Don't be this guy...Maintenance is important

Engine for $4k??? WOW! Nicely done!

It's hard for many sports car owners to understand that the tolerances in the Ferrari engine are so tight as it is tuned to the limit for performance, that even a small leak will disrupt the mixture and toast an engine. With a Kia or a Porsche, less common. Much less common as they de-tune it for longevity to a greater extent.

 

How do we know if the intake manifold gasket is leaking? Does this typically throw a CEL code?

Thanks

 

I just had the intake manifold gaskets replaced on both sides. As you say, it's a few bucks for the gaskets... $1,200 for labor.

 

Mine were diagnosed by the coating of oil on the outside of the spark plug bodies.

 

Seems like it cannot be easily diagnosed by feeling the car. It has to be purposely checked on your case.

Did it throw a Check Engine Light? Thank you.

 

Amazing. If the seller track the car, the design of the 360 oil disserator definitely didn't help him any.

 

Sorry for the confusion, I just checked my records and it was the cam cover gaskets that had a leak and were replaced, not the intake manifold.

 

at a track at full throttle, the intake gasket is almost pointless. its not doing anything. there is very little pressure differential between intake manifold and ambient. it's not until you release the throttle that the intake gasket is demanded to seal and keep outside air from entering. and at that point the injectors are barely pushing any fuel in.

I suspect it was 99.9% the fault of excessively worn valve guides that prevented a good seal allowing hot gas to escape past the valve edge causing it to over heat and deteriorate.

 

Yes please! That would be a subscribed thread for me.

 

Intake manifolds on Ferraris use very light torque values and tend to loosen easily. I have my techs torque the intake manifold bolts at every annual.

 

What is the torque spec for the intake maniforl for a 2004 360?

 

I replaced my heat exchanger/intake manifold gaskets last year and that was the ONLY component that did not have published torque values in the WSM. I will say that they only seems like they were not very tight when I removed them originally, like maybe 15 ft lbs.

 

Near as I can make out, 9.8 nm. One of the pros can chime in if that is off.

 

Just looked in the F430 WSM and it shows 10 nm, so close enough.

 

That engine looks like my neighbors engine with the welded debris on it, his manifolds went bad and he didn't catch it in time, now his engine is being rebuilt..that led me to taking my car in to get checked out and mine were also starting to crack thank God i caught it before damage.

 

I see a lot of these burnt valves on 355 which is famous for its valve guide issues.

 

The first pic shows the damaged cylinder and above that a smidgen of the adjacent cylinder. Note the difference in appearance. Very wet
/ dirty vs clean. I don’t think a lean running cylinder looks wet and dirty.

The valve damage reminds me of a deposit or debris getting stuck under the valve seat.

 

I think this is more than likely the case with this engine...since the breakdown of the precat is a common issue, there was definitely some type of FOD in there. I can't picture just a leaky cam seal or intake gasket causing a catastrophic failure like that.

 

Having repaired several and being involved in law suits over them the cat debris that is carried by reversion all the way back to the induction system is at best very fine particles that required lab tests to determine their origin. It is very capable of damaging cylinder walls and pistons due to abrasion but never valve damage. It can produce a sand blasted effect to the head and piston. Probably not have that build up because of that. I have seen a lot of valves in all nature of engines burn in exactly that way with no FOD issues.

 

Generally yes. O2 sensor out of range or the fuel trim out of range. It is only allowed to adjust a few percent before deciding it is above normal parameters. In my experience that will happen before missing is detected. How many cars do you see driving down the road at night with their instrument panel looking like a Christmas tree with all the colored lights lit? Lots of people ignore them hoping they will just go away or the it is some conspiracy to make you go spend money at the dealer.

 

Have you ever seen any type of engine burn in that way due to FOD issues?