PPI Results -Opinions?

Welcome to Ferrari chat. I would suggest filling out your profile. As for the PPI results, Those numbers seem pretty good. If those were the only things noted in the report, I'd say you found a good car. Others may have different opinions... By the way, you didn't mention the year. 355s are wonderful cars and IMHO, the best looking modern Ferrari. Good Luck!

 

Fine let them do the Italian tune up and prove it worked before money changes hands. No way would I let a client buy a 355 with 15%.


Cylinders #2 and 3 are very high on the hit parade for compression problems.

 

I miss read your original post. 15% is high. I agree with Brian, have them sort it out.

 

It is amazing to me all the request from 355 newbies for opinions on PPI leakdown numbers. So far this year I have not seen leakdowwn numbers on one 355 that look good. I am getting the opinion that the entire 355 fleet is suspect. Even cars that have had guides done sometimes are having them done again. Some cars are having just one cylinder of guides done! Some cars are having all guides done by those of questionable ability. I even question the ability of some to do the leakdown test...I am such a skeptic. The only thing more scary than buying a 355 is buying a 355 F1.

The real gap in prices paid for 348's vs. 355's is narrowing. I am seeing 348 spyders for $49k and 355 spyders in the low 50's. Of course there are 355's asking price in the 80k range but no one is buying those and I don't think anyone here will admit to paying 80k in this down market. There is a decent looking "everything there" salvage 355 spyder on craigslist at $36K and no one wants it. Even the part guys don't want it.

 

I am waiting for the seller to come down to $10k.....

 

Many were done under warranty and got guides but no valves. Also I have seen many neighborhood machine shops who did the jobs for the dealers make a mess of the heads. They are not like doing a Toyota despite what we often hear here.

 

Easy on bashing the entire 355 fleet as being suspect! Seems to me there's a ton of happy owners driving around without problems, both with old and new valve guides. Sure some problems arise (knock on wood), but we all knew going in that these cost more than Corvettes to maintain. And for the record the only thing scary about the F1 is how fast it shifts at 8500 and breaks the tires free, both on the 1-2 shift and the 2-3

 

I'm not bashing just fact. I would be happy to retract my statements if I could see some decent leakdown numbers. There have been none posted here. There have been none even faked by guys doing their own T-belts/majors. GOOD 355 leakdown numbers are as illusive as the claims of horsepower mods on 348's on par with 355 horsepower but we see no dyno numbers. I am currently ferrariless. I've done the all the other 8 clyinders prior to the 355 so for my tastes that means TR's, Boxer's, 550's, 456's and 355's. I would buy a 355tb 3 pedal car but they are seriously hard to find a decent one. It is also well know that these cars can drive just fine with bad guides and NOT smoke. So there may be happy owners but blissfully ignorant too. As a 355 owner if you were going to buy another 335 today would you demand leakdown numbers or just drive the car and trust your a$$-o-meter? Of all ferraris every made, for the 355 leakdown numbers are just plain mandatory.

 

15% in 1 cylinder means absolutely nothing if the car is running as good as the mechanic says. All other cylinders are between 2%-6% so basically 1 cylinder out of 7 has 9% more leakdown from the others. If it is on the exhaust side even less of an issue. You will not notice any power loss or feel any difference if that cylinder was at 6% like the others. Have the buyer purchase at a discounted rate and plan on possibly doing valve guides on the next major. If it doesn't get worse and is still running fine leave it alone. These cars are known for this and everyone gets caught up in numbers. Go by the way the car runs. If it was over 20% on 2 or more cylinders and compression was varied between all 8 cylinders by a large margin and was down on power that's a different story. Make the seller an offer based on the #7 being 15% and enjoy your 355. If everything else is sorted out it could be a great car for someone.

 

feel free to give my car a shot...


