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Exotic Car Anxiety

Discussion in 'Mondial' started by Rapalyea, Jun 30, 2016.

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  1. Rapalyea

    Rapalyea Formula 3

    Jun 18, 2013
    1,511
    Georgia Mountains US
    Full Name:
    David Rapalyea alias
    #1 Rapalyea, Jun 30, 2016
    Those of you who are veterans know I bought my car about three years ago and drove it daily for two or three years. This year I saved it up for the Heavens Landin 1/2 mile shoot out which is described below. Most recently in Bell's interesting post on street hunting big game!

    Anyway, after that May racing day I parked the car and was doing other projects but today got the Ferrari out for groceries. It started on the first key and I motored my way down the little mountain 3/4 mile which is perfect warm up between 2k and 3k rpm. Then something weird happened.

    Specifically, I lost one entire bank of cylindars! This was hardly the first time but this was the first time it lasted! So I made my local mountain circuit running on half cylinders to get back but was rather rough on the slow down in 1st gear so as not to stall the engine. Just like that the other four cylinders kicked right in.

    So I decided to do my 12 mile 65 turn one way Ferrari heaven: up AND back without a hickup. [This is why my third set of tires in 15,000 miles will need replacing soon enough.] Did some errands. Started first time every time.

    QUESTION: Would it be reasonable simply to swap out both the entire Microplexes or plexiglasses thingingies or whatever they are called and hope for the best? They look like they could be swapped out in an afternoon with one or two wrenches. I think some people suggest replacing the little black boxes on top of them. Coils or something?

    The swap LOOKS very easy and they are not all that expensive. And of course these have never left me stranded. Perhaps I just need to drive the car at least twice a month?
     
  2. stekkefun4

    stekkefun4 Formula 3
    BANNED

    Nov 22, 2006
    2,232
    Belgium - Europe
    #2 stekkefun4, Jun 30, 2016
    Are you talking about the digiplexes (Magneti Marelli) of a QV/3.2 or of the Motronics of a Mondial T?
     
  3. Rapalyea

    Rapalyea Formula 3

    Jun 18, 2013
    1,511
    Georgia Mountains US
    Full Name:
    David Rapalyea alias
    #3 Rapalyea, Jun 30, 2016
    I have the standard installation on the 3.2. I do not know what causes these temporary outages but one simple approach would be to swap these out. I kind of did that with my CV joints. All the boots were cracked and only one CV joint was noisy but it simply seemed prudent to replace the whole kit and caboodle. So to speak.

    On the other hand, I have never had to return home on four cylinders so perhaps I just put up with it. Thank goodness it did not interfere with any of my five 1/2 speed runs though.
     
  4. rob

    rob F1 Rookie

    May 22, 2002
    4,287
    Vt
    #4 rob, Jun 30, 2016
    I think the old girl was just acting up because she's been sitting, felt unloved!
     
  5. AUDIO RESEARCH

    AUDIO RESEARCH Formula Junior

    Feb 11, 2009
    394
    PHILIPPINES
    Full Name:
    LUIGI RAYMUND LIRA
    #5 AUDIO RESEARCH, Jun 30, 2016
    This happened to me already a few years ago , it turned out that one of the ignition coils failed. There by rendering the bank of cylinders near the cockpit to fail. Replaced the ignition coil including the transistor on top of it and it never happened again . By the way my car is an 88 3.2 Cabriolet.

    Hope this helps,

    audio research
     
  6. spicedriver

    spicedriver F1 Rookie

    Feb 1, 2011
    3,859
    #6 spicedriver, Jun 30, 2016
    I've had the same exact symptoms. It was a bad coil. Fairly easy to change.
     
  7. braq

    braq Karting

    Mar 29, 2010
    227
    Hill Island
    Full Name:
    Paul XXXcX
    #7 braq, Jul 1, 2016
    David,

    having recently gone through the same (complete loss of one bank, and I decided to immediately fix it) I found it super practical that the setup is basically two 4 cylinder units on my QV.

    So you can test with using components of the other bank once you have identified the one that has "gone".

