308 No spark at plugs for cylinders 4 and 8 | Page 3 | FerrariChat

308 No spark at plugs for cylinders 4 and 8

Discussion in '308/328' started by samsss, Sep 17, 2024.

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  1. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S
    John, Thanks you for taking a look. I really don’t know what the problem is but based on all the comments it seemed it was a good idea to once and for all eliminate the TDC sensors, flywheel pins, DigiPlex’s, and coils as the culprit. And if I am understanding you correctly, based on the scope readings, these ignition areas are OK.

    Mike, your understanding is correct. I’ve tested everything multiple times and have verified that:

    *Cylinders 1 and 4 DO NOT spark when the Green wires are connected at the rear coil (that is the stock wiring set up)
    *Cylinders 2 and 3 DO NOT spark when the Yellow/Black wires are connected at the rear coil .

    In neither scenario are all 4 cylinders firing, but I do know that the current is able to, in fact, reach each spark plug effectively. I’ve reposted a portion of that chart I made in post #25 to see what's happening.

    And yes, with a spark plug directly on the coil output I was getting even and sequential sparks, which I believe is verified too by the scope readings, right?

    Thank you all for thinking about this.

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  2. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    Sam, quick question. When you made those videos, do you recall what RPM the engine was running at? I ask because looking at the chart in post 91 suggests that one of the TDC senors is not functioning. But at the same time you claim that spark of the coil is good which is a source of confusion. However, just looking at the coil how would you know if you are getting 4 sparks/cycle (2 crank rotations) or just 2? So I took a closer look at your scope videos and compared them to mine and this is what I see. Mine is on the left. If you look at the spacing in time mine fires about every 25ms. Yours fires about every 55 ms. So if the RPM is the same for your car and mine it would look like you have a bad TDC sensor or connection. My car idles around 1000 RPM. It yours is around that then it looks like a TDC problem. This seems further verified by the little "blip" between pulses. On mine that "blip" is close to the next pulse. On your, there is a signiicent lag like there should be another pulse in between the one shown.

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  3. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S
    That’s a great catch. I can’t confirm exactly what I was idling at, so I will test again and match the 1000 rpm’s and see the reading.
    I did just look at the video of bank 5-8 reading too, and that blip seems to lean on the other side of the gap between firings.
    In theory though, if my readings still look like this at 1k rpm, would it be a faulty sensor, or missing pin? But wouldn’t the 5-8 bank be affected too if it were a missing pin?
    I’ll report back with revised test results and may even put my old (known working) sensor back in the 1-4 port in the sandwich plate.
    Thanks as always.
     
  4. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S
    #54 samsss, Oct 11, 2024
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2024
    Ok I'm back already and was able to snap a photo of the scope at 1000 RPMs. It is indeed about double the time between firings compared to your results for both banks (Sorry about the focus on bank 5-8 image). I guess the only item to maybe consider is how accurate these car's tach readings are, or is the margin of error not enough to matter. ..
     

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  5. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    Hum. I guess the next thing would be to check the TDC signal at 1000 RPM and compare the time interval between pulses for your car and mine. I'll try to get to that tomorrow morning before I head out. I'll check it with both my scopes but I think these little pocket scopes are good enough for this. I'll also verify the coil trigger signal just to be sure it's correct. Check, check and double check. :)
     
  6. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S
    Ok good plan. Thank you. I will test TDC sensors signal at 1K RPM also.
     
  7. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    #57 johnk..., Oct 12, 2024
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2024
    OK, here is a video from my car's TDC sensor at about 1000 RPM. It starts with a 5 ms time increment and then I switch to 10 ms. One revolution at 1000 RPM is 60 ms. The time between pulses is about 30 ms thus 2 pulses / rev, one from each flywheel pin. Yes, times may differ slightly due to tach accuracy, but it should be around 30ms.

    www.youtube.com/shorts/hXwSbPwMnt4
     
  8. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    You're a little fast as your display shows slightly under 30 ms between pulses -- should be 33.3 ms at 1000 RPM ;).
     
  9. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    Yes, my car is a little fast, but check you math. 60 (s/m) / 1000 (r/m) = 60ms/r or 30ms between pulses, or 33.3 pulses/s. ;)
     
  10. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Oh, you're right -- I was calculating 33.3 half-revolutions per sec (which is 30 ms between pulses).
     
  11. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S
    Well, mine look nothing like that at all. Here's the videos from bank 1-4 at 5ms and 10ms. (Bank 5-8 look similar. I will post those too later this evening...that's all the garage time I have today...) Thanks for taking a look. Any ideas on the cause?

    5ms:


    10ms:
     
  12. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I think the good news is that you definitely found something that needs to be fixed. Are you sure that your Digiplex ECUs have a good ground connection?
     
