Question Regarding The Oil Burning 80-82 2Vi Series And The Factory Warranty

It took a long time for Ferrari to admit there was an issue. Due to American warranty coverage laws it was far less expensive for Ferrari to overhaul the engines themselves. No new engines were installed. Early ones we rebuilt in house. As the numbers grew Ferrari took over the rebuilding. Later on Ferrari shut down the operation and we stared doing them in house again. There was a factory supplied "Kit". It consisted of everything but block, heads, crank, rods and cams. Cars got new plugs, wires, distributor caps and rotors, bearings, pistons , rings, valves, guides, ...the works.

Ferrari was trying to avoid law suits so there was no real time limit. Engines were being rebuilt years after warranty was over.

We had to jump through a lot of hoops to prove oil consumption but Ferrari did not cut corners once we did. I did a few of the engines myself.

 

The main way that Ferrari "resolved" this issue was to put this note in the 216/81 OM (US version 1981 308i):

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that allowed a ridiculously high oil consumption . Your car was even worse, but that note does not appear in the earlier 195/80 OM (euro version 308i) nor 186/80 OM (US version 308i).

 

Yeah, Ferrari's max oil consumption spec for these 3 litre engines seems absurdly high. OTOH, my '89 328, in three cross-country US trips, used a bit less than one qt in each 2700+ mile trip, so the oil consumption is reasonable. Clearly Ferrari improved something along the way though the manual for my '89 still says a max of 1-2 qt/600 miles.!

 

2 qts in 600 miles was a good one. We had a lot of cars that could not go through a tank of gas without having oil pressure problems.

Ferrari stonewalled it. By the time they could no longer deny it lots of cars were out of warranty.

 

What was the main culprit..rings , guides ?

 

The long version I do not have the energy to write. I'll tell you over a drink in Charlotte. The short version is the ring/piston design was junk.

 

Mahle pistons. No more Roman Empire pistons/rings.

 

"2 qts in 600 miles was a good one. We had a lot of cars that could not go through a tank of gas without having oil pressure problems."

WOW! Just out of curiosity, was that sort of oil consumption common in earlier Ferraris or was it due to the "mass-produced aspect of the 3x8?"

 

IIRC the Owner's Manual for my '81 GTSI stated that oil consumption of one quart per 200 miles under "sporting use" was acceptable. I did not use it enough to be concerned, but John W. who owned the F dealership said that the cause was due to soft rings. I put an ANSA exhaust that Continental had on it and stored the original exhaust up in the attic. I guess it is still up there. EDoug

 

In the old days, I guess when pulling into a "service station" the phrase to the attendant would be "Check the gas; fill up the oil!"

 

The good news:

You always had fresh oil!

 

That is an insane amount of oil consumption!

what I’ve noticed with 2v engines is that even using a Hastings type or Mahle type 3mm oil ring, of standard 14-15lbs tension, they still burn a quart or so every 1000 miles depending on driving habits. Same goes for 911 engines using replated barrels from Millenium.

 

That was quite literally the joke of the period.

 

Soft rings my ass. Dumb conclusion. We did not have a ring wear issue. It was not a wear related issue at all.
Exactly the same pistons, rings and sleeves as in carb engines and they did not have the same issue.
How could that be?

 

It was not an early Ferrari issue. It was an 80-82 308 issue, The only engine changes were going to crank timed ignition and installing a fuel injection system with a large vacuum storage plenum chamber. In my opinion the plenum chamber was the issue. During the entire period of intake valve open time the rings were exposed to high vacuum and sucking oil right past them. The wiper ring was incapable of preventing it. Crank ventilation was poor. BMW had such good crank ventilation that a bad crank seal did not leak oil, it created a lean running condition because BMW was running such a high vacuum in the crankcase. But then, they had good rings.

 

A hot rodder fix for this is typically vacuum pump to the case, noisy things

 

Brian, Thank You, sincerely, for posting this information!

As you will have certainly known, there's been much guessing and dozens of half-baked theories offered on this issue over the years - bad rings, worn valve guides, poor valve seals - you name it. Your explanation is the first that I can recall which thoroughly and logically explains why the similar earlier carb engines did not exhibit the same trait.

If I may, might I follow up and ask what changed with the introduction of the 4V series which specifically addressed the issue? At least outwardly, the 4V plenum design appears quite similar to the 2V.

And, as a 2Vi owner, is there anything which can be done now so to address the issue, once and for all? I had always thought that a typical engine rebuild, using new rings, guides, seals, etc. would be sufficient to sort the issue. But now I'm thinking not so much as that's not addressing the core issue.

Again, Brian, many thanks for sharing your keen perspective and experiences!

DM

 

Ferrari made some design changes to the crankcase ventilation system but most importantly they changed to Mahle for the pistons rings and to the coated aluminum cylinder sleeves they developed. Mahle was and is the worlds leading piston designer and not by just a little bit. The 4 valve series was the most durable and long lasting series of engines Ferrari ever built.

For your 2 valve. Mahle never made a piston for them but you would be very well served when the time comes to get the cylinders bored and install higher compression either Wossner or Wiseco pistons. Have used and been very satisfied with both. My 328 has Wiseco pistons.
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