The Dream is Over

I am sure he did. I was just looking over the maint. records again that came with the car. Looks like at 30, 777 3/23/04. A major was performed by Lake Forest Sportscars, LTD out of Lake Bluff Ilinoise, along with some other stuff. Totaling 14 grand. Nothing in here about valve issues or replacement. :>( Then Jan. 2007. Midwestern Auto Group (MAG) out of Dublin, OH Did some service work on the car. And then Ferrari of Palm Beach got the car in Apr 4 2012. For some coolant leakage. No Leak dn valves mentioned. Documented anyway. Then 08/28/12 European Foreign Domestic Auto Repair Center got the car for Oil Change. And around the same time a quote from Ferrari and Maserati of Palm Beach for the Major. So, I knew about the Major. No where in the total of 15 pages of maint. records is there a reference of leak dn testing, compression testing or valve job(guides valves or anyhing needing replaced have been replaced. So, shame on me I guess.... Not anywhere in this history is there anymention of a leak dn test performed, needing to be performed or mention of valves or v-job.
I am not bashing any of these places please understand guys. I just should have been more aware. Let it be a lesson to the newbies and make sure we direct them to threads such as this as hard lessons. So, they don't make the same mistake. That's the least I can do at this point. Help a newbie understand what to look for and steps to take in buying a car such as this....

 

I'm a bit confused here -- what motivation would FoA have to lie about the leak down test? Dealers obviously want cars to be repaired ($$$) and if anything are motivated to say the glass is half empty. Also, FoA didn't sell the car; some independent dealer in Atlanta did. I can't believe that FoA is in cahoots with ***************** to help them sell the car.

 

Are we talking two different cars here?

 

As a follow up @355Rocks.. I am NOT Suggesting AT ALL the ***************** And FoA were involved together, far from it.. Adam from ***************** (where i bought the car) was as honest and ameanable to helping re-negotiate the deal as anyone i would ever met, and i have the utmost respect for him and his business.

What i am saying and forgive me for suggesting perhaps you might be trying to protect their reputation.,, is that upon finding this service record which i reviewed the records in almost their entirety with the service mgr and the tech who saw the car for a pre-buy oil chg, and brief inspections,, They told be POINT BLANK that the car had NEVER had a compression leakdown test at their shop.. and it ran perfectly fine.. WELL i came to find out the not only had the test been done there, it was done not that long ago, and it was completed by the tech to i talked to.. So i cannot imagine this record was just completely forgotten as this is a crucial test for this car. When i confronted them, they denied, denied denied, and essentially put their lawyer speak on and ended the conversation.

I"M DONE WITH THEM, i just don't have anything good to say about their company and how they handled the situation.. If i lived in the area i'd spend more time to make their poor practices known..

No need to be confused, just accept what i said as fact as i have no reason to lie on an online owners community.. If you're offended, put yourself in my shoes with the problems i could have avoided had they been more due diligent about their care of an expensive machine...

 

Yes we are.. I was just replying to the original post of "the dream is gone", to reference my ongoing story somewhat familiar to the original poster.

 

Here are a few:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-355-Engine-Long-Block-26K-Miles-With-Warranty-/300697095251?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4602f18c53&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-355-Engine-Long-Block-39K-Miles-With-Warranty-/290785543952?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43b42b4710&vxp=mtr

Ferrari 355 Engine F355 V8 3 5L Only 8 000 Miles | eBay

 

Yep, got that. Thought 355Rocks was mixing them up but maybe I was mistaken. Sorry to hear your story, hope you get it all sorted in the end.

 

Top Fuel rule of thumb LOL

Lube is good...

 

I just read this thread. First, very sorry for your situation, these things can be difficult especially if a buyer is not completely versed on 355s and what is simply inherent to them.

Second, do as Mitch advised earlier, fix it and drive it. 355s are as iconic as it's ever going to come, and the 355 has just enough of everything, it ticks all the boxes. Ferrari's as shapely as the 355 will never be built again with newer Ferrari's being an exercise in wind tunnel studies. The 355 is a bit of both and is certainly the last Ferrari design I can say I've really stuck to like those of prior decades. Yes it's hideously pricey to maintain but it's worth the price to play the game as Mitch certainly pointed out with his bill which looks more like a zip code. Well worth it though for the outstanding quality he was given and I'm sure that engine will not require an overhaul for a substantial length of time.

Best of luck to you.

 

+1

 

SteveW

Sorry about your troubles. Some options mentioned earlier for you.

and

Work2ownCT,

I'm sorry for your troubles. I'm not sure when your major service was completed by Ferrari of Atlanta, but I was told (by another Fchatter who had his car serviced at Ferrari of New England) that work is guaranteed for 2 years from an authorized Factory Ferrari service repair facility.

Is that not the case for you here?

Robb

 

To all the professionals on here. What are your opnions please. And then I will kill this thread. I was talking to the last place it had anywork done. The guy there remembers the car. He states that the po brought the car to him because one of the radiator fans went down and it had some coolant leaks. He said at the time they repared the car and drove it. There were no indications that anything was wrong with the vehicle (tiredness, slugish, missing, knocking, smoking etc...) he said it's possible that in those nine months from the time they drove it to the time I bought the car that if it was damaged from overheating or something that the valves or worse could have been damged but, theere was no indication at that time. HIT ME WIT IT! ps. I have an invoice from them where they fixed it but, no mention that the car might have overheated or got hot....

 

I'm not offended at all and "don't have a dog in the hunt" as they say down here. I was just curious as to their motivation in pretending they never did a leak down.

 

Not to be insensitive but... what do you want for the rims and tires?

 

Mate, that's akin to pitching up at the funeral and asking when the estate will be auctioned off. At least wait till the bloke decides what he wants to do.

 

@355Rocks--- Yeah i don't know either but either they didn't want to expose the numbers, or they were just completely stupid as they test results they got and published were completely different than the 3 back to back tests i had ran @ IFS and they were lock step the same.

Oh well.. a few zeros from the check book and i'll have her by my birthday (April)

Cheers

 

Not to go too off-topic, but the original poster may find this useful. But does anyone have an opinion regarding the Si valve guides and valves?

I know they make them for 355s and the pricing is quite reasonable (right around $2500 for 40 new guides and 40 SS valves), but I of course have no idea how they stack up to the steel OEM alternative which I know is also popular.

 

Stay with Ferrea or Manley valves.

 

+1 for Manley. Their nailhead profile valve blank I use for 2v 308s and Boxers is top notch!

 

When your Mech said your car wasn't full power did he not , or you not leak it dn or comp test it. Did'n that raise a flag to at the very least your mech? Just curious. I am reasearching these post here to make a determination. So, thanks for your imput on this matter. I know you and I have banted back and forth a bit in the past....hope all is well with you and your car...:>)

 

And for the 355. Would you choose the performance, street , race, extreme or heavy duty series valves?

 

Steve,

Just curious. Car's at the shop and the engine is out, how much time is the mechanic giving you before you have to make a decision on what your going to do? All the best.

 

Not really any time. He says he has to move the car. Think I outta go down there and load my car and its engine up and leave?

 

If you want a professionals opinion I'll be happy to give you one but prefer to do it privately.


925-552-9700

 

You can't refuse an offer like that. RD is one of the most knowledgable guys around.