Please don't take part in the poll if you bought your car a week ago, or if it has 400 miles since new and sits in your living room... Question is whether, or how many times, you've had a fire in the engine bay of your 1980-85 308 or 328.
I can't participate in your poll because I have never owned a 308/328, but just a comment - I was at the Post Office here in my 348 yesterday, and a nice gentleman pulled up next to me in his car and engaged me in conversation. It seems that his son, who lives in the Denver area, owns a 308/328 (I can't remember if he specified which) and it had had a fire in the engine compartment, and the fire "burned the rear bumper off". It was apparently a fire in the catalytic converter due to ignition failure on one bank.
Thanks for the replies so far - 80% never. We hear all the horror stories here and I just wanted to get a real perspective. If you're new to f-chat, you'd guess that the cars burst into flames pretty much every time you turn the key.
The main problem with the 308 series and engine fires has to do with age. Many buy these nice shinny low mile Ferraris without taking into account the fact that the oldest of the 308 series is over 30 years old. Rubber fuel lines get hard and crack with age, and are the most common cause of fires in the 308 series. If you purchase one of these cars, and there are no records of the hoses being replaced, it would be in your best interest to replace all of the fuel lines as well as the fuel filler neck hose. Gas pouring out of the cracked fuel filler hose into a hot engine bay is the #1 cause of fires in the 308 series!
Since I have had a total of 2 QV's and 2 328's, do I vote 4 times? I put a total of 39K on the 4 cars (so far) and no fires. Dave
Might as well - the guy who claims he had 6 or more fires doesn't have a Ferrari listed in his profile. So, maybe the valid data will crowd out the b/s.
Had a fire in mine, loots of fun. Turned out to be a bad oil filter seal, blew oil on the engine and viola. Went out almost as soon as it started, no real damage.
I've had my car for about a year, no fire(s). Yet anyways. My mechanic did however change a very important fuel line which was starting to rub through. Caught it in time thank God
Looks like we ended up at about 88%, based on 26 responses from the usual suspects (thank you!) The moral seems to be that burning Ferrari's make the news, while religiously maintained Ferrari's are as combustible.
Never a similar problem. I have to admit that, as soon as I return to Italy, I am planning to replace all fuel hoses anyway... Ciao Eugenio
