowledge the wide range of possible causes and not try to cause you to panic. In the case of a Ferrari, its kinda like a doctor providing information to a patient about to undergo exploratory surgery that could result in a wide range of possible consequences!

(2) Don't make a radical move such as deciding to replace the engine until you have more information including root cause of the problem and well defined corrective actions.

(3) Find someone highly qualified and as trusted as possible to perform the investigation (ie take apart the engine) and probably eventually the repairs as well. Don't try to skimp on cost at the price of expertise or trust. A mechanic who knows less will tend toward trial and error repair which you don't want happening inside the engine of your Ferrari! I'd try to look for the perfect inexpensive Ferrari experts but that's asking for a lot. If I couldn't find cheap Ferrari specialist, and the local dealer is well reviewed as honest, I'd have them do it. Certainly don't hire someone who hasn't taken apart and repaired the inside of 430 engine many times.

Did I say don't panic? Well, don't panic.

 

Ah sorry I missed that -- my bad.
Alan

 

I have a year 2000 red 550 maranello as well. Had kept some lucre aside intending to trade in the 550 and top up to buy a red mint 550 barchetta. Looks like it'll all go into repairs for the 430. The car is with the official Ferrari dealer and service centre. I know the chief mechanic personally and so shud get an honest opinion.

 

I think the valve heads may be gone. They are hydraulic operated and with zero oil pressure I'm sure they were not functioning.

 

If the repair is very expensive, you may have to look for a used engine, so you can save a large amount of money