I followed the instructions in the North American Version that came with my 1981 308GTSi for checking the oil level. It was 1/4 low when hot, I added 8 ounces of oil. The next time I drove no abnormal high oil pressure was observed. After it was parked, when it was moved there was oil spots. When I got it home and I checked the oil it was a little above the high when the engine is hot. It takes me about 30 seconds to get out of the car for a total of 1 minute to check the oil level. I looked under car and there is three spots. It appears to coming from the side of the engine that is close to the passenger compartment. Anybody have idea how much damage I have done. I was thinking of removing 4 ounces. and warming it up again, but I am concerned about doing more wrong. This is my first Ferrari and there is not a Ferrari dealer near or even a garage near. I live in rural Kansas. I have a lift in another garage but I would have to start it to get there and I am not sure of the lift points. I read if your not careful you can do SERIOUS damage if lift the Ferrari wrong. I saw a drawing of jackstand points that I was going to use as lift points, does that sound reasonable? stephen
Engine oil level sounds fine. You have to be more precise on where the leak is coming from for me to help.
Re read the oil check procedure in the manual--it probably says to shut down a hot engine and wait 10-15 minutes. There recently was a very long thread on this subject. A lot of people put an extra quart in when tracking there car so I'm sure you are not overfilled. Look either on your car or the shop manual and you can see the crankshaft is almost a foot above the bottom of the oil pan. Mark
As above, you should wait at least 5 if not 10 minutes before checking the oil level. From what you describe I would doubt the oil level has caused a leak. You'd know if you'd really overfilled it , you'd have foam on the dipstick for a start. You are going to need to see if you can identify where the leak is coming from. Common culprits from cars that havn't been used regularly are camshaft oil seals. Could equally well be a cam cover gasket. I had a leak on my 328 a couple of years ago that turned out to be gearbox oil from a driveshaft oil seal so check those too. What you need to do is get it up on a ramp & have a look & take it from there - any garage should be able to help you with that. SUggest you look for a drive on ramp rather than a lift just to make sure some muppet doesn't try & lift the car from the wrong points & does something daft like crush a sill. I.
i have run 9.5 quarts in both my 308's my 77 has NO OIL LEAKS now ! i had a leak from a dizzy seal , and the damn rubber drain line that goes from the pan all the way up to the crank vent pipe was a seeping leak. . the seeping rubber drain line was hard to pinpoint, first i thought i had not properly fixed the distributer oil seal leak, then i thought it was the front bank cam cover. it was in fact, the rubber drain line leaking. . the oil can be about 1/4 inch above the full mark when hot. i run baldwin filter and NO MORE than 9.5 quarts of oil. best, Michael
Alas, ye worry too much! A Ferrari engine is a mechanical thing, not unlike many other engines. Preciseness in oil level is not an exact science. A little high.....a little low from the marks on the stick, it really doesn't matter. Just keep the level above the 'ADD' mark. Don't lose sleep over it, 8 ozs. more didn't cause the engine to leak, unless you spilled some of it. As far as lift points; just behind the front wheels and just inside the rockers. On the rear, the lift points will be obvious. Dude, it's a car! Don't get frazzled over it, or you'll soon lose the joy of ownership.
