Breakdown Sunday....

Took the 308 (1980, 2V, GTSi, 60K miles, just got it) for a mountain run today but didn't get far. Lost all my oil, ran the temp up, and lost the belt for the water pump and alternator....Bad Day

Started off with a strange over-rev - like the throttle was sticking slightly between shifts and revving another 2K RPMS higher before settling back down. A blip of the throttle would bring it back to normal, but odd.....seemed fine after a few minutes but not quite right. Started up the twisties, happily shifting thru the gears and after abot 10 minutes I look back (out of my now oil covered back window) only to see that I am crop dusting the road with blue smoke....oil pressure gauge flashes red once, temp gauge starts to climb. I turn around quickly, kill the engine and coast down the hill....engine running fine when I killed it. No ugly/abnormal noises, nice even 1K idle.

Not sure what happen, but here is what I find:

- Rear deck lid is COVERED in oil....as is the TOP of the engine...seems strange, as if the oil came UP, but maybe that's part of airflow design?

- Belt for Water Pump & Alternator gone...figure maybe it got coated in oil, began to slip, and snapped or slipped and burnt thru. Water pump turns as it should. Have not checked alternator yet but the Water Pump & Alternator light did come on right before I killed everything.

- Coolant is fine, no milkyness or anything else - not worried here (yet)

- Dipstick is hanging 2-3 inches up out of the tube....wasn't that way when I checked the fluids before I left...seems really odd. Could the oil have been pushed up and out the tube? Spray pattern on underside of deck lid seems to support this, but how?

- i had changed the air filter earlier, and did make the mistake of leaving off the hose that goes to the bottom of the air cleaner housing. The other hose presumably from the other side of the engine goes into the base of the body of the air intake side of the fuel injection body. The hose I left off was crimped since I had tucked it out of the way for cleaning the aft timing belt cover. I believe the hose is part of an EGR system (or possibly a PCV system?)

So, I'm not sure what happened. Obviously the oil came from some breach - could it have come up and out the dipstick tube, caused by increased internal engine air pressure from the crimped EGR/PCV tube? I'll need to check everything while I am in there replacing the belts (probably do the timing belts and tensioners etc while in there) but any ideas on what could've happened are welcome. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

 

Just off the engine - not out of the exhaust best I can tell. Oil on exhaust was smoking like hell, but not from exhaust pipe outlets. (Note to self: buy a fire extinguisher for this car!)

 

Thanks everyone to the feedback and tips. Feeling a little stupid if all this was a result of that hose I failed to reconnect, but if it all turns out okay I'll take that feeling over major mechanical failure...I'll just put it in my "Lessons Learned" pile.

Looks like the proper Water Pump & Alternator belt should be a Gates 7m950 or equivalent. Anybody able to confirm that for me?

 

Well, I was finally able to wrap up the repairs today. Thanks for all the tips and advice. Followed all the steps on this site for accessing and replacing the alternator belt. Not a very fun job. Having to drain the coolant out just to replace an alternator belt was a new experience for me . However, it did give me an excuse to do a flush and replace of the coolant, which it needed.

I removed the heat shields which allowed me (sort of) access to the mounting bolts of the alternator. Not easy access and required the right combination of extensions and a swivel. As well as the right amount of profanity. While I was in there I went ahead and took off the timing belt covers to check out the belts. Relatively clean and appear in good shape. That said, I do not know when the PO replace these last so they will be done this winter. I also managed to crack the fuel line into the FD and had to fix that... Will likely be ordering the braided entire fuel line replacement kit from Unobtainium and do that the same time the belts are done. I also cleaned out the throttlebody and was able to free up some stickiness which was taking place on the throttle linkage and the throttle plate. Bought an engine steamer and cleaned off as much of the oil as I could but she still smoked a little bit while the residue burned off. All good now though.

So back to the repair. Looks like I lost about 4-5 quarts of oil out the dipstick tube when the 'mishap' occurred. The belt had melted around the pulley of both the water pump and the alternator. Attached is a picture of what was left. Not much. Purchased two 7M975's
(never travel without an extra) as well as a Gates Krikit belt tension guage and proceeded to skin knuckles, cuss, sacrifice a little blood to the Ferrari gods, and got it done. Took her for a "spirited" drive and she purred like a kitten.

Thank you again everyone for the help and advice.
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