Has My Head Gone???

Don't panic yet. Just do the normal things like check the water to see if is down , then drain the oil and maybe send it out to get it checked. Do a compression check and see what you get. Once you do this then look at the data and decide what needs to be done.

 

typically if u have a blown head gasket the oil turns orange.The antifreeze is green & mixed with the black oil it will then turn the oil orange. You may experience backfiring & loss of power. You should check coolant level & do a compression test & a leakdown test. Good luck

 

Normally if you are getting a goo substance it is condensation building up. I have experienced it myself. It happens when the oil is not fully warmed up over a period of time. Don't worry about it. Drive the car over a good distance. The condensation will burn off.

 

Yup, what he said. Get the oil hot for a long drive and see what it looks like.

 

A 348 would be a bit daunting but, if you are losing coolant or the oil is still white and pasty after a good long run then I would re-torque the head bolts before doing anything more drastic. So loosen each bolt off and torque it back up to spec.

Even better if you can take it back under guarantee, then they'd probably change the head gaskets.

 

IF YOU HAVE A BLOWN HEAD GASKET THE COOLANT WOULD BE LEAKING INTO THE BLOCK, YOUR COOLANT LEVELS WOULD BE GOING DOWN WHICH IN TURN WOULD CAAUSE THE CAR TO OVER HEAT..

 

The inside of the oil tank on my 348 was covered in goo when I bought it. I used that as part of the bargaining process. Then when I changed the oil I just used some rags to give it a good cleaning, put in new oil, and I haven't seen any trace of goo since then. None.

 

I respectfully disagree on the orange color. I have done so many headgasket repair jobs on so many different cars if I said 200 I would be short. And thats on the ones I fixed, not counting the ones I didnt, but seen. Normal color would be cream colored. Brown would indicate rust from somewhere but as everything inside a Ferrari cooling system is aluminum or brass, all you would see is cream. You might see green flecks if its not mixed well. I suppose if you used some goofy coolant that was not ethylene glycol based maybe it could make some other color though. But Ive seen plain water or 50/50 mix and both seem to turn cream color.
Pull the plugs and look at them. If one or two are wet and drastcally clean, you may be on the right track. Next would be a leak down test, and a cooling system pressure test to see if your blown somewhere. You can also watch the reservoir with it running and watch for bubbles. Pull the oil cap and look in there for everything to be cream colored oil goo inside.
If it truely from condensation, give it a good long hard run and change the oil, then watch it for a while. If your leaking coolant anywhere in the system, your reservoir will be needing topping up. If its not using coolant, its just condensation.

 

Fill up the expansion tank and pressure test each cylinder,what happens to the coolant when you pressurise each cylinder,dont write off the head gaskets get them tested.

Dale.