This just happened. Diagnosis?

I think that if your instincts are that, an older Ferrari is not for you. Stick to Porkers.

 

Good point.

 

Does not apply to 3x8; well at least to 328s: I have two, one for 8 years, the other for 6. Nothing so far, not the slightest trouble whatsoever; reliable as a swiss clock, could be used as a daily driver. Not a supermodel's behaviour at all, rather more like the girl-next-door.

Now: I understand from those who have tried (I didn't) that 1970s-1980s Lamborghinis are like supermodels...

Rgds

 

Again, a lot of the problems come from multiple owners and the cheap prices at the bottom which lead to some owners not caring for their cars. Like this car, cleaning up someone else's mess. Once sorted it will be fine.

My 308 QV is going on 32 years old. Never a problem. And other than religiously changing the motor oil and keeping things clean and dry, I don't over service the car. I'm not on the every 5 year major schedule. I don't mess with stuff that ain't broke just because it's old.

 

To play devil's advocate, I would counter that the OP has little choice but to fix the car because it can't be sold as is and the electrical repairs and the major service are sunk costs that mostly can't be recovered if it was put back on the market. I think selling it now would be a bit like swimming 90 percent of the English Channel, deciding you can't make it, and then turning around.

If driving the car isn't the magic he expected in a Ferrari, that's different, but if it is the thrill ride that it is to most of us, it's probably better to ride it out. A sorted 308 is a very reliable car. The engines are near-bulletproof, the electrics aren't quite as robust as a Porsche, but they are fine once sorted.

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I'm the fourth owner on my 328.
It was originally sold in the DC area, and I suspect it had diplomatic tags for six months.
Then a doctor in the midwest owned it for many years, and had it well serviced.
Then some guy in Boston bought it, and managed to have it in the shop every summer he owned it.
So I got it cheap.

The car has full service records --- but nobody documents the aftermarket junk, like stereo amps and alarm/recovery systems -- the electrical stuff.

Nobody likes auto electricals.

There are two ways to own Italian sports cars:
1. One is a frustrating series of fixing things, one after another, until the annoyance builds up.
2. The other is to have a pricy service from time to time, and enjoy it the rest of the time.

The 328 wasn't my first foray into Italians.

The best way to own an Italian is to buy it new and service it regularly.
I've owned a Fiat and three different Alfas, over the years. The one I still own is the Alfa I bought new in '79.
(Every late model used one for sale had issues. So I went the extra for a new one.)

I used to say "figure a quarter of the purchase price to make a *used* Italian car 'right'".
Most of the used Italians you find on the market went through approach 1, and have a number of built-up issues.
(They're selling it because they're fed up. )
Even the "good" ones will often have little issues the previous owner stopped noticing -- but you'll notice.

So when I bought an 11 year old 328, back in '99, I drove it a little for one summer, putting up with random issues.
Then I put it in the shop for the winter. And I mean for the winter.
It went in before Thanksgiving, and I got it back in February.
It cost me almost that "quarter of the purchase price".

But when I got it back, it was (mechanically) like a new one.
The only problems it experienced after that were electrical (and an aircon thermostat).
I had to put it in the shop in a subsequent winter to get the electricals sorted.

But it's now solid, and I've driven it for 16 summers.
(Well, 15: It sat in the garage one year when the town ripped out all the local roads, and I had to wade a stream in the AWD to get to work while they rebuilt the bridge.)

Dealing with issues one at a time is false economy. And frustrating.
Big services are expensive at one "go", but it's your best approach overall.

When buying a sports car, you want to jump in and drive.
But a major early service is par for the course when buying a used Italian.
The first is also large, because your shop isn't yet familiar with that specific vehicle, so they pretty much have to check everything, on a full service.

(That's one reason I also say, "Find the shop before looking for the car". Regular service is part of ownership. And, if you're lucky, the shop might point you to one where the shop is already familiar with it.)

 

To play devil's advocate on myself, I would say that you never know for sure that swimming the English Channel won't be like the line at Space Mountain at Disney in Orlando where you can spend an hour or more slowly advancing through the very long hallway until, at long last, you can finally see the end approaching. Then, only later, do you realize that the hallway opens up to a huge room containing a much larger crowd being guided like cattle through a seemingly endless maze of gates. A sorted 308 should be reliable, but there is no guarantee there won't be another major issue (but this is also true of a Porsche or any other old car). If there is no passion for the Ferrari, then sticking with Porsche might be safer. If there is passion, then chances are good (but not certain) that you are past the ugly stuff because sorted 308's are typically quite reliable.

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Boy, you guys are really going negative on this.

 

and completely off-topic.

 

I'm not convinced adding a voltmeter and an ammeter will help and it's not that dissimilar a concept to installing all that alarm crap that got you into this mess. A (period) ammeter especially usually means running thick cables to and from the instrument which is a liability in itself.

The electrics are relatively simple and personally I'd just concentrate on making what should be there work properly and then all will be well.

I've driven cars far further than 50 miles with faults much worse than a few missing instruments, so it should be fine. That was in times when if you were stranded you had to walk to the nearest phone too.

So enjoy the journey (both home and ownership).

 

Hmm, definitely don't buy a 246.

 

for that purpose, you can use one of those cheap $5 cigarette lighter volt meters -
I have them in all my cars ... and they really work

LED Cigarette Lighter Digital Panel Meter Volt Voltmeter Monitor Car Truck Auto

 

I have a couple of those too. Rather than add an extra non-oem gauge and sort thru wiring it up, you just plug into the lighter socket and get and instant reading. Leaving it in place can be challenging for some cars, it doesn't seem to want to stay "down" in the older OEM lighter sockets.

I also got one with a built in USB plug, so I can charge my phone with it as well.

But the short story is that having a volt meter does bring some peace of mind that the elecrical system in the car is on the good side of OK.
Alden

 

That's assuming the problem existed when you left the repair shop.

 

This.

Otherwise you are making the same mistake as the PO.
Pete

 

I guess my point was that a diode could fail and send a spike through the system, frying this or that component before you could shut the car down. It was mentioned that the gen was putting out 20 V. 20 V is a 42% over voltage which would mean about twice the power dissipated in those components. That could do damage very quickly. It is not clear from the discussion that this problem existed for an extended period before the failure. Was there anything that makes you suspect it was? Did the shop find anything that caused the generator to fail? Was the generator/regulator failure a symptom or the cause?

 

All of the protection relays have a fuse (that intentionally blows if the alternator goes crazy in order to "protect" the injection ECU from overvoltage -- hence the name "protection relay"). On early protection relay (like your car came with) the non-replaceable fuse is built inside the protection relay - so if the fuse blows, the entire protection relay must be replaced. In the later design, the fuse was moved to be outside the metal case and be replaceable by itself if blown.

If the instruments are not working and the reverse lights are not working = almost certainly, there's a problem with the fuse or fuse holder or fuse block of the #2/B fuse.

When you say "without...lights" do you mean:

A. You turn the stalk knob, and the headlight pods come up, but the headlight lamps do not illuminate, or

B. You turn the stalk knob, and nothing at all happens, or

C. Something else?