engine diagnosis

There's a special tool to get the heads off. I'm sure someone will pop in with a link or you can check out Ricambi.com for it.

Post up some pictures of the cam if you can. We'd all like to see it and it's good for the archives.

 

I hope you didn't pay your car too much, scary thoughts working on it knowing that there is coolant in the engine oil ( means past overheating issues ), 0 readings in one head and 100 in another ( valves hopefully and not pistons/rings/cylinders ) Motor parts are very expensive even if you do the job for your self. I hope the problem stays with the heads. I really wish you the best of luck man ...

 

Ebay has the headbolt tool for about $40. I highly recommend you subscribe so you can post and see pics, and we'll know who and where you are. There'll be a brotherhood member near you. Good luck and enjoy your car! Wish I'd seen it first!

 

Welcome to Ferrari Chat! Hopefully you will be able to drive and enjoy your 348 before too long, but you've got some work to do!

There's no way to tell at this point what happened first, but you probably have a series of bent exhaust valves on the drivers side, accounting for the 0 compression and possibly accounting for the difficulty in turning the exhaust cam. Even if the timing belt is tight, it has probably jumped several teeth, or stripped several teeth off the belt. If you have an even compression reading of 100 psi on the four cylinders in the passengers bank, it MIGHT just have the cams out of time, but I wouldn't be too confident about it. Cranking the engine over with these symptoms probably wasn't a good idea.

Of course water in the oil isn't a good sign, pretty likely to be a head gasket issue, but could also be a warped or cracked cylinder head or block. If you're really lucky, it was just condensation, and not a sign of overheating. It's possible. My own 348 had a lot of sludge in the oil tank when I bought it, but after I cleaned it up and changed the oil, it hasn't come back in nearly 10 years.

What can you tell us about the history on your car?

 

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?cPath=740&products_id=258245

 

Welcome to the club!

You've certainly got us pulling for you, but make sure you stay realistic about your repairs and assess whether your car is really going to be worth repairing. I hate the thought of losing another 348 to the parts bin, but I also don't want to see a new brother be taken to the cleaners trying to get his car on the road!

As it has already been said, parts for these engines are very, very, very (did I say very?) costly. In my five years of ownership, I've seen several people pick up project cars. Most of these go into the deal knowing that parts are expensive and intending to provide their own labor, only to find out their repair estimates were several factors less than the real costs. Even doing all your own wrenching, repair costs can be staggering, and may quickly approach or exceed the cost of buying a running car in good shape!

We don't know much about your motor situation yet, but consider that we've seen quite a few engine rebuilds exceed $20,000, and parts alone for a partial rebuild can *easily* hit the $10,000+ range.

I say this not to dissuade or discourage you, but to ensure you take a realistic look at your project before you get in too deep financially. Sounds like you are well on your way to assessing the damage, which is smart. There are some brilliant Ferrari mechanics on this forum that I'm sure will give you a realistic assessment of your motor requirements once you get down to the pistons and valves.

If things look promising, you can count on the Brotherhood to help you along the way. There's not a more helpful group on the site!

If things look bad, don't despair! You definitely have $20,000 worth of parts in your car, probably more, so I doubt you would have much trouble selling it to the Fchat crew or parting it out if things look bleak.

If you can pull the motor, use a timing wheel, and adjust valves, then picking up a neglected, running car and performing a major may be a better deal for you in the long run.

Or better yet, pick up ANOTHER 348 with body damage and a good motor!

In any case, good luck and keep us posted!

 

Once you get it apart and estimate the costs, you may want to just buy another motor. These are usually so dependable, the salvagers can't sell them, so you might be able to find a completer for $7-8k. (As a new close personal friend of yours, I'll be glad to haul away your old broken motor.)

 

Do yourself a favor by taking off both cats and looking into them for broken-up mesh/catalyst material. It can be sucked backwards up into the motor, and our 348 cats are old!

Anyway, don't you think that your picture shows a valve impact?



Here are the valve marks from a broken Jeep motor:
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Can you show a picture of the damage to the cam journal? Chicken and egg. I wonder if maybe the oil pump chain/tensioner broke, then no oil pressure, then exhaust cam seized, then belt skipped, then valves hit pistons.

Did you find any evidence of holes in the head gasket that may have let coolant into the oil?

 

You may want to consider this as well... I learned the hard way...

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/product_info.php?products_id=261292

Btw, if you do a search for Dick Jordan, that's who should be rebuilding your water pump, here's my before/after when I had mine done:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137617772&postcount=159

And while I'm at it, here's something else to consider:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137615396&postcount=145

Good Luck

DF

 

very nice advice jqpd99!!! I am about to have my timing belts redone in Feb and these are all great things to have done.!!

 

I think Jeff is on to something here. Better pull the pan and front cover and have a look see at the oil pump chain tensioner. A really good machinist could probably fill weld and bore and then you need the special Ferrari cam ream tool. The cam will clean up with 2000 grit wet sand paper and be none the worse.

 

Didn't we have a famous case a while back where someone had installed a camshaft cap backwards (on a 3x8?) and blocked off the oil flow and caused damage like this? Is there any possibility that this could happen on a 348???

 

If your car is a 1991 model as per your profile, then it has the 2.7 Motronic ECU's. Only the 1989 348's had the 2.5 Motronics.

 

Hmmm maybe there is some crunk in the oil galleys that clogged the restrictor pictured at the bottom left. Do the stakes in the aluminum cam plug and the cam line up? What do the other journals look like? Take a picture of your chain tensioner parts. Ferrari went through several revs. but unless it completely grenaded you should still have oil pressure.
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