308QV Distributer Removal

I know that I appear to be a board hog, but I really don't know too much about Ferraris and want to as much as I can myself. At any rate, my next question arises while I'm trying to remove the distributer cap & rotor from the front bank. I've loosened the three screws which APPEAR to be holding the cap. But no luck. It feels solid against the valve cover. Am I missing something or is this rubber mallet time?

Andrew

 

Thanks for the reply. That's why I asked; they are expensive. I'll try the knife (I guess that means a new gasket too, huh?)

Andrew

 

Okay the distributor cap is off and I've looked at the rotor. BTW, yes, there is a cork gasket around the cap area.

The rotor contact appears to be slightly "crispy" along about half of its leading edge, but nothing too serious, in my opinion. I'm trying to figure out why the front bank is not firing properly. (the cat is overheating and the plugs on the front bank appear to have a too rich carbon deposits around the plug ring). Is this slight crispiness a sign that the rotor is the culprit? If not, then I guess that its on to the flywheel sensors or the coil itself (how do you test that?). The contacts on the inside of the distributor seem okay, not perfectly smooth or anything, but not burnt either.

All help is appreciated.

Andrew

 

A small update (the edit feature doesn't show up anymore; what's up with that?).

The plugs on the rear bank appear too rich too, so I'm back to square one. It can't be that both coils not working properly at the same time. It can't be both rotors/distributors not functioning properly (at the same time). It can't be both flywheel sensors are malfunctioning at the same time (recently replaced one of the sensors anyhow). And the front and back plugs do appear to fire (and at lower idle, it actually runs smoothly). Finally, I don't believe that the car can be tuned so rich as to run decently yet overheat the cat. Something is amiss and I cannot find it.

I guess I simply have to give up and acknowledge that Ferraris are more complicated than my poor ability to diagnose them.

Andrew

 

Thanks for the posts, no the injectors are clean enough at the moment, and I'm not sure that they are part of the overheating cat issue. Yes, the surging is a problem, but the hot cat is definitely the worse issue bothering me. I'm not sure if the surging is related to the overheated cat or not, but it definitely gets too hot underneath at times.

I simply cannot put a finger on it and no one seems to have an idea here either (it's tough without looking at the car in person, I know).

Surrender is looming as my last option. But after a competent mechanic does find out what the problem is, I'm going to listen carefully to him with a pipe wrench in my hand, and if it's something obvious, or something that I've already looked at, well, I've got a new parts car for you guys!

Andrew