Hey guys Just wondering if you could shed some light on something for me..Recently had my 360 F1 serviced. Everything great up to date on all services. Just refilled gas and right afterwards the car started letting out a puff of white smoke for a few seconds then gone. It seems to still do it on cold starts. If I cut the car off and start a few minutes later no smoke. Any ideas? Thanks in advance
Sounds normal to me. Make sure to check oil when warm as this can also happen if there is to much oil in engine. Also, if there is white powder at exhaust pipe sign that cats are going out.
Not normal. Check the oil level. Engine idling with oil temp hot enough for the dipstick cap to burn your hand. Anywhere between the lines is ok. If it is over at all it can aerate and then gets sucked into the intake manifold.
Not sure if you guys are familiar with 44K fuel additive, RF - 7, and MOA oil treatments. Anyways the Ferrari tech recommended and added these three during the last visit a week ago. Something about cleaning out the engine. Not sure but would any of these cause the puff of white smoke? Also no check engine lights and car runs great I have had it for 5 yrs. Thanks Happy driving season to all
Any chance the 44K fuel additive, RF - 7, and MOA oil treatments the Ferrari tech recommended and added during the last visit a week ago caused the puff of white smoke? I started the car today several times the first time there was a little smoke nothing like what I saw yesterday. But no other times after.
White smoke is usually coolant; not good (head gasket). Blackish tends to be rich fuel to air mixture (most easily fixed), and blue is for burning oil (also not good).
if you detect a rather sweet smell from the white smoke, it is coolant burning. A lot of times, it disappears as soon as components heat up and the leak is temporarily sealed up. Brock
Brock the tech added the below would any cause the issue? 44K fuel additive, RF - 7, and MOA oil treatments. Also did a coolant flush and fill at the time Any suggestions. What happens overtime?
You could google all three additives to see if there are any tell-tale pointers to look out for but I'd suggest you just drive that tank of fuel and additives out of her while monitoring the coolant level. Often we see things after service work has been carried out because we are "looking" for things.
Not sure googled earlier and saw a few posts about white smoke when the additives are being worked through the system. Hopeful thinking I guess. Car has full power, no leaks and no warning lights to indicate trouble for now. Maybe will call my dealer tomorrow to get thoughts. I think sometimes I worry too much, I guess if it is worse I will repair what needs repair. I don't track or run the car hard so hopefully nothing blows up Tomorrow is a new day Thanks
So the car runs and drives fine??????? I'd say drive it until something breaks or becomes obvious. Or do what I do and keep it in the garage where no harm can come to it.
Just for the records, water does not make smoke: it makes steam! If it is white, has no odor and disppears quickly into nothing, it is steam If it is kind of light bluish has some odor and tends to linger a bit, then it is moke and it comes from oil, not from water or from coolant. If it is indeed from oil (and from your description it sounds so) and you see it at cold start only, it is most likely oil seeping down from one or more valve guides and collecting on top of a piston. You only see it at cold start because the seeping is little and it takes time to collect into a combustion chamber (i.e. overnight). You do not see it at warm start because it only happens over time and when the engine is cold. You probably do not need to worry about it yet, but you should keep an eye on it and watch also the oil consumption.
Thanks Jedi, tough crowd here. just got to remember that "success has many fathers, and failure is but a lonely orphan".
Yes and mine on occasion takes a green pee on the garage floor.....so? Welcome to the mysteries of Ferrari physiology. It would seem to me IMHO that it would only be a "real" problem if it was continuous or happening with more and more frequency. Remember that one of the combustion products of gasoline is H2O that will condense in the exhaust system and re-vaporize at a certain temperature (~100C or ~212F) on start-up perhaps this is what you are seeing? And the visibility of it will vary with altitude and humidity also.
That engine is very sensitive to oil level. My guess is that yours is a little too high. The additives, while unlikely a problem, probably pushed your level over the top. Make sure that the level is below the line when the engine is HOT.
Just an update in case anyone has this issue in the future. It was the addition of the additives . When the Ferrari tech added the oil additives he did not compensate by filling with less than 10 quarts. Either way the dealer drained out some oil today and all is well. It was only a little over the top line. Happy driving F-chatters
Very true, steam is not smoke and has not odor. It is a normal combustion product from burning gasoline, i.e. condensed steam can be seen as it forms in a cold exhaust system and will disappear when temperatures rise.That is why one has to differentiate between steam and burning coolant (glycol) which does produce a white, sweet smelling smoke where the sweet smell is the usual telltale sign. Burning glycol also tends to produce a lingering smoke that dissipates rather than re-evaporating as does the steam. Brock
Let's be careful about that. I took my 2004 360 in for an oil change and talked to a master mechanic who is popularly known on the North Carolin/South Carolina blog and he demonstrated to me first hand that WHITE smoke is usually OIL, not coolant. He had just finished rebuilding the engine on a BMW and he invited me to witness the engine start up process. The engine was started and immediately steams of white smoke billowed out of the pipes. While I was watching he informed me that the white smoke was a normal part of the process to burn off the new oil throughout the system and would typically continue to burn anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. After that the engine exhaust smoke disappeared and the engine was good to go.
