Hi Guys, I am trying to get a Euro 1985 308 GTB to idle correctly, 25,000miles.... It fires up perfectly, appears to run well, revs cleanly, no smoke... just won't idle when cold. After 10 minutes of warm up, with the oil up to 175deg, and water temp up off the 140deg peg, and some delicate footwork, it will eventually settle at 1000rpm, oscillating +/- 200rpm, then slowly settling at 1000rpm. If i give it a sudden jab of throttle, it revs sweetly, but the revs fall to 0 and it stalls. Cold start injector? Warm up regulator? Can anybody help? Cheers, Lawrence
Checking the cold and warm control pressures from the WUR wouldn't be a bad place to start, but I'd guess that you have some other thing(s) not quite right since it's stalling on free run-down deceleration when warm. Good cold-running is very dependent on the relationship between the cold and warm control pressures being correct, but, since the system gets tweaked-up when warm, the warm control pressure could be "bad" and it should still run Okish warm. Is it a bone-stock euro 308QV (i.e, K-Jet without Lambda and no frequency valve) or has it been "converted" to a K-Jet with quasi-Lambda (where they add a frequency valve and ECU to alter the warm control pressure)? Give a little background too please. It was OK, and then it suddenly started having the problem? It's never been OK, and 64 different mechanics have turned every possible adjustment screw to unknown positions ? etc.
In Calgary, our long term and highly regarded Ferrari master died last year, and left a big void, so I appreciate the help.... I am sorting the car out for the owner, who has just shipped the car from the UK to Canada, and left the project with me while overseas. The car was 'restored' perhaps 10 years ago, and has had the shop maintain the car, but I doubt it has been driven regularly. According to him, it was a pre-existing condition before it was shipped, and he just lived with it. Possibly it has gotten worse, he just said it needed to warm up before it would idle properly. I will have to do some digging to see if it has 'upgrades' not. The car certainly looks completely stock, but I wouldn't know a Lamda sensor if it jumped into bed with me. Is there an easy way to tell? I appreciate your help. Cheers, LR
Sounds like it should still be stock if it came over quickly. Conversion is typically a lengthy process with paperwork and various stickers added into the door jam area. A Lambda Sensor (aka O2 Sensor) would be mounted in the exhaust stream somewhere so if you don't have wire(s) coming off of an exhaust pipe somewhere then it's probably still stock. Another way to tell is that some fuel plumbing needs to be added and that usually is fairly obvious. Here's a shot of a Mondial8 that was converted to "quasi-Lambda": Image Unavailable, Please Login and this photo shows a euro 328 that was also converted (note the added frequency valve): Image Unavailable, Please Login If you are still stock, I really can't add much to what's in the Mondial8/QV WSM and would proceed something like: 1. Confirm that the Vacuum Limiting Valve is fully closed unless a very high vacuum is present on the small port. 2. Confirm that the AAV is somewhat open when cold and fully closed when warm. 3. Confirm the regulated fuel supply pressure with engine off. 4. Confirm the fuel return volume with engine off. 5. Confirm the cold and warm control pressures. 6. Confirm/deny the throttle plate screw adjustment vs the air bypass screw adjustment. 7. Set mixture If everything in 1-5 seems OK, but you can't get 6 & 7 right (and have engine good-runniing), then the problem is more evil/subtle
Thanks guys, photos are coming, it is a neat car... I've never had a close look at a Euro car before and it is very appealing with the much smaller bumpers. I like it much better than my 328 GTS, though I don't fit in it as well. Though I really liked my 328, the one thing that never quite sat right with me, was the engine/exhaust noise... it was fairly harsh and not all that melodic, as i've come to expect from just about every Italian car. Above 6k it was nice, but not at lower rpm. This 308 sounds wonderful and revs more freely, i like it a lot. I even like it in RHD, as it adds to the exoticness of the car. If it was for sale, which it isn't, I would be very interested. The car is stock, it does not have the extra parts in the Mondial photo. I will get to work, and let you know what comes of it. I'll post some shots soon. Cheers, LR
Hi Guys, We diagnosed the problem as a WUR, installed the part along with new plugs as the existing ones had a lot of carbon build up from running rich. Problem solved and the car runs well. It took a while as we got the wrong part the first time. Thanks again for your help, and as promised, here are some pictures of the car, nicely detailed and now safely tucked away for winter. Cheers, Lawrence
Lawrence, Thanks for posting that the problem was solved and what it was. Sometimes there are great informative threads on the site, but we never know how they turned out. Glad you got her fixed, Bob
