This looks bad!!

I'm trying to thinnk of a way for the engine to puke coolant into the intake or exhaust systems other than a head gasket. Air injection comes to mind but seems unlikely, vaccum system maybe but also unlikely. Even the Head Gasket seems unlikely as the oil certainly shows no sign of contamination. I guess I'm with Mark (Matermech) here....pull the plugs.

 

Bottom of hose #9 in the hard to reach area under the metal pipe where the hose meets the neck.

--Mike

 

The stock spark plugs use an 18mm socket, which is the size supplied in the tool kit.

 

Lou, as others have said about your oil, it looks normal (other than being a little low which you already mentioned). I hope you get this resolved soon and it is something minor that we can laugh at afterward

MJ_Duell/Milonian/MaterMech, you guys are awesome, as well as everyone else here who chimed in to provide assistance for Lou.

 

There's something on top of your spark plug, not sure what it is, maybe part of the connector from the end of the plug wire, maybe the magnet from the inside of the socket. It's keeping the socket from going all the way down onto the plug. Do the other plugs look like that?

Edit: Maybe I'm wrong, I've never seen a picture from the angle before.

 

I think the plug looks normal mate.

Must be that angle.

 

Looks right to me Jeff....348's don't use the bare plug threads but instead need the lady shaped snap adapters to connect to the iggy wires. Is that what your seeing? You can see the required lockwasher just below it and the whiteish insulator just past that.

I'm gonna assume Lou has a plug socket with a large diameter that can't get past the cam cover lip.

 

Lou,
Don't beat yourself up over this. I know what your going through, believe me. I've been there. Just relax my friend everything will be OK.

 

I just took a picture down a plug hole on my own 348, it looks just like yours, so I was wrong. Next question, are you sure you have the factory supplied 18mm deep spark plug socket? Mine is marked "Vanadium USAG Extra" "USAG 279MG". You might want to look inside the socket and see if you can see all the way through it, it might have something inside it that is preventing it from fitting all the way down on the plug.

 

Worst thing you can do is jump at shadows. For coolant to be coming from centre of car my opinion is that it is from your centre reservoir overflow, a spirited drive can cause expansion of fluid and it will come out the overflow hose it may also come out the cap if fluid is overfull and cap not on tight. Is there evidence , white powdery marks ,on top of the reservoir, if so this is where fluid has come from, unlikely you would have glycol coming from the exhaust as any fuyid would just become vapour. I would look around the clamps numbered around 18 as suggested. I would also take car for a drive and get up to temp and see if you can duplicate fluid leak. If your fluid levels are not down would suggest an over fill problem which fixes itself.
Don't go about messing with spark plugs unless you know what you are doing, next thing is you will have a miss because you have broken a lead, cracked a plug , loosened some crap which causes a short etc and then you think this is related to the water problem. looks like plugs are reasonably aged for caps to be that corroded.

 

this is a coolant leak, not a head gasket issue. i would not even be messing with plugs. There is no way that much coolant can come down to the ground with a leaking head gasket. Also, your exhaust would smell very sweet, besides your morning start up. You obviously have never seen oil that has had coolant mixed in... it looks WORLDS different than yours. It looks extremely different than what your car is showing. Relax. Ship the car to the mechanic, he will get it on the lift and he will know where the leak is coming from in probably less than 10 minutes. Stop stressing about it. Put all the plug wires back on... leave the spark plugs in (don't run the risk of accidently cross threading the plugs)... just get it on a lift at the mechanic and all will be well. Its most likely just a hose. Worst case its a water pump or radiator. Radiators can be repaired... water pumps can be replaced. You don't need an engine rebuild or anything like that... just relax... and enjoy your kids.

 

- is your coolant "green" , by any chance ?

.

 

We all completely agree but are stumped at how coolant got into the exhaust. I think that is ultimately what is causing his stress. Pulling the plugs was attempted to prove it was not a head gasket.

 

Hang in there Lou, try not to stress as you can't control what's happening and it certainly will not help matters (I know easier said than done)....we are all behind you and supporting you on this, and I believe now it is in good hands at your mechanic's shop correct?

 

ahh... i see... however the clean oil tells you that its not a head gasket.

 

Not to be the dooms-dayer but it is possible to get coolant into the cylinder and not the oil. I have seen it myself. It usually causes the car to over heat after short periods of running but requires that the reserve tank to be lower than it is in the Ferrari. The car needs to be started with a pressure gauge on the reserve tank and any mechanic worth his bolts will figure it out.

 

The Ferrari can wait but you only get one chance to raise your kids. Let's see, you got a wife, two kids and TWO Ferraris? Wow! You're a blessed man!

 

He most certainly is!