Justin, this is fantastic news! I am very happy for you. As for which Leak down tester to get, this is the one I ordered: http://www.otctools.com/products/cylinder_leakage_tester_kit
Ha! Love it! Glad your mind is at ease Justin. I've no doubt the majority of our cars wouldn't measure up too cool on a leakdown test but what we don't know ain't hurting us (mentally anyway). Enjoy the car and hopefully that rebuild is long, long away.
I'd drive it hard, often and wouldn't worry about a leakdown test unless there was a noticeable degradation in performance. Enjoy!
Wow... What a read... Glad the op is smiling in the end... but I'm confused and can't seem to put my finger on why I'm confused. damn internet keeps suckin me back in
Checking back in, glad to see the good news! I think I mentioned something like this a few weeks back that sometimes rings seat better, valves close better after some hard running, anyway - it's all good. It sounds like the ex valve and seat have some residual gunk on them and you have hot gasses going by the valve leading to leakdown. Common problem. It's a crap shoot if it will get better or worse. Also, you have a scratch in the wall and that's not going to get better on it's own. It would be really nice to finally determine if the leakage is coming out of the exhaust or the crankcase. If the valve stem was holding one of the valves open a bit, there is something you can try to get it seated better. It's a slight risk, but a simple procedure. You'll need two feet of 1/4" hemp rope with a burned down end, a socket for the end of the crank bolt, and a spark plug tool. Remove the plug, and roll the engine around by hand until it's on the compression stroke. Roll it around 1.5 more times to get it on the rising compression stroke with the piston in the middle of the stroke. Put a bit of WD-40 on the rope, then thread it down the plug hole, stuffing it in, but don't let go of the end! Disconnect the battery. Now gently move the crank up on compression and force the rope into the head and valves. Once you get it snug, rock it a bit and put a few pounds of force on it. Don't go nuts with the torque, all you want to do is push the valve up into the seat. It's important that you're not on the exhaust stroke or you will bend valves. After bumping it a bit by hand, withdraw the rope from the hole, blow it out with a blow gun, put the plug back in and see if you made any progress. Seafoam might break up the carbon on the valves but remember this. Carbon is one of the hardest materials on Earth. They make diamonds out of it, and Carborundum is an abrasive that has carbon in it. So, what I"m saying is that taking off carbon with any kind of soluble liquid is pretty far fetched. I haven't done the chemistry, so I don't know what becomes of it after it's burned, but I"m betting it has carbon as one of it's products of combustion. Funny thing I've heard is that the best thing to use on a hot engine for carbon removal is water vapor. Nothing to do for the scratch on the wall. Driving it won't make it any better or worse unless there's a broken ring. If the ring is broke, it's gonna float around in there and score the wall slowly. I had a Lambo with a broke ring, and I drove it for 15k miles before taking it apart and replacing the liner. Jags could go for years without fixing it, just consuming oil. Go to http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CMB-17-0006/?rtype=10 for the combo compression testers and a free stethoscope. I make good use of the stethoscope on engines too.
That is an excellent find! I have canceled my order of the Leak Down Tester I was going to get. Thanks for posting.
On Harleys it was pretty common to develop carbon build up on motors that were jetted too rich. You could hear the tapping on startup (valves hitting) but the noise would go away after 5 seconds or so as the motors heated up. The cure was to pull the heads and decarbon them (& the piston crowns) or remove the spark plugs and liberally spray carbon cleaner (combustion cleaner) down the spark plug holes. Then reinstall the plugs, let the motor sit over night "soaking" and then start it the next morning and ride it. Keep repeating the proccess......usually the second or third spray and the carbon broke off (noise stopped suddenly) and was expelled through the exhaust and the problem was gone for good.
I read all of the pages and to save everyone else from the boring parts here are the take aways: 1) They speculate that the car sat for a very long time before I owned it. YES, there is the most important point. These cars dry up and when they sit they rot. 2) Second opinions, for cars and people/pets, are prudent and often illuminating. 3) FChat 355 gear heads are helpful, argumentative and condescending, and double as a shrink when things go bad. The big question that remains is will he sell before or after eventual $20k rebuild, and/or will the expense deepen the love or scare him off forever?
