308 - Oil Pressure & Temperature Problems

A mechanic I know recommended adding an extra full qt of oil to the engine before tracking . Maybe this could help the oil temp and pressure to some degree.

 

See the post in another thread here.

 

Another reason to have too high a temperature is that you have too low an oil flow (the oil does not flow enough to cool the internal parts) and too high internal friction from too thick an oil. What brand, type and viscosity of oil are you using on the track and what do you use for around town driving? What exact pressures do you get at 2,000 and 4,000 and 6,000 RPM at the track with the hot engine and exactly what is the temperature?

aehaas

 

Ali
It is a pick up/scavenge issue given the location of the pick up on the WS 308/328 cars. And by the time the Veglia gauge has registered it's too late.
Philip

 

I don't usually like it when people say "they all do it" but in this case I can at least say that mine does the same thing. I agree its a scavenge problem and I too added an extra quart of oil when running on the track. It was a momentary drop of pressure in very hard corners but a drop nonetheless. I know some folks have installed Accusump systems to overcome this problem. The Accusump senses low oil pressure and takes over until pump pressure is back to an established level.

 

The 50 wt. Mobil 1 product you are using gives you the perfect flow/pressure dynamics with that engine temperature on the track. However, it can only mean that you are running excessive pressure and therefore reduced flow at around town driving temperatures.

I wound guess that the 0W-30 Mobil 1 would be better for around town. If you insist on using only a single wt. for both applications I would try the 0W-40 Mobil 1.

A 40 wt. oil is only slightly thinner than a 50. It will give you slightly less pressure at the same temperature as the 50. However, since the 40 is thinner it will flow better and therefore cool the engine more. This will decrease the engine temperature somewhat. The lower temperature will make the otherwise slightly thinner 40 wt. oil a little thicker. This is why some people use a reduced thickness oil and actually get the same pressure as a thicker oil. The engine overall temperature is lower though and this is good for engine longevity in itself.

The oil you are using is not the cause of any over heating on the track but is certainly eating up HP, and causing your engine to run a little hotter while driving in town. That oil is also causing a lot of wear and tear at start up, where most engine wear occurs.

aehaas

 

If you want to stick to the manual you are quoting, use Pennzoil Synthetic 5W-50. If you review:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14408&page=2&pp=20

you will see it is what I recommend for a synthetic 50 wt. oil.

aehaas

 

Are you sure the 308 OM recommends 5w50? I thought it recommended 10w50 just like the 328 and Boxer OM.

 

Interesting, mine stays pretty constantly close to 85 all the time. A little lower at idle and lower RPM. Valvoline Synthetic Race oil 20w50.

 

I wish they would put flow meters on cars instead of pressure sensors. As flow becomes more restricted the pressure goes up. They are inversely related. Pressure does not lubricate anything. If it did then we should all be using 90 wt. oil.

aehaas

 

run an extra liter or 2 of oil and try straight water in your cooling system with redline water wetter.....water conducts heat twice as good as antifreeze

 

A very common problem to the 308/328/Mondial radiators is that they can over time become plugged up and have reduced flow. The fix is to remove the radiator, have the bottom cut off, and a brush run up and down through the tubes to clean out the gunk....kind of like having an angioplasty

Once done, you car should run just fine (cool). Remember, that radiator is probably over 20 years old, if it has never been replaced or opened up!

 

another thing to check is the radiator cap tension is not soft as I did all sorts of things to my cooling system that cost a fortune but did nothing to help solve the trackday overheating problem until one of the racers guys in the club looked at my RC and said it was the problem and that I should get a 15lb Ford RC as they fit straight on and it fixed the water overheating permanently.

As for the oil problem, I just added an extra litre or slightly more for trackdays and problem solved for the pressure but temp would still go off the scale after about 25 laps or 50 mins (I use to only do 5-6 laps before the temps would go thru the roof)

Also Mobil 1 is not a great synthetic, use the Shell Helix synthetic. Racer mates of mine use to use Mobil all the time in their racecars but found abnormal wear and switched to Shell Helix which reduced it noticably.

The 328 sump does fix the oil pressure problem to a degree but check the old Fchat for how to dry sump the 3x8 series cars, some good info there

 

I'm not sure if your '82 has a mechanical advance distributor, but you might want to check if it is advancing correctly. Just attach a timing light, and run it up to 6000 RPM while observing the timing marks on the flywheel. It should move smoothly up to 38 degrees advance at 6000 RPM.

I had an oil heating problem on my '75, and a stuck advance weight was the problem. Disassembly, cleaning and lubrication of the Distributors solved it. Of course you need a distributor machine to properly set the curves - that required a trip to eBay and purchase of... (long story truncated).

 

Dave. of the various aftermarket radiators, do you feel they would do the job? I was thinking of getting an aftermarket radiator + fan combo for my 328, but am hesitant of modifying any of the mounting points/etc in my car. (aka, if need be, I want to be able to swap it back to stock).

Your thoughts on this? I may start a separate thread on it later.

I feel a modern radiator/fan combo should help cool the system quite a bit.

 

I have run a couple of QV's and my current 328 on tracks quite a lot. 328's have better cooling systems, especially water. On short, tight tracks, the QV's would reach 225 water and 260 oil. The 328 rarely goes over 200 and 250. On higher speed tracks, the 328 stays quite cool about 190 & 240. You didn't mention if your 308 is actually boiling over or just spitting out the overflow. If it's the overflow, change your cap as mentioned above. Ferrrari caps are crap, I once one got a brand new one that was bad right out of the box. I never had any oil pressure problems with any car. When the oil is really hot, you have less pressure of course, but mechanics tell me not to worry. It is my understanding that carb cars have the pressure drop problem but baffles were added in the injected cars to prevent that. By the way, my 89 328 calls for 10/40. I don't know when the switch was made from 10/50 but since there were no motor changes I'm theorizing that Ferrari at some point decided that heavy stuff really wasn't needed either because oils had improved or some other reason.

Dave

Dave