Hi all I have a euro 308 carb single distributor dry sump version. 8 Months ago I had the engine out in order to clean the rear frame and I had a major maintenance on it. Before my car was running rough and the idling was bit high. After I rebuilt the distributor and set the static advance right The engine was running sweet better then ever. The throttle response was better too. The performance as well. I knew that the fuel mix in the carbs was too rich but since the engine was running better I didnt do any changes. I had fan all summer here in turin until 3 weeks ago (the weather by the way got a lot colder but not too cold). I have to mention also that initially my car had a single exhaust pipe but the previews owner put a 4 pipe stainless steel exhaust system. So 3 weeks ago I had to use the car almost every day in the city as well due to a damage in my everyday car. I saw white smoke coming out of the left exhaust pipes when worm. And when it does this the engine runs rough.I fear that its a head gasket but!! The engine has never ever over heated. It still runs in the normal temperature and since I put mobil 1 0W-40 the oil pressure is perfect. It still needs the same time to worm up. I'm very careful about those things.If I switch off and the put it on again it hesitates to start and at low revs it coughs when i put my foot down but after is goes normally without feeling that the performance is lower than before. The white smoke appears only when the car is in the traffic idling. Its not much. If i rev up it blows more and stops when the revs are higher. I do not loose water rapidly and there no oil in the water. The oil in the sump is also clean. After what happened I decided to change water, oil, air filter and spark plugs. The plugs were black but I knew the mix was rich. What scared me is that the tubes connecting the dry sump to the air filter box and the aluminum tube that connects the two head cam covers had some jelly moisture inside (meaning water or too much humidity). I friend of mine who's engineer specialized in emissions told me that its the carbs running too rich 'creating'!! H2O (water). He also said that in those tubes there always some humidity especially when the car is sitting for days in cold weather. After changing the plugs the car accelerates without coughing. But still if I enter the city and run the engine at low revs for a while at idling I see white smoke from the left side which goes away when i rev up. I took it yesterday for a normal spin in the highway. No strange noises no hesitation in acceleration..came back to the garage and there was no smoke. I did also this: before starting the engine when cold I took the expansion tank cap of. I put it back on and started the engine for 2-3 minutes. I stoped the engine and took the cap of again and there was a slight pressure there. Some say that this is normal some not. When I rev up the engine with the water cap off I see a disturbance in the water but no bubbles or I cannot determine whether this is normal or not. I really need advice here. Thank you all George
The last thing I'd want to believe is that a head gasket is on its way out. If it were me, I think I'd balance the carbs and try to set the mixture correctly. Balancing the carbs is easy enough, but I was never very good at getting the mixture right, and always erred towards a rich setting. Given that you're located in Italy, how easy is it to find an "old school mechanic" who knows hows to set-up Weber carbs correcty?
Black/Brown smoke should be present when running rich and white ussually indicates a leaking head gasket or warped head (head gasket is far more likely). If you have been letting the engine to reach ideal operating temp, no "Jelly" (moisture/oil mix) should be present. When hot the oil should be thin enough to almost completely drain back into the engine and unless you live in a real humid, tropical region the moisture should have been evaporated out. I do not have alot of faith in the stock head gaskets due to reading as well as experiencing so many issues. Some have have sucess by retorquing the heads. It sound like the leak is small if it is indeed the head gasket and this may work for you. Before doing this I would perform compression and leak down tests. Watch the water tank close and take your time when you do the leakdown test and you should be able to determine if it is the head gasket.
I am sure the experts know better than I, but I am wondering if you are simply burning off condensation. Given the colder weather and possible humidity in the air. The coughing carbs and fouled plugs may only be related to the mis-adjusted carbs. I know on my car (79 carb car with emissions equip.) after starting it will burn off the condensation in the muffler/cats for a couple of minutes during warm up and it slowly tapers off while first driving.. and usually only thru one side of the muffler. When it first happened I thought the worst but found a posting in the archives here on Fchat that it was normal to an extent and experienced by several owners. That being said most of the cars over here have cats (which as a by product produce water vapor) so not sure if this is the case with your dry sump euro car. As MNExotics said a leak down/compression test would be the best place to start if you can't rule out the condensation thing, on the other hand you may want to do the tests for peace of mind. Cheers
Hi again Thank you for replying fast! MNexotics I found the jelly stuff when I opened the tubes two-three days after when the car was just sitting in the garage. I did not drive it due to the heavy rain that weekend. My car does not have cat converters. I recently replaced the front exhaust manifold with a stainless steel one. I agree that the leak down test should be the best thing I should do. I'll let you guys know. Do you know which cylinder bank refers to left exhaust pipes? Thank you again
The engine sides comingle thru the crossflow muffler then exit to the 4 tips, although it's a known oddity that one side passes more than the other when idling...one side 'steams' more than the other on cold mornings warming up... It sounds like you have a 1976-1980 non catalyst carbed car? The four tip exhaust is an improvement in my opinion over the original 'single tip" system your car had originally...
Be careful opening expansion tank at all, once the engine is up to temperature....that's very dangerous and can release scalding water under high pressure.
Hi all I know it is an old post but I think its better to put down some conclusions. I have my GTB for about 4 years now. Apart from a burnt starter motor after and icy winter and almost 2 and a half months of non use, a fuse box that still is ok but I think needs to be changed and the rear wheel bearings that I'll change in the next months, the car never had any mechanical problems. From the day 1 till now starts the same and goes the same..in general functions always the same. temperature always same oil pressure always same (just a bit higher when the oil is fresh). Oil consumption always same (a bit lesser again when oil is fresh). This to me is a nice feeling of reliability and I believe this is a tough motor. I started this thread when i saw some white smoke coming out of the exhaust and some condense in the tubes of the dry sump. Now I can tell that this is NOT a head gasket issue! The sump is connected to the air filter box thus the vapors of the oil sump mix with the cold air during the winter (mostly when humid). This is an effect of the weather that shouldn't scare you. once the weather changes or you have a long(more than 50km) drive this jelly condense disappears. Short soft rides during the winter could make this effect more scary (this is how i felt at least). I know this car a lot better now and as it is 34 years old now i understand that i should respect it's habits. I use it at least once every week. Not too often but not rarely. When well warmed up i push it a bit and after a happy ride i go back in normal speeds. All tubes and filters are nice and clean. No white smoke no brown smoke and no blue smoke. As i mentioned, this way works always fine and always the same. If you baby it doing a 5km drive for a coffee by the sea it will start complaining with smokes of different colors. Those cars were made to run. Now that they are old they just cant run every day but when they are out they must do their thing. Ferrari way or no way. I am very fine with my 308 now and I just felt that i should share this with you. We all love them at the end of the day. I intend to buy an f355 next. I hope it will be the same honest car as the 308. ciao tutti from Torino
Glad it's all sorted! I've always said it about any car: The worse thing you can do is not drive it! An awful lot of Ferrari's previous reputation for being unreliable, leaking oil, water, rusting etc., etc., was because cars got driven in the summer months and were then parked up over winter, during which time the damp got into the bodywork and the electrics, seals and gaskets hardened up, fuel went stale, and low and behold it was the cars fault when it had problems coming out of hibernation the following year! (and yes, I am aware that Ferrari's do have some natural foibles, but things are made a lot worse by not driving the cars regularly!)
