Hello! This might actually be my first post here. I'll have to formally introduce myself later in a seperate post. Long story short (for now) is that I've recently inherited my late father '82 308 GTSi. It was his favorite car and its truly bitter-sweet to now be the owner and responsible for such a unique car. Fortunately I have service records. I have memories of what dad told me about the car. However, there's one item that I immediately noticed when I got the car running that I wanted to ask about. I remember that during startup, it use to do the high rev hold for approx 30 seconds or so to hot up the cat, and what not and then settle down to idle. However the car hasnt been doing that since I've been watching over it. (My dad was in the hospital for a long time and all I did was start it and take it for quick spins). Then the other day I looked closer and the belt for the air-pump is missing. That could be it? So quick google and I see the belt is $50-$70. The question is -- do I need the air pump/belt in a no smog testing state (Ohio)? Or is there some kind of potential damage without it? I currently still start the car and let it idle for a good minute before we even start to back out of the garage. Thank you for you feedback. I'll create another post with some pictures and more questions! Thanks, Todd M. Cambridge OH
The high idle at startup doesn't have anything to do with the smog pump. Your Dad probably removed it because it's not needed in states where you don't have to have a smog pump. The idle... that's controlled by a couple things. Cold Start Air Valve Check out this article on the cold start air valve. The Euro cars don't even have this because it's not a great idea to rev a cold engine. We have it in the States for emissions reasons. https://www.birdman308.com/service/cold_start/cold_start.htm The sensor in your overflow tank at the back. A quick thing you could do is get some contact cleaner and spray the connections on the back of your header tank and reconnect... might just work from that because oxidation got to them. There should also be a light at the top of the gauge cluster on the right that illuminates while that sensor is doing its thing, and turns off after it reaches temp.
This is where those sensors screw in, the little holes on the side should ahve a couple sensors with wires connected. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Does the yellow low engine temperature warning light in the dash come "on" at cold start-up? (It should.) If it does, that's a good sign that the thermoswitch in the coolant expansion tank is doing the right thing (cold = open and hot = closed); however, there are a bunch of other components/wiring/hoses involved in the cold start air valve system operation that Imatk mentioned. If it doesn't, it could be stuck closed so you can just unplug it as a test to simulate the cold/open condition to see if that restores the high cold idle (although many people disable this system or add an orifice in the airflow path to reduce the cold idle RPM to something not so crazy high).
Hi All, I'm in the camp of kinda glad it doesnt do that high idle startup. I agree in the common sense logic that its hard on the cold engine to rev high. Ohio doesnt have testing requirement, so as long as its not doing anything detrimental the car, then I'm fine with leaving it as is. I'll have to double check the low engine temp yellow light. I dont think it comes on during startup. It does illuminate when I turn the key to on and it shows all the lights briefly. I'll check those sensors and I have some contact cleaner. But again, I'm actually happy that it doesnt rev high and seems to be running fine. Just wanting to make sure.
Todd, Welcome and condolences for your father's passing. Check-out this thread for additional thoughts on disabling the air pump in cars so equipped: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/does-running-the-air-pump-heat-up-the-cats.396025/ Summary: Disabling the air pump can lead to catalytic converter damage by not allowing the cats to fully heat and burn-off the remaining by-products of the combustion process. - Dave
It's only present on the US version 1980-83 308B/S (K-Jet without Lambda), and is the upper right dash light of the 4 "corner" dash lights (if they haven't been shuffled around). Your US version 1984 308 (K-Jet with Lambda) doesn't have it.
So I can confirm that the light (top right) does NOT come on during start up. I will try and clean the connectors sometime and see if that is it. Meanwhile, I will probably order a new air pump belt. Just to keep ait as close to factory as possible. Piece of mind for me too. Any recommendations on good vendors to deal with? Good shipping costs etc? Thanks
Got mine last year through Motion: https://www.motion.com/products/sku/00738205;origin=sayt Don't remember what shipping cost and don't remember having any issues with the order. - Dave
