328 still popping, damn | FerrariChat

328 still popping, damn

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by jarends, Nov 4, 2003.

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  1. jarends

    jarends Formula Junior

    Jul 23, 2001
    567
    Princeton, NJ
    Full Name:
    John Arends
    Just to mention, especially to Augustine, I picked up the 328 last week and paid the $2037. It ran great on the way home. Saturday I was preparing to go out for a drive and decided to take it for gas before taking off.

    About 1/2 mile from the house it started popping and missing again and nothing I did changed the way it was running. Started it on Sunday, same thing.

    Now I have to have it flatbedded to the shop as driving it like that could cause harm. Back to square one. Let you know
    J
     
  2. jr328gtb

    jr328gtb Karting

    May 10, 2003
    96
    New Jersey
    Full Name:
    John Roberts
    what was the probelm the first time?
     
  3. AJS328

    AJS328 F1 Veteran
    Owner

    Apr 23, 2003
    7,520
    New Jersey
    Full Name:
    Augustine Staino
    John,

    I am sorry to hear that the car is still not running properly. Did the shop and/or you check the plugs and extenders recently? Since I replaced all of my plugs and extenders last week my car has been running sweetly. I used the new NGK Iridium plugs and I am very happy so far. In fact, Josie and I drove the car over 250 spirited miles this past weekend and it ran faultlessly. I wish you luck with getting the car back up to snuff. If you have any questions about the plug and extender job, let me know.

    -Augustine
     
  4. jarends

    jarends Formula Junior

    Jul 23, 2001
    567
    Princeton, NJ
    Full Name:
    John Arends
    Augustine: Thanks for the reply, I didn't check all the extenders just number one, just couldn't get up the energy to battle with the back bank of plugs. The shop changed all the plugs with this last visit and I assume would have checked the extenders. It does sound pretty much as you had experienced, suddenly misfiring, but it also feels like the old problem, crossfiring in the distributor. Maybe the seal he put in the back distributor didn't take and there's oil in it again. I'll have the car over there as soon as the weather breaks.

    JR: I know the old thread is somewhere, but in short, over the summer at startup, the car would misfire badly and then after a few moments, run OK. It got worse until it didn't run right at all.
    My mechanic had to replace the distributors, rotors and plugs. He also had to replace an oil seal on the back distributor. Apparently there was a fix for this problem of oil coming down the shaft and leaking into the distributor. All this was to be fixed, but now I'm in the same boat, only it is like this all the time.

    I'll let you know how I make out.
    J
     
  5. MarkG

    MarkG Formula Junior

    Nov 3, 2003
    369
    Colorado Springs
    Full Name:
    Mark
    '82 GTSi same problem, now and then pop and backfire, loose a few cylinders; turned out to be a combo of fuse block and bad thermo-time switch which was affecting the warmup regulator. New fuse boxes and Thermo time sw and all is fine.....
     
  6. kdross

    kdross Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 10, 2002
    887
    NJ
    Full Name:
    Ken
    John:

    Sounds like you have an electrical problem. Augustine was right in having you check your extenders. I would double check them since new ones can be bad (cracked) too. I would also check that the plugs and wires are in correctly. Next thing I would do is to check the fuse box. Make sure to take each fuse out and clean it with a little piece of sand paper. The fuses and contacts corrode over time, so you may need to give them both a good cleaning. Make sure to do the relays too.

    If you are still having a problem I would then check your grounds to verify that they are tight and clean. Next step is to open the trunk and to check the digiplex units. I do not know if 328's have them, but my '85 308QV does, and they are a known problem area. They go bad often, and usually the result of water collecting in the trunk. They are hidden in the trunk on the drivers side to the far left. My 308QV has a small access piece of carpeting that I can remove to gain access. Verify that the connections are tight, clean, and free of water. On the far right side is my K-Jetronic FI system, which should also be checked as the Digiplexs. Again, I do not know whether 328's have Digiplex systems, but they are a known problem for 308QV's.

    I hope this helps. Good luck.

    Ken
     
  7. Cenzzo

    Cenzzo Rookie

    Nov 5, 2003
    11
    I have an 87 328 GTS myself, and picked it up one afternoon from a service, and drove it away from the dealership just fine. Went to see some friends, had dinner, and when I went to drive home, the car had a terrible miss - seemingly out of nowhere. No power, had to keep the revs up to get home.
    Next day checked wiring, distributors, looked for loose connections, bad water (the car had been washed for me) ohmed the plug wires, etc, and couldn't come up with anything obvious.
    Called my Porsche mechanic, who offered to take a look at it for me on a Saturday afternoon, and after rechecking everything I did, not finding a problem, started to look at the injection system. Turned out it was a frequency valve relay, located on the little panel in the trunk where the brain is, and ecu for the slow down light. It's the silver cube about an inch square, and 3 inches long and it has a fuse on it. He traced the problem to that, and it turns out that Porsche uses an identical part, except that it doesn't have that fuse. We swapped it out, fired it up and the car ran perfectly. I used that part for the weekend, and then replaced it with the Ferrari replacement on Monday, as I wanted the fuse protection.
    Don't know if that's the problem, but it's one more thing to check.
     
  8. jarends

    jarends Formula Junior

    Jul 23, 2001
    567
    Princeton, NJ
    Full Name:
    John Arends
    Thanks Ken,

    After reading your post, I don't have enough life to go through all of that. I hope that because of the work done, the problem will be in the igniton system do to an extenders or wires, or for that matter the distributors.

    I'm going to let the shop figure it out, but I will give them a copy of the posting here from Augustine, you and Mark.

    thanks again,
    John
     

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