Hi everyone, hope you had a good weekend. Does anyone know what the correct values are for the air and fuel mixtures and ratios etc, etc. Mine only ever idles at around 500rpm, whereas the book states 1000 + or - 100. Not sure if its my rev counter not reading correctly which is what i suspect or maybe it is? However i have no instruments to read the values and dont want to mess about with the mixture screws as I dont know what Im really doing. I can adjust the idle screw easily but if i do this am i affecting anything else at the same time? Currently it runs very strong and pulls very well. I am curious as to whether i am running lean or rich? Cheers. Peter
Mine is too rich at the moment (you will smell unburned fuel). I was reading several posts on this topic and the first one should do is to check if one has no vacuum leak(s) rather then to adjust the mixture screws. Since I have a few vacuum lines that are not very trustworthy after I don't know how many years. I will replace all the rubber vacuum lines and see where it gets me. One of the posts mentioned this info how to find a leak. Be careful with the first method, if not do it at all ! How to Find a Vacuum Leak - Smoking Out Vacuum Leaks - Popular Mechanics When you start do you have grey/black/white smoke coming together with a fuel smell out of your exhaust? If yes, then it is for sure too rich. Ps. I will definately PM you when I am in the neighbourhood of London to meet up Cheers, M
Hi again, I seem to always have a slight smell of exhaust fumes. When i start i would say its white smoke (I think but Im colour blind), well at least it seems normal and then goes away when warmed up. I just got it back from Ferrari yesterday and they did an emissions check and said it was perfect. I have the print out of the values but i really dont know what they mean unless i have the factory figures to compare against. And yes, do stay in touch when youre in London. I have only ever seen 1 Mondial on the road in probably 10 years if not more, very rare here
If it smells like rotten eggs that is a rich condition. Many cars do that when cold. My 1986 Mondial QV used to do that when I fist got it, but only on cold start up. Then I did an 'Italiano Tune Up' which just means running it at least a little bit hard at full throttle [full throttle in 2nd gear between 4k - 6k rpms a few times should be enough] to blow out carbon and other stuff from both the engine and the catalytic converter. I don't get much of that SO2 [sulphur dioxide] smell any more. In the US emissions are tested at operating temperature and so a rich condition at start up would not be seen. It would have to be really really bad smell for a long time to do any damage to the cat. Yours passed emissions so the cat is good. Smoke is another matter. Blue smoke is oil. Black smoke is soot from a rich condition, but I do not think a cat equipped car will do that. White smoke could mean something else. The worst case would be a water leak into the engine, but that would be steam, not smoke. One possibility is, in my experience, a very lean condition. That has an odd smell all its own and I can not think of a way to describe it. Maybe acrid? Won't hurt anything if you don't run hard before warm up. A very lean condition can cause knock and ruin your spark plugs.
Thanks for that, My 1987 UK euro spec 3.2 has no Cat. There is never a bad smell of eggs or anything at all. Just exhaust fume smell. Maybe it's how they are, I don't know. The emissions check was spot on but I would be interested to see the actual figures if anyone has them? It certainly runs and pulls very strongly.
I come back to the actual smell. Does it smell like an old 1960's car? That's a hydrocarbon smell and indicates rich, If I had to hazard a guess I might suspect the car has been set lean to meet emissions standards, and that could account for the white smoke. A hydrocarbon smell would not be accompanied by white smoke. A truly over-rich/non-cat car could actually spit soot. My old MG would do that when cold. If it runs well, is emissions legal but smells a bit when cold? Hey. Two out of three ain't all that bad.... PS: Can you see into your exhaust pipes? If they are not black it is not a rich condition. If they are tawny brown that is good. I hardly ever have had a car with tawny brown pipes because I routinely use full throttle which invokes a slightly rich mixture, even in modern cars.
One thing on the white smoke/steam. If your head gasget is leaking or the head.. You will smell coolant from your exhaust. It has a particular sweet smell. Some call it pancake smell. You will smell it immidiately and I'm very sure that is not the case else the mechanics at Ferrari would have told you since every mechanic knows this smell (I'm not a mechanic btw ) Not sure if your airco is on as that eats away some rpm. I have seen your youtube move and I actually didn't notice it would be running on 500 rpm unlike the Rev counter says.. it sounds good to me and certainly not the sound of 500 rpm as that is near stalling point.
Thanks guys, I will check the exhaust pipes to see if they are black or brown. It's not a bad smell of any kind and not a coolant smell which I am familiar with. Funny I never thought of it as a pancake smell, I would say more like curry I suppose it depends on who's cooking It's just a regular exhaust fume smell. I thought I may have an exhaust leak somewhere? Ideally I would like to compare the air and fuel ratio figures I was given with factory spec figures for a comparison Cheers.
Hi Peter, last time I saw your car it was running fine, with no nasty whiffs of any description. I think we are all so used to the marzipan cat smell from new cars that when you get a sniff of these old 'vintage' engines they smell a bit rich when in truth they are running fine. I'm often starting up all kinds of Ferraris from the 80s and 90s era and they all have that whiff about them, so I would worry little. Anyway yours has just been checked and all is well, so I would rest easy ;-)
Thanks Bell, You're absolutely right, maybe I'm just being paranoid but would be great to see the factory specs for reference to compare mine with. As I mentioned before, it starts and pulls very strong and I think curiosity has got the better of me Cheers mate.
Hi Peter, Mine is also '87 Euro 3.2. May I know what's the fuel consumption of your Mondial? Thanks..
Thanks Peter & Mike. 14-17MPG (UK Imperial) = 5-6 KM/L Mine ~14mpg based on 3 tanks of petrol as I just bought the Mondial early this month & don't have time to drive the car. Smoke (black) from cold start smells a bit like rotten eggs. I suspect the ratio is too rich. No such smells when the engine is hot.
