488 GTB - Gasket Sealant?

i have a new 488 GTB and I am concerned about the cosmetic state of the engine and what that says about what it went through during test. The car came with a letter which explained away the higher than expected delivery mileage.

Chief concerns are scuffs on some of the castings, through the surface finish to the aluminium beneath.

My biggest concern is the obvious use of gasket sealant with an excess on the outside and a concern there may be the same inside, all ready to break off and block the lubrication system.

Question is, is gasket sealant normally used on these engines. I would have thought that with properly machined surfaces, a metal gasket and proper assembly technique, it should not be needed on a new engine.

Any thoughts anyone?

 

Thanks, here’s a picture. You can see it’s the seal between the rear casting which runs across the width of the engine and one of the camshaft covers. The scuffs on the casting look to be from a tool slipping. Not great when the engine is on display in this $300000 car (UK price). Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I understand what you are saying but I have an F355 which is a ticking time bomb needing replacement valve seats at some point which cost a lot to fix. I am trying to avoid, while it is still under warranty, any engine issues that I can. I should also mention that the black panel behind the glass engine cover is chipped, presumably as a result of the efforts to fix the engine in situ. It all points to a poor job. Really, Ferrari build quality leaves much to be desired!

 

Hey, ridiculous or not, my original question was whether gasket sealant is routinely used on a brand new 488 engine. It appears not, judging by the 10 or so cars I’ve looked at - there has been no sign of it at all.

Gasket sealant shouldn’t be necessary when sealing newly machined surfaces. It seems most likely that there was a problem with the engine in the car and it was (badly) fixed in place, and the car retested, with the higher than normal delivery mileage (80 miles).

I’m surprised the problem was not picked up in a hot engine test and I’m trying to find out what work was done.

Oh and just in case you think this car is a garage queen, it’s not. It’s already seen very high speeds on the German Autobahn and has picked up a few stone chips and an underbody scuff following the route of the Mille Miglia in May. The car is great but that doesn’t excuse Ferrari from doing a proper job building it!

 

Yes, you can imagine the first attempt to seal the engine was to tighten the bolts and the tool slipped, damaging the casting and exposing the aluminium underneath. I expect those bolts have been over tightened - steel bolt into aluminium thread: not good.

 

It’s been back at the dealer since the beginning of June, 8 issues, one of which is “working as designed”, one is “cannot recreate”, the rest are fixed leaving just this engine issue.

 

The “working as designed” issue was the fact that the front left wheel runs hotter than the other three. I thought there might be a problem with alignment or something binding but it turns out the aircon vents close to the wheel and heats it up.

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Thanks for the reply, as for the cosmetics, I would say that as soon as Ferrari decide to put the engine on show under a glass cover, the cosmetics become important. “Look at our beautiful craftsmanship...”

I too noticed the socket headed bolts condition and I expect they have been severely over-tightened in an effort to seal the engine. That’s probably why the tool slipped and scuffed the casting.

There’s no doubt it’s a complex assembly which will require careful tightening of the bolts - see the parts diagram. Whether they have a robot to do this, I do not know, they are probably only making 20 of these engines a day, if that.

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