Ferrari Mailing List: Re: electrical short on '81 308 GTSi

[Doug and Terri Anderson (dnt]

Well, it sure anint your carbs.  heh heh.  Ok, enuf of the jokes.  Sounds 
electrical.  Lets ask a couple of questions:
Car still have cats?  If so, those are in mortal danger of melting down. 
Misfire is cats worst enemy.  The ONLY problem that will set an OBD II check 
engine light to blinking.  I know - you are OBD II but I just wanted to set 
the tone.

Next - say it is electrical - go after the big three - Opens, Shorts, and 
Grounds.
- Do you still have two of everything?  Two coils, dizzies etc?  Check the 
coil wire and make sure its not just sorta stuck in there.
-Next go up to the ignition switch - with the engine running - give it the 
Ford wiggle test.  A real test.  Grab a handful of wires and, not too rough 
now, wiggle them.
-Last go in a dark garage, with door open at night and let your eyes get 
accustomed to the dark.  Just watch the engine bay - Have someone else start 
the car for you.  Now look for arching or snapping of secondary wires.  If 
there is a problem - you may see it this way.  OTHERWISE use a long screw 
driver down the plug well and come close to the plug wire.  If the plug wire 
arcs - something is poo poo clunk with the plug.

Keep us posted.  Remember - opens, shorts and grounds - you may just have a 
bad coil ground from a loose screw.

DOUG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michel Savard" <mysavard [at] dsuper.net>
To: "DOUG" <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 7:44 PM
Subject: [Ferrari] electrical short on '81 308 GTSi


> Here is my new problem: Actually, it started last summer, but it was
> barely noticeable, so I didn’t pay too much attention to it. Every time
> I hit a good bump, and there are A LOT of those in Montreal, I sense a
> misfire. It’s as if the engine cuts off for a millisecond. The last 2
> weeks have been terrible. I even drove over a road where the old asphalt
> was taken off, you know before they put new asphalt on, and the
> misfiring was just continuous for the whole 300 feet. It was scary.
>
> My mechanic told me to start the engine and touch all the wires I could
> touch. The problem is with a very hot engine, it’s very difficult to go
> deep in that engine bay.
>
> What do you think I should look for ? Where ?
>
> Michel
>
>
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