Burning question about catastrophic failure in my flaming Mondial | FerrariChat

Burning question about catastrophic failure in my flaming Mondial

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by surfdoc37, Jan 25, 2005.

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  1. surfdoc37

    surfdoc37 Karting

    Nov 19, 2004
    124
    St. Louis, MO
    Full Name:
    Mark M.
    #1 surfdoc37, Jan 25, 2005
    OK, bought the '84 Mondial Cab in Nov. and don't even have it plated yet (knew it needed emissions work which knocked $2K off the price). Today took it out for a wee jaunt, and suddenly there's all kinds of smoke coming out the back. I mean, LOTS of smoke, way more than the little bit of smoke usually at startup.

    So within about 200 yards I'm in a parking lot with the engine turned off, looking under the lid at the fire there, and at the oil which has sprayed all over the car, is puddling under it, and to my dismay down the street a bit before me.

    So the question is, what blows oil like this? The fire I'm sure was oil hitting the exhaust.

    Car did have a PPI and recent (month ago) service.

    I believe I'm going to get a Z..........
     
  2. jimangle

    jimangle F1 Rookie

    Nov 5, 2003
    2,501
    Haverford
    Full Name:
    James
    #2 jimangle, Jan 25, 2005
    Maybe one of your oil cooler lines busted?
     
  3. f355spider

    f355spider F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    May 29, 2001
    17,940
    USA
    #3 f355spider, Jan 25, 2005
    Sounds like an oil line, or the oil filter seal blew. It's a 21 year old car...stuff happens. Get it fixed and get back to drivin'. :)

    BTW, the 350Z is a pretty cool car IMHO, based on price (and for a non-Ferrari) ;)

    But, I'd stick with the Ferrari....
     
  4. alohamickey

    alohamickey Karting

    Sep 23, 2004
    180
    San Clemente CA
    Full Name:
    Mickey
    #4 alohamickey, Jan 25, 2005
    How much damage did the fire cause?
     
  5. marco246

    marco246 Formula Junior

    Mar 25, 2004
    288
    Hawaii
    Full Name:
    Mark
    #5 marco246, Jan 25, 2005
    I wonder if you warmed up the engine oil satisfactorily before standing on the go-pedal. You might have to drive 15 or 20 miles for that to happen. I know from bitter personal experience (in a 330 GTC in my misspent youth)you need to keep the revs down until the oil heats up. If not, something's gotta give, like lines or seals as mentioned.

    Good luck with the diagnosis and repairs.
     
  6. Exoticbro

    Exoticbro Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    203
    St.Louis, MO
    Full Name:
    Chuck Ligon
    #6 Exoticbro, Jan 25, 2005
    Hey Mark,

    Was that your car on the flat bed going down Manchester towards Reid Vann
    about 3:00 today?
    I thought it might be.
    Hope its just an oil line or something minor.
     
  7. surfdoc37

    surfdoc37 Karting

    Nov 19, 2004
    124
    St. Louis, MO
    Full Name:
    Mark M.
    #7 surfdoc37, Jan 26, 2005

    Yeah, that was it!

    Had my strike 3 emissions failure, thought I'd just sneak in a quick trip to the West County mall, and BOOM!

    For everybody, assume it was an oil cooler line that blew. How trashed is my engine from having it's oil circulated directly onto the road instead of into the motor, for about 250 yards?
     
  8. Artvonne

    Artvonne F1 Veteran

    Oct 29, 2004
    5,379
    NWA
    Full Name:
    Paul
    #8 Artvonne, Jan 26, 2005
    If you wernt at full throttle and wound tight, it may not have hurt anything at all. You probably caught it before anything bad happened. Fix the leak, check it over and have it all cleaned up, and see what you have. If it starts and runs fine, and you have good oil pressure again, run it.
     
  9. TOM B

    TOM B Formula 3

    Jul 24, 2003
    1,038
    Orange County, NY
    Full Name:
    Thomas Buckley
    #9 TOM B, Jan 26, 2005
    Hmmm. Sounds curiously like the dreaded UFI oil filter failures of 4 years ago. Is/was your oil filter white? Ferrari issued a quiet recall and UFI pulled all the bad filters off the shelves. Of course, this is after spending weeks trying to convince me and others that we installed the filters improperly. I blew 2 filters in one weekend. That's why i'll never use UFI again, only Baldwin.

    Tom
     
  10. BigAl

    BigAl F1 Veteran

    Mar 17, 2002
    6,146
    TX
    Full Name:
    GSgt Hartman
    #10 BigAl, Jan 26, 2005
    Mark,
    You described what happend to my 308 almost to a tee. I hadn't owned it all that long, had a PPI, I was driving it, all of a sudden a fire, oil trail, oil all over engine bay, puddle underneath, etc. It tunred out to be (I think) an o-ring (or something) in the oil filter housing. I was able to coast back to my house and luckily didn't suffer any engine damage.
    Do a search on "fire" and you should come across my thread. I'll try searching in the meantime. I can look up the shop record when I get home and can tell you exactly what parts were replaced, etc.
     
  11. billb

    billb Formula Junior
    Professional Ferrari Technician

    Jun 4, 2001
    407
    Shorewood, IL
    Full Name:
    Bill Badurski
    #11 billb, Jan 26, 2005
    It does sound like the old UFI filter seal problem. Had a similar incident but with no fire, just oil everywhere and a trail behind the car shortly after startup.
     

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