Air bubbles on dip stick - 360 Modena

The dealer is really not supposed to do that, I know some do but don't be surprised if they say no.

 

Right, but that's easy enough to do. The first time Ferrrari (dry sump version) owner walks to his garage, admires his new purchase from the day before, figures what the heck, "I'll just check the oil while I'm out here admiring the car."

Of course, the car has been sitting all night long. The engine is stone cold, so the dip stick reads....No Oil!

So the new owner adds two quarts of oil and checks again. Still no oil! "My God!" The new owner thinks, they sold me a car without any oil in it!

In a panick, the new owner dumps every quart of oil that he's got in the garage into the car. Finally the oil starts to show on his dipstick.

So he starts up the car and smoke billows everywhere...


...because the whole system has double the "full" amount of oil. It's got so much oil in it that the oil level shows "Full" on the dip stick when the engine is cold. That's pretty overfilled!


Yeah, yeah, every new owner should read the owner's manual first (even prior to the first day of ownership), I agree. But it wouldn't hurt to inscribe "Check Only When Hot - Level Shouldn't Show Cold" onto the dipstick oil cap cover, either.

I mean, "Unleaded Only" is on the fuel filler door (for a related example). Basic, but harmless to label, surely.

 

You are very correct, I agree. To begin with drivers ed should be more like flight school so that people are trained to do a preflight and to educate themselves about the particular contrivance they are operating. Also the 550 and 456 do have lables next to the oil tank warning to have the "motor up to 170 degrees" except all to many think of motor temp as water temp.

 

I've seen it happen on a 348. the guy checked his oil when the engine was cold, thought he was low and filled the tank. and I know this isn't the first time. Got to read the owners manuals on these cars. ie; if all else fails read the instructions. Regards, Vern

 

I was reading this post and almost laughing out loud. I did exactly that, up to a point. I literally had the quart of oil in my hand ready to pour when I decided to call a friend of mine who has owned several Ferraris. He informed me of the proper technique to check the oil and saved me a huge mess.

Threads like this and this site in general has been a wonderful resource. Thank you all, especially people like Brian (Rifledriver) and Phil (ferrarifixer) and many others.

 

The best way to check the oil level is after a drive before stopping the engine,but use good protection gloves(very hot).Keep always level below Max mark with engine hot.
Bubbles are normal as everyone says by experience.
Dont warry too much.Good luck.

 

No it's not.

You must stop the engine to get an accurate reading. Search and you'll see the handbook update that Ferrari changed.

And on a 360, if the oil temp is over 80 deg C or ~180F, then it's fine to be a little over max... if you go to the track with R spec or slick tyres, you actually NEED a 360 to be over max... 360C datalogger shows oil pressure spikes on long sweepers otherwise...

 

What 360 manual is that in? I have looked at every US manual and none of them say that. I did see it once but do not remember where. No US owners books or any of the shopmanuals say it that I can find.

 

it's a "loose leaf" stuck in page in 03 and later owners hand books I think...
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The Enzo shop manual says the same thing as the Enzo owners manual for checking the oil. Again, I assure you the engine must of off.

aehaas

 

I have a 355 (I know this post is about a 360...) and I've checked the oil hot, both idling and with in a minute of shutdown and I have absolutely NO difference between the oil levels. Since they are all dry sump cars I am surprised that there seems to be difference on how to read the oil levels.
Note: I also have no foaming in the oil either way and I use Mobil 1.

 

I’ve called the dealer everyday about possibly changing out the Shell Helix to Redline Oil (whatever doesn’t foam) and looking into maybe having a bad oil pressure sending unit, still no call back from them!

 

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the amount of oil one should put back into their car when changing the oil & filter?...my car is an 86 328 and the owners manual reads 10 liters. This amount translates to a little over 10 1/2 quarts. I changed mine recently, put in 9 qts..let it warm up, re-check in the prescribed 15 minutes and it read full...
So do I add another quart and 1/2?...BTW these are US liquid quart measurements I am referring to

 

I have read a lot of threads about checking the oil level, all have different answers!

 

It depends on how much you drained out!!

Typically, on a normal oil change, you may not get out several litres of oil... eg a DRY engine that is quoted as holding 10 litres may take 12 or 13 litres by the time it's filled the oil filter, cooler, lines, hollow camshafts etc etc... but of course, draining it out once in use won't get it all out...

so... follow the dipstick guidelines, and compare what you put in to what the manual states... and you can actually work out how good a job you did of draining the car....

best way is to get oil as hot as possible... but then you risk burning yourself when you drain it.

My preferred method is to drive/run the car and get it very hot (oil temp 100 C if possible)... then leave it overnight to cool down and drain down fully... THEN drain it cold without starting the engine at all. That way, the up side down oil filter is also drained down and comes off cleanly, and the upper parts of the engine have had time to fully drain as much as possible into the sump.

 

Typically you will only get 8.5 to 9 quarts in after a 10 to 15 minute drain interval. Don't add more at this point!

 

The dipstick is the end-all reading, no matter what the book says it will hold.
360RossoFiorano posted a nice photo of an over-filled tank. If you look at the three hoses at the top of the picture, Two are kinda fat and one is thin. The 'fat' hoses are breather hoses to vent pressure into and out of the oil tank. They connect to the plenumn. The thin hose is a vacuum hose. Overfilling the 360 will let oil get sucked into the engine via these hoses. I have seen it done. I usually put in 8 Liters, run the car at idle, shut it off, and add one liter, and repeat until its filled to "min". Then I drive the car to get the oil nice and warm and top it off to "max". Some cars take 9.5 liters, some 10-10.5. The dipstick doesn't lie. PiperDan said the reading was well above the "max" I think it's over filled. Just my opinion.

E

 

Thank you gentlemen...
I did pretty much as you stated..
got car/oil hot...drained it & let it drain for about 2 hrs...replaced sump plug...let sit over night...next day removed sump plug again, drained it for about an hour, removed baldwin filter (no oil spill)....

I think this pretty much covers "draining". Am I missing something?

Drover her yesterday, (12-10-06) got her hot, returned home let her sit about 8 minutes, checked the dipstick and it read full....the oil (Redline 10-40) was barely visible on the stick, it is so clean!

 

If you let it sit for 8 minutes, you're reading a slighter higher reading than what is the "live" level..

check it straight away is fine.

 

Over-Filled..????
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I have one doing this and I found that it is sucking oil into the throttle body because of the bubbling, I have 2 new pcv valves coming they are located on the top of the valve covers, will update you what I found

 

There is still so much confusion with the oil level with this car. If it can helps one person, here is my notes on oil level.


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Interesting to see this thread, I have the exact same issue. The last oil change was done by the dealer when I bought the car. I don’t get any smoke on start-up, and won’t drive the car until I change the oil so I know the exact amount.
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I had this exact same problem and it turned out to be a gasket at the bottom of the disareator!

See photo - part 27.

It isa £3 part from Ferrari but it cost £2000 to find the fault.

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