Engine Out Update.
Well guys,
This has been a bad month for me with having the car serviced the bill is getting bigger.
I visited Schiltec last weekend to see my car and engine, a little depressing say the least especially with the ferrari only done 53,000 km.
I can confirm cylinder 3 piston/ring was a not good (partially melted). The route of the problem is due to bad fuel fuelling from the injector into cylinder 3. Not enough fuel being pulsed at random over time into the cylinder which has resulted in the piston heating up. I have had the oil analyised to find out if I have had any forgein objects in the engine. This came back OK and clear only a small disposit of piston ring due to heat up & break up of the piston/ring and liner which would be normal. Basically I have caught the problem in time and on budget in a sense. If the car was driven any more I would have encountered the possibly of total replacement of all pistons and the crank due to contaminated oil with metal break up from the cylinder 3 piston and linear into the oil causing damage to other parts of the engine.
This coast would have been in the region of £#15,000.00
The problem with fuelling seems to have come about from a while back over a period of time. My recent action by pushing the car to its limit (maxed out) for approxmately 15 miles caused the cylinder piston problem to let go causing a loss in compression and accelerated the heating problem.
The spark plug on cylinder three was black and moist compared to the rest that where whitish and dry. I remember noticing this from when I first bought the car as well on cylinder 3 spark plug and at the time when it was serviced they said it was fuel mixture adjustment and new plugs needed.
All the fuel injectors have been removed and sent away for testing and readjustment. Particular cylinder 3 was only pulsing intermediatley and for a short duration compared to the other injectors. The injectors are placed in measured glass cylinder test tubes and wired up to work with fuel. They are then pulsed all together at the sametime duration with fuel into measured glass test tubes. After pulsation the fuel in the test tubes are measured and compared to the manfacturers specification. The poor operating ones are cleaned & adjusted and remeasured. This power loss of the engine would not be noticed since you have another 7 cylinders working good the power loss would not be felt while driving because the injector was working intermediatley.
The issue with the cracked plug lead on cylinder was not that bad and the spark plug was still firing OK. At first I believed it was a electrical fault and all the electrical systems where tested and came back good. Then a compression check was done to find out more about the miss firing problem which resulted in a engine strip down due to 50% leakage loss from the engine.
Basically if I had taken the car in a couple weeks earlier or had not maxed the car out this ongoing problem with the fuelling would have not been detected and heating up of cylinder would have continued because a compression check is not part of a service.
So I would have got the car back from its major service (engine out for the cambelt) paid for that as normal and then driven the car and eventaully see signs of exhaust smoke and further melting of cylinder piston/ring and liner on cylinder 3 resulting in bad oil contamination and causing futher problems to the other cylinders and engine. Then car would then go back in and I would be paying for another engine out job plus everthing else.
Just glad I have caught the problem in time.
I would honestly say its worth having a compression check done during a major service and have the injectors sent away for testing.
Well I have decided to have all the heads, plenum chamber gas flowed again to better tolerances, valve seats and valves polished, high lift race cams fitted which schiltec have from the racing days also the car is being lowered at the front and rear and all suspension readjusted with upgraded at roll bars. The clutch is fine going strong on its orignal clutch still
Parts are not cheap from Ferrari especially engine parts.
£~900.00 + VAT for a piston and ring
£~300.00 + VAT for cyliner liner
£~1050.00 + VAT for a complete gasket set.
Thats just for starters.....
The car and me paying the bill due shortly. Just bad luck I guess. Well in one sense I have had the car nearly five years with no problems. They have just come all at once I guess. The joy of owing a ferrari.
Schiltec had a 360 engine with a conrod through the block. Their race cars are being fitted with steel conrods now because the titanium ones are to weak and have major problems with them in the past. The a couple of 360 cams that had broke and shreaed. They have their 512M with 600 bhp. A tessa (1990 on itailan plates) from a village near mine has just been completed with engine upgrades (gas flowing, cam etc) producing over 500 bhp now.
Schiletc also have a 308 which has been extensively modified - bored out cylinder, 348 cams, 355 plenum and air intakes producing 420 BHP.Its going to be raced this year in the FOC modified class.
The guys at schiltec are great and know their job especially since they race cars...
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Originally Posted by stevew
. The buyer I have in Austria is still interested but not have spoken to him about the recent problem with piston. I will speak to him this coming week. The buyer is a purist which maybe a problem with the modification work I am having done.