What if the leak is in the top and not the botoom. Bottom being the 20K rebuild top being manifolds valve guides and such? Advice/opinion? ps. Did I miss the owner telling us where the leak was/is? Thanks
Yeah, you missed it. He drove it and the leakage was vastly reduced indicating there was probably nothing wrong - just sitting too long.
wow.. what a thread..! it seems the whole Fchat forum contributed on this one.. as I will likely be a 355 owner soon.. I would say i read 95% of the entire thread.. i have learnt alot from this..! and was well worth to read it to be ready for my 355.. its so easy to pay put so much focus on the bad/unfortunate situations.. but im sure there are tons of 355's out there running great.. or perhaps even without the "best" compression/leakdown figures and the owner doesnt even know it.. and still loves and drives the car. at least, I am glad this car is running well now.. actually regarding Valve guides.. im looking at a 1997 355, that has had all 40 valve guides replaced with Maganese Bronze type. now I understand that the bronze type guides were the ones that failed.. but I assume that the Maganese are a stonger type..?
Interesting to see this thread had some recent chatter. Agree with "Lucky's takeaways. Looks like its time to fix the car. Long story short is it ran well all last year until 2 days before I took it to winter storage when it dropped a cylinder (or bank??) for a few minutes on the highway before recouping. Was in winter storage at the dealer so I planned to have them look at it while it was there, get their recommendation and possibly quote up some work. However, despite my pestering, they never looked at it (work in front of me + Tech always in Italy for some new model training). Service mgr told me it was "running out strong" so I picked it up when the weather got nice. Last night issues started again, and I drove most of the way home intermittently down a bank. (note, flooring your Ferrari to get moving is not fun and pretty awkward). After the revs got up >5k the bank would kick back in until i had to slow down again. Anyway, evaluating the options on how to fix it. I'd love if Bradan/Dave/etc had a shop nearby by I have not found a single Chicagoland recommendation. Anyone know someone around here? So my options are: One of the local dealers: Pros: Location, name upon resale Cons: Lack of priority, insane pricing, lack of flexibility Very Reputable Independent: Pros: Cost, experience with older models, more priority/flexibility Cons: Have to SHIP both ways, not near the car, never met any of these guys So as long as you guys are being my shrink, what do you think? Anyone else ship their cars for engine services?
Did you check your plugs/plug wires? I had this same problem and it ended up being a fouled plug/wire touching where it wasn't supposed to be.
From what you are describing doubt it is related to your original problem. I wold agree could be something with the ignition. I had a friend who had this same type of problem, ended up being a bad plug.
Interesting... I agree it seemed abrupt and strange that it was on/off. Although, couldn't the main issue being described be causing the plug to foul?
A 95 dropping one bank, but getting it back at higher rpm would seem to augur towards metal shavings lodged onto one of the crankshaft position sensors.
Actually very easy. Just remove the underpanel below the front of the motor. 8mm socket and phillips or 10mm socket. You'll see the sensor almost touching the toothed crankshaft pulley. The sensor is magnetic and tends to accumulate metal shavings. When it does, it tends to screw up the signal, since the cps tells the ECM where the crank is relative to TDC. No signal when a shaving blocks the signal=no fire. Turbulence created by faster engine speed will move the shavings, thus allowing the motor to fire. There are two, one on the bottom, one on the driver's side. One for each bank. Check for shavings, clean. Also check the condition of the wire plug beneath the little bracket (again, 8mm socket) that holds the plugs onto the oil pan. They tend to deteriorate. New ones, Kia, $17. It'll take you about an hour.
Ok, thats very interesting, thanks. But wouldn't metal shavings in general mean the there is an issue? Which in this engine I would imagine means that whatever caused the supposed scratch in #2's liner is continuing to do damage? I guess my question is, could a healthy engine develop this issue?
Certainly. Metal shavings are everywhere. Magnets pick them up. Shops, road, etc. Check it. It's easy.
Put it on a flatbed, tow it to Bradan, and get the car properly sorted. You'll spend some cash, but in the end you will use the car confident that it is all sorted, and not just a time bomb waiting to happen... Good luck!
1) Yes, I believe he is refering to shavings attracted to a sensor located on the EXTERNAL of the engine....near the crank pulley. 2) This seems to be possibly a new problem, not necessarily related to last year's travails 3) Sounds to me like a ignition problem ( plugs...or coil?) 4) If a fouled plug..and related to last years problem...then change the plug(s) and drive it for another year...occasionally pulling the offending plug ( every six weeks) to monitor remember what we learned about not assuming the worst... if you are really concerned about additional damage...send a oil sample to Blackstone Laboratories ( or similar)...I believe analysis costs $25 Good luck and keep up posted
