Lots of info here https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/
1986 Ferrari CIS help
I know this is mainly an audi forum - but I also knew that the Subject line would raise some eyebrows. I have a customer that brings his audis to me. He also has a Ferrari testarossa that he has had me do minor things to from time to time. He drives this thing like an old lady going to sunday school. When I changed the oil recently I 'had' to drive it to make sure everything is ok. When I drove it I was very, very surprised because I don't think it would outrun my bone stock 98 Honda accord!? What is up with this? The car is supposed to make 380hp - I don't think it is putting out 100? I thought maybe I wasn't driving it hard enough, but I got it up to about 6k (redline is like 7k) rpm in first and still didn't feel any power. It Starts, revs and idles great, no noises, smoke, etc. It has duel CIS just like on the older audis/Mercedes. It is an 86 so there really is no CEL. I told him it has something wrong power wise and he agreed. I checked the plugs and wires and they seem good, car only has 22k miles. I guess my question is this - What is simple to check on a CIS system that would cause a major power loss but still runs fairly well? Or, what else should I look at? Thanks in advance.
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What controls the ignition of that beast? I know on 308QVs of similar vintage, there are twin sealed ignition boxes that control advance. And if one or both crap out, you get no power.
I looked on Ferrari chat last night, but I may go back and do that again tonight. I don't know about the ignition boxes - but I'll look into it as well. I'm starting to think maybe the cats are clogged. I had a customers jeep that did this exact same thing and ended up being a cat. Keep the suggestions coming - I would love to have many Ideas to try! Thanks again.
my first throught was cat as well. Ignition box sounds promising too.
First thing to do is make sure it's running on both banks... I haven't worked on a TR but I have worked on a couple different 288GTO's which also have separate fuel/ign systems for each bank. They're well known for only running on one bank or the other and will idle perfectly happily and have no power when you're driving. Easy way to check is get the car warmed up and check the temp on the exhaust with an IR temp gun. One bank will be quite a lot cooler if it's only running on one.
If you suspect its the cat/cats then just do a simple manifold vacuum test. If the cats are clogged, as you raise the rpm slowly from idle the vacuum gauge should read lower and lower(less inches of vac). If its not going down then its not a clogged exhaust.
I'm going to try to get the car back in the shop in a few weeks and diagnose. The 1/2 engine theory is really interesting because that is exactly what it feels like to me - I have heard talk that the fuel pump relay socket can get corrosion on it and cause one of the two pumps to not work (which would cause the one bank to die) I also like the suggestion of the vac test for the cats, which I will try. I'll get my trusty IR gun out too just to check. Keep the suggestions coming. I'm going to document it all and then go through the service manual and figure it out. Thanks again.
other than the cats getting messed up, if fuel still goes into the bank thats not firing, can anything else get damaged in a situation like this?
the half of the engine is till getting oiled, as its still spinning
the half of the engine is till getting oiled, as its still spinning
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