Here’s a quick timeline of events: -last week after a spirited drive where coolant temps never got above 190, I shut the car off to wipe her down, and heard a gurgling and then purging of coolant. Probably pissed about a pint out. -had the car towed to my independent (also one of my closest friends, very talented shop) and he noticed leaking from the water pump, so we replaced this. -got the car back on Wednesday, took it out for a spirited 20 mile ride, temps looked normal. Stopped to visit someone and let the car idle for about 3 min unattended. When I returned temps were about 220 and rising. As I pulled away temps spiked to 230 and I shut the car off. Waited 10 min. Then got a call from my friend I visited and had purged about a pint of coolant in his driveway. -upon restarting the car, temps back to 200, and then it settled to 180 as I drove it home. Although there were a couple of quick spikes up to 220 or so as I neared home. Decided to drive straight to the shop. It ran fine the whole way there. -yesterday he started to dig into it, when he went to start it it was misfiring while idling. -this morning he was planning on running a sniffer test to see if there were hydrocarbons in the coolant reservoir (indicating exhaust getting into coolant). When he went to start it, before it fired, cylinder 8 hydro locked! he pulled the plus on the drivers side bank and the 8 plug was dripping with coolant. Long story short but we’re going to pull the engine and plan on a complete refresh. However, are there any other possibilities of how this could’ve happened beyond a blown headgasket? It sucks, because we’re just getting into the best driving season here in Buffalo! She’ll be down for at least a month I’m guessing when factoring in parts and machine shop lead time. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
What liner are you referring to? I’ll point my friend in that direction. Should it be inspected from the top, underside, or cabin? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
I wouldn't start with the worst case scenario, that is pretty much like throwing parts at a problem without diagnosing it properly. The liner is unlikely to have cracked. I don't think I have ever seen a thread with that kind of damage on one of these so you would be the first. I would be concerned if you really hydro-locked the engine. THAT can damage the bottom end; it is generally very robust. Heads warping from over heating is not unheard of and that can cause the issues you are seeing. You would also see it in a leak down but start with a bore scope on the cylinders and looking at the plugs. They are wet liners so a liner getting pin holes from not changing coolant can happen, there are a few examples of that but again it is fairly unlikely. Start by looking.
It I suspected hydro-lock I would: 1 - try to turn engine over by hand... with a breaker bar..... check for any tight spots... do not force it. SEE if it is locked up, or if there are some tight spots ind mech damage. 2 - inspect bore via scope - look for scoring, broken piston, broken ring, piston land, etc.... 3 - then if above are OK, procede to compression check, and leak down test. you can do more damage if you attempt to start engine before steps 1 and 2. I'm sure the 'real' f car mech's will chime in here if they want to help..... good luck.
Thanks for the replies. We’re planning on doing many of the diagnostic actions described, just hasn’t happened yet. Based on where we are right now, we know for certain: -coolant was purged via the overflow multiple times after boiling over -cylinder 8 was misfiring -steam was coming out of the exhaust at idle -there is coolant in cylinder 8 Fortunately hydro locked occurred when turning the car over with the starter, not when running. So we are hopeful and feel it’s likely it wasn’t forceful enough to cause damage. Inspection will tell for sure. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
This is new. A blown motor story that does not seem to happen very often. Most bad stories are related to the tops and F1 systems. Will be interesting to see what happened to the engine though certainly a terrible thing for the owner.
I pushed out a head gasket at ~70K miles. It was my fault. I had removed the overflow coolant tank a few times and had no idea at the time that you had to bleed the air out of the system afterwards. Eventually the car overheated a couple of times during spirited driving. I actually saw my coolant tank burst in real time (from my rear view mirror) while on a drive. The car still ran fine for thousands of miles after that. Unfortunately, the heating and cooling cycles probably caused the head bolts to loosen just a bit, and one day the car started running rough. My mechanic (at the time) told me to just keep driving it to see what happens. About a week later, I was driving along and huge plumes of white smoke started pouring out of the exhaust pipes. One of my head gaskets was pushed out just a teeny bit on one corner of one of the heads. I had the following done: New rings, main bearings, rod bearings, oil pump chain, new timing belts, five angle valve job, 11 mils taken off of both heads. Used OEM head gaskets. Had to replace the cats too. When I got the car back, it had CRAZY horsepower (because of the milling of the heads). The car has been running perfectly for the last 35,000 miles.
Crazy power?!!!! I want to blow my head gasket now! — To op — be patient and you might end up w a faster car after all of this. That is how I treat every automotive catastrophic..., Err opportunity. gl
I like the sound of this! Did you just have a reputable high performance engine building shop mill the heads and do the valve job for you, or was is a specialized Ferrari/exotic shop? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
John Heim (formerly of Ferrari of San Francisco and San Francisco Motorsports, now at Patrick Ottis in Berkeley, 510-849-3553), did the rebuild.
So turns out it is indeed a busted head gasket. Block looks good, heads look good (will have a machine shop confirm). I’m going to have the head milled a bit per above, probably not quite 11 mils, but maybe 6. Anyway, here are a few pics from this wonderful adventure! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login I’ll be powdercoating a few bits and tidying up the engine bay so it not only runs like new but looks new too. Can’t wait for it to be finished... Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Wish I could take the credit for getting her fully sorted. The guy in the pic is my best pal that owns an independent shop. Mr. Best Wrench, which is outside of Buffalo, NY. They work on all sorts of cool projects and unique cars including classic Jags, Lotus, Porsche, BMW, Lamborghini, Muscle cars, and of course Ferrari. He lets me turn wrenches with him which is the best part. I’ve been able to be fairly hands on. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
I did which makes this a bit of a kick in the groin. But, between driving it out west and then driving it once the salt was on the road here I put 4K miles on it this year. So we just think it was a freak unlucky thing, rather than a preexisting condition somehow hidden. I’d prepared myself for costly unexpected maintenance. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Good call. Stuff happens. Once I picked up my car in prefect shape and didn't make it 15 miles before I got a slowdown from a failed cat ecu. It hadn't happened before but obviously was on the edge because it isn't something a mechanic can easily mess up when working on other stuff.
I heard of someone who got a 430 from a main dealer, on the short drive home from collecting it, the cat in the manifold let go and got sucked into the cylinders. Ok they sent out the pickup truck and fixed it but must be hard to take.
Will do for sure. I was at the shop this morning. The head gasket were fried!!! I’m getting excited to have the car fully sorted with a fresh engine and bay. She should scream... Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
So we are officially milling the heads .006” and doing a 5 angle valve job. Very excited about all of this. Are there any recommendations for items I should replace while the engine is out? Motor mounts, bushings, etc? Might as well freshen as much as possible while we have super easy access. Also - any other vendors we should look at besides ricambi to source parts? We got a ship date of the cam bearings of 7/23 which sucks, so I’m looking for alternate reputable suppliers. Thanks for the help everyone! Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