    Item:
    Once one bank goes away (typically you will notice the power loss, interestingly the sound does not change so much because of the firing order in the flat plane crank V8),
    stop, and pull 1 or both cables from the coils to each distributor, the one that stalled the engine is now the "good" or remaining bank.

    Item:
    If situation persists and you are back at home, access to the ignition modules is through the left side rear wheel well.
    Here you can play around with the modules, ignition coils, pretty much everything EXCEPT the TDC sensor, this is the only part that has to go with it's respective bank, however its impedance can be measured

    Just a couple days ago there was a message about the distributor rotor actually being "burnt", so you may want to check into these items as well.

    I was inclined to address the issue right away, as I only realized the power loss when I finally accelerated after 2 mins of coasting. What I am saying here, often enough I just have to stay behind somebody else and we are going 80km/h for the next 15 mins, plenty of time to wash the oil with the unburnt fuel.

    Cheers

    braq
     
  8. redlightrich

    redlightrich Karting

    Jul 28, 2009
    98
    north New Jersey USA
    Full Name:
    Rich
    #8 redlightrich, Jul 3, 2016
    Hello, I would not simply change out all the parts you mention. Although more difficult, you would be better served by finding the issue and fix it. To me, this is a potential electrical connection issue.

    Coils, Cpu's and other components usually fail and stay failed. Being your issue is intermittent, it will be more difficult to diagnose. If safe, and practical, try to use the next period of failure to troubleshoot.

    BTW, how do you know you are losing an entire bank as opposed to a cylinder or more? I think the old gal would run really bad if it lost an entire bank. Like barely able to run, let alone move the car properly.

    Please give us more info ( model year, any recent services, the conditions that lead up to the failure, what if anything makes it come, what makes it go, temperature of motor, ambient conditions and so on,)

    The more data you can provide the better we can help you out. Based on the limited info you provide, I am leaning towards it being an electrical problem. A rotor ( and similar items) will not mend itself after failure.

    Good luck

    Rich
     
  9. ///Mike

    ///Mike F1 Veteran

    Dec 11, 2003
    6,097
    Bugtussle
    #9 ///Mike, Jul 3, 2016
    Flat plane V8s run pretty darned well on a single bank except for the 50% loss of power.
     
  10. braq

    braq Karting

    Mar 29, 2010
    227
    Hill Island
    Full Name:
    Paul XXXcX
    #10 braq, Jul 3, 2016
    I can attest to that, except from sluggishness, sound is very much the same (just less throaty), it may die off when left on idle, but even at 50% output that's still enough to get you to places,

    cheers

    braq
     
  11. afterburner

    afterburner F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 20, 2008
    3,471
    Switzerland
    Full Name:
    Urs STEMMLER
    #11 afterburner, Jul 26, 2016
    Could be the dead bank's tdc sensor.
     
  12. porphy

    porphy Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 9, 2009
    1,209
    LouisvilleKY/Switzld
    Full Name:
    Randall Gatz
    #12 porphy, Jul 27, 2016
    +1
     
  13. ceb39

    ceb39 Formula Junior

    Sep 17, 2012
    483
    San Francisco Area
    Full Name:
    Chuck B
    #13 ceb39, Aug 12, 2016
    I sort of had this in my 87 Mondial. Replaced the wire harness and found out one of the wires from a coil to a distributor cap was bad. Check that before replacing a coil, or a wire harness, it is cheaper
     
  14. dfranzen

    dfranzen Formula 3
    Owner

    Aug 31, 2013
    1,577
    Ponte Vedra Beach , FL
    Full Name:
    Don Franzen
    #14 dfranzen, Aug 12, 2016
    David,

    this seems to be a connection issue as mentioned above

    if it was the ignition modules or coils as they are "heated" it continues with the hiccup until "cooled"

    I would start with going through the harness connectors by cleaning and adjusting the female connector "tines"/contacts, clean with electrical contact cleaner and GENTLY push the tines back towards the middle so they have better contact when the male pin is inserted

    starting at the modules
    then there is a large harness connector underneath the coil area in the wheel well
    then white connectors in the fuse block
     

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