New car...1st problem

...thought I'd post this here as well as Technical Q&A

Well I expected it to happen....just not so quickly.

It will be obvious from my post...this is my first ferrari.

Last month I purchased a 87 328 GTS. Inspected, well maintained (documented), well kept, reputable owner and just all around beautiful car.

I put a few hundred miles on it that week and was just thrilled overall. Left town for a few weeks and returned last week and of course, had to go out for an evening drive. Good cold start idle, proper warm up period and a spirited jaunt in the desert. Twenty miles or so into the drive the engine begins to miss just slightly....then more aggressively. Loss of at least 50% or so power for a few seconds then back to normal. This will repeat and the infamous "slow down" light will begin to flicker and become more prominent. Wash, rinse, repeat....Fortunately, I was close to home and gently eased it home with the fire extinguisher at the ready. I understand the meaning of the slow down light and the potential consequences of not heeding it.

The next morning, I went out and the car started immediatly and had a good cold start idle and purred as it should. Once the temp begins to register...the miss begins again with some slight backfiring...very minor. Upon shut down I detect a slight (nose at the exhaust tip) smell of raw gasoline. Obviously something is not firing. I haven't washed the car and the environmental conditions were the same.

My plan is to begin with checking the plugs and new extenders and work back from there. I'm going to get a timing light as well. My mechanical skills are moderate at best and mostly with old BMWs and 2-cycle motors.

I've looked at as many threads related to this issue as I can, but am just looking for some reassurance. Is this the best starting point or is there something else I'm missing? My concern is the dramatic loss of power might mean more than just a bad plug extender...possibly the distributor, but would that be an intermittent problem. As you can imagine....It would break my heart to do something stupid and ruin such a beautiful car. I will return home again next week and hopefully begin to solve this problem.

Any information or links to some more threads would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

been a long day. sounds like junk in the fuel system. i would start with the fuel system and then check ignition.

 

you are loosing a bank, might check each coil for the banks they are known to fail, then your dist caps.

 

I'd expect a fuel problem to show up as soon as the engine is started, unless it's a problem in the fuel injection system.

Since it seems to be temperature related, and you're getting cat overheating, & smelling unburned gas, I'd initially tend to suspect ignition more than fuel. From the way you describe it, I think you're loosing more than 1 or 2 cylinders, most likely you're loosing a bank. I'd start with checking the output of both coils once it's acting up.

The ideal way would be to use a scope on each coil's output lead. That would also show if you just had 1 or 2 bad cylinders after all.

Next best would be an in-line spark tester on the coil output. Or lay one of those neon spark testers alongside the coil output wire & compare both sides.

This thread is about a problem that sounds very similar to yours. It has some excellend advice & descriptions of how to check the ignition system:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115421

 

Verell,

Thank you for the information. I'll be able to dig into things this weekend armed with a timing light and multimeter and be sure to post results...hopefully good ones.

 

Just remember Occum's Razor: The simpler solution is more likely to be the right solution. e.g., a loose coil wire is more likely than invisible men from Mars adjusting your cam timing while you drive. Or said less silly, make sure your high and low tension wiring connections are tight and not rubbing against other parts. Be forwarned: Ferrari ignitons are ARC WELDERS and they can stop your heart.

rick

 

Rick,

Thanks for the warning.

I remember shocking my cousin when we were kids by saying, "here, hold this." while I rotated the kick start on my Honda mini-bike.

He still talks about that one.

 

Firstly, thank you all for the information....

Using the timing light, I've been able to narrow down the problem to the rear bank (1-4) was intermittently firing. Swapped connectors and problem moved to the front bank (5-8). It's an intermittent missing of the bank (more not firing than firing)...and not temperature dependent.

Using the multimeter....I ran through Wolf's "one coil not firing" checklist and all seems well. Checked the connectors at the oil cooler and they seem fine as well.

Ran through the ECU and everything looks good as far as I can tell....

Also of note, the heat dissipator (sp?) (metal fins) on the rear bank (1-4) module is much warmer than the front bank.

So....It's looking like the module on the rear bank is going bad if I'm sussing this out correctly.

Any thoughts???

 

New ignition module solved the problem....took ten minutes to install and is running well.