Technical Help

I was out working on my 1989 328 GTS on the weekend doing some engine bay detailing. When I removed the coolant reservoir tank and set it aside to clean around/underneath behind it etc I saw a small electrically controlled what looks like a cut-off vacuum solenoid. This solenoid has an unconnected electrical wire and an unconnected vacuum hose (I think it is a vacuum hose). Both the electrical wire and the vacuum hose seem to have been disconnected from this solenoid (do not know why or for how long).

Th solenoid is attached to the cars chassis with a single nut. This solenoid has two electrical connection points and attachment points for vacuum hoses. One of the hoses is routed to underneath the air plenum and the disconnected hose is a mystery as to where it connects to. It almost seems to be connected back onto the solenoid. The electrical wire seems to have no other connection point then to this solenoid.

Can anybody tell me what this solenoid is and what its purpose is.

Thank you for your help.

 

I went to see my Ferrari mechanic today to ask about this solenoid. From what he tells me it is something to be worried about at all. He explained it is part of the fuel injection system for cold start and that a lot of people have it disconnected because the car will operate just fine without it.

None the less I am going to see a friend of mine, who also has a 328 (1987) in a few days and compare his car against mine. I want my car to be the best it can be. If my friend cannot shed any light on this part I will take a photograph for you.

 

I was out again last night cleaning the engine bay and I noticed one of the spark plug wires looked loose. You could tell as the red boot was not seated well. When I grabbed it to give a tug to ensure it was securley attached it came right off in my hand. I also noticed the spark plug extender was black. This same scenario happened with one other spark plug wire. It to had a black extender.

I checked the remaining spark plug wires and found there are two black extenders and six red ones. The black extenders do not seem to fit as well as the red ones. I say this because I was able to reseat the red extenders with a good snap/click and the black ones do not seat the same. I also examined all the extenders and they look to be in good shape. No burn marks or holes.

Once I replaced the spark plug wires back onto their respective spark plugs I went in the house and did some research on the extenders. From what I was able to ascertain the extenders should be red and a specific length. There are 100mm extenders and 104mm extenders depending if your car is a 2 valve or 4 valve car. It was also suggested since the car is old is to replace all of them. There must have been an issue with these two extenders that was not recorded. I immediately ordered eight new extenders.

At this point the car had not been started yet and with all the spark plug wires now properly reseated I started the car. It ran a lot better than. I attribute this to the proper seating of the spark plug wires. I was kind of suspect how the car was working for the past while as it seemed to be lacking in power. The other observation I made when I first started the car was the engine idled high but within two-three minutes it settled into a solid 1000rpm idle. Took it for a drive and what a difference. I may have been intermittently running on six cylinders given the black spark plug extenders may not have been making good contact.

With respect to the AAV question I think it is working fine based on the idle being high then settling down to the correct level. I will take the car for another test drive tonight.

Will keep you posted on the solenoid situation when I talk to my friend with the 328.