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  13. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Yes I love that that’s actually “good” news. The thing I am dreading though is a flywheel pin problem because that’s a lot of work. Can you tell if it looks like it might be the case also? I didn’t touch the digiplex’s in the trunk area at all when I refurbished the engine and bay. I can double check the grounds though. Is there anywhere else to look for ground issues? Thanks guys.
     
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  14. Sergio Tavares

    Sergio Tavares Formula 3

    Nov 15, 2018
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    Get a VOM and test for ground along engine and chassis points where ground is used to battery.
    This could perhaps clean or repalce a stainless grounded strap solution and is so easy and cheap
     
  15. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    I think the rate of the pulses is a sign that the pins on the flywheel are OK (and it's not that the pulses are missing -- just that they seem very asymmetric and "too sharp"); however, you may wind up there. This is from a Mondial, but I think 308 are the same where there's a local loop terminal that get screwed onto the chassis for the Digiplex grounds (the red arrow in this photo) -- so cleaning that up and making sure that the wires are still properly swagged into the loop terminal are fairly easy things to do:

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  16. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Thanks Steve, I checked both coil's ground, the 3 ground pins at the diagnostic port, the digi ground, (the point you indicated in the picture). All appear to be solidly ground, 0 to maybe 1 ohm resistance measured back to the negative battery cable. I'm assuming the next step in this process of elimination is to put my old TCC sensors back in, since they were working, and see what the results are. Would you agree and/or have any other suggestions for now?.
     
  17. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Correction- TDC sensors…. Not TCC..,,
     
  18. Steve Magnusson

    Steve Magnusson Two Time F1 World Champ
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    No, nothing else -- that sounds a reasonable plan.
     
  19. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    One thing I note is that the magnitude of the TDC signal is inconsistent and also very high. Your video show Vpp as much as 120V. That doesn't make sense. I went back and look at mine using my analog scope and it's the same as with the digital, about 25Vpp and pretty symmetric. I wonder if your new sensors were the correct type. Where did you get them and were they OE type, Magneti Marelli?

    This is both TDCs shown on a dual trace scope. You can see they are 15ms apart (90 degrees of crank rotation).

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  20. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    John, Yes, the are Magneti Marelli. I found them on Amazon (link below). I cross checked that were the same ones - SEN8D, part number 119052 - offered at Maranello Parts and other Ferrari parts sites.
    I wanted to confirm too that I was taking my scope readings by using the pos and ground pins for each bank in the diagnostic port.
    I agree it does not make sense,...yet.... Can you recommend another test prior to me replacing these new sensors with the original ones?

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D76G09Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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  21. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    They should be OK. I bought the same item from the same seller to replace my RPM sensor. The only other suggestion would be to just remove the connectors from the digiplex units and make sure they are clean, and then plug them back in and see what happen.
     
  22. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Well, I found the problem. I decided before swapping the sensors that since it's fairly easy to remove the RPM sensor because of its location, and I have a borescope camera, that I'd take a look once and for all and see if the flywheel pins are in there. As you can see from the photos, one is completely missing and one is bent. I didn't handle the flywheel very much at all when it was apart, but obviously something happened and I really should have checked it carefully before reassembly. That's a mistake I'll never make again.
    It's a lot of work ahead but at least I know now what the issue is.
    Thanks everyone for all your input and especially to Steve and John who stayed with me on this.
    Will report back when all is back together again.


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  23. mike996

    mike996 F1 Veteran

    Jun 14, 2008
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    Glad you found (what appears to be) the problem!! Looks like they hit something while the flywheel was spinning, broke one/bent the other. I've never had the assembly apart so don't know what's they could have contacted to cause that. Can't imagine how it could happen just by handling the flywheel during removal/installation.
     
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  24. johnk...

    johnk... F1 World Champ
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    Dam, that's great. Funny though because I woke up this morning and was going to suggest that you pull a sensor and look inside with a borescope. Like minds? ;)
     
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  25. samsss

    samsss Karting

    Apr 17, 2021
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    Sam S

    Hello guys, been a while and here is the update:

    As I said weeks ago I ultimately discovered by looking through the RPM sensor port that one of the TDC pins was missing from the flywheel, and the other one was bent.

    So I took it all apart and found that there was a missing nut on one of the studs that holds the sandwich plate on to the engine body. (the nuts that are behind the flywheel). I also found a washer at the bottom of the housing that was all banged up. And there were also some nicks in the sides of the sandwich plate.

    The assumption based on this is that the nut came off while driving and thrashed around behind the flywheel and knocked off one of the pins and bent the other.

    Long story short, I put new TDC pins in the flywheel (also put in new location pins on the other side of the flywheel), and also had the flywheel recut since it was out…

    Put it all back together and I was getting sparks at all cylinders and the engine started right up. Scope readings now look good.

    Now on to fine tuning the fuel mixture and idle….

    Thank you all again for your assistance in the diagnosis.
     
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