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ferrari-355-1995-Ferrari-F355-6spd-Beautiful-Must-See_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ39Q3a1Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1308QQ_trksidZp3911Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem330262788294QQitemZ330262788294

 

This is not a very good idea and it is bad advice.... If I was seriously looking at a 355 I would be doing leakdown, compression, vacuum test. If the car passed that I would scope the inlet side and directly look at the valves as minimums of my personal ppi. Today you can buy a scope for 200 bucks if you are serious diy'er and all the tools and knowledge are out there so you can make an informed decision. There is nothing worse than an Fchat thread titled...."Bought a 355 with bad guides...what do I do now?" Of all Ferraris ,you need to check 355's carefully or buy them really cheap and expect trouble. We even know that static leakdown tests can sometimes give an abnormally low leakdown but never the reverse. So numbers are more likely to be worse than what you may get and thus others tests are important. I am becoming a big fan of visually "looking" in the intake to gleen clues as to "actual" engine health. Even extremely low mileage cars for their age have come up with bad numbers. Extensive ppi's are a snapshot of a car and such a hassle to go through during a sale and quite frankly such a loser for real pro mechanics. In fact if you ask many pros they don't want to do ppi's because they are way more trouble than they are worth. If I bought a 355 I'd just buy it cheap and expect trouble. Unfortunately 355's are a peculiar animal. I assume a 355 has bad guides unless an owner wants to prove it on his nickel. You can waste a lot of time and money doing PPI's and PPI's are less important the cheaper you get the car. DIY Hotroder's like me always think we can make things better anyway and nothing would make me more happy than to "know" I got a perfect engine that I built.

 

How many 355s have you been responsible for servicing over the last 13 years? I suspect my number is higher. You are wrong in almost every aspect. The 355 motor is well known by the people that do them in large numbers to go very quickly once signs of wear start. When those signs start is unpredictable but this car has a bad one.

Those of us that have been doing them since 95 figure 10% or more to be a fail. Not true with almost any other Ferrari.

 

We see cars every day with exellent leak down numbers. All very low single digits. We do a leak down on every running diagnosis and at every major. If is is not less than 10% in every hole we stop. You have to remember what I tell most people shopping for a used car. Despite what we hear here every day people almost never say "Gee my car is perfect, I think I'll sell it".

 

My freinds 97 355 leak down was just done ... between 2-6% except for # 3 ... 18%

 

Three in a row under 6% here.

Dave

 

Probably runs great...right?

 

Hey Boy's!! Those who seem to worry the most about 1 bad leakdown # out of 8 are the mechanics who then scare the potential owners into a catastrophic failure event. My post said drive the car..... most will be doing a major soon anyway as most cars that had a major probably did the valve guides and their numbers should be good. Get the car DISCOUNTED based on the expectation to EVENTUALLY change valve guides. I don't think that's bad advice. I personally know of 3 F355's that had a higher leakdown on cylinder #7...compression was all within normal limits of each other. All 3 cars run great, don't blow any smoke or show loss of power. One even see's many track days. None have failed...all will reasses when it comes time for a major and possibly change valve guides then. I think knocking 5K-7.5K off any asking price for an otherwise good car is reasonable for both parties and not bad advice. If 2 or more cylinders had this issue with compression being varied dramatically between all 8 cylinders then that is a different story. Again, I am not a mechanic I am just going by what I have seen in the real world.

 

The pros have spoken...there are some good 355's out there. That's good news maybe some day I will own one. The 355 is just about the end of the line where you can still work on the cars without incestuous electronics that require megabuck SD units.

 

will you be looking at a track car, street legal or both? ......

 

Car runs just fine!

 

I guess I was lucky. My PPI on my 1998 F355 Berlinetta gave a leakdown result of 3-&% across all 8 cylinders with good compression numbers. Great, I probably just jinked myself and I'll break a cam drive belt driving tomorrow!! Perhaps a prayer to Maranello will help before driving?

 

Cool ...... !!! Do you drive it often ??

 

Hi Oz:
Not often enough! It had 22K on it when I bought it (with a 30K major service 6 months and 1500 miles done before I purchased it). I've put on about 2.5K since purchase about a year ago. I drive it at least once a week for 25-45 miles - highway and city driving to vary the RPMs. I hope that enough! I use Redline 5W40 (I know Ali Haas recommends Amsoil 0W40).

 

Of course it does......as it should...just like I thought.