Oil Recommendation for Ferrari 328 GTS

[OilUzer]

Hardly "gutsy". High oil pressure were a known issue on some older Ferraris, that can get out of calibration. On most cars, which do not have an oil pressure gauge, how would you ever even know there is a high pressure issue? The idiot light only identifies low pressure.

Carlo was a master Ferrari technician and performed every manner of repair right down to full rebuilds. He had his own engine testing equipment he built himself. It was an amazing shop and a terrible loss to the Ferrari community when he passed.
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/t...rrari-master-technician-rip-4-10-2020.620009/ Scroll down and you can see a freshly rebuilt V12 daytona engine he demonstrates to the local club.

The issue is cold oil not reaching areas until it is properly warm. And no, there are Ferrari owners in every part of the USA and the world. I was the membership chair for the NW and we even have members in AK. These are very high reving engines...even a 328 redlines at 7700 rpm. My current 430 Scuderia redlines at 8500. Newer Ferraris redline at 9,000 to 9,250. You have to pay attention to the oil temp and ensure it is over 170/180F before running it up. Every Ferrari owners manual has warnings about letting the oil fully warm before exceeding 4000 rpm from the 1970s right up to today.

It's a good general advice not to rev high when the engine/oil is cold with any car.

As far as high oil pressure being a known issue in some older Ferraris when using recommended viscosity grades ... maybe I was expecting more from a Ferrari.
Was this a known problem new from the factory or something that developed later?

Very informative posts. Thank you!

 

[addyguy]

M1 0W-40. If it’s good enough for Porsche…
BTW, nice car!

 

[robertcope]

I run M1 0W-40 in my 308 QV. I think it'd work great in your 328, too.

 

[f355spider]

It's a good general advice not to rev high when the engine/oil is cold with any car.

As far as high oil pressure being a known issue in some older Ferraris when using recommended viscosity grades ... maybe I was expecting more from a Ferrari.
Was this a known problem new from the factory or something that developed later?

Very informative posts. Thank you!

No idea when or why. I suspect the spring that controlled the oil pressure changed value either from age or heat or something. I doubt they were shipped that way. You expect more from Ferrari? Lol...they are just cars like any other. And can have more issues because they don't make that many in a year. A Ferrari technician told me they never work out the bugs because these are low production cars...Toyota makes more cars in a day than Ferrari makes in a year or two. Although today, Ferrari makes way more cars than they ever have previously.

TSBs are released for years after production with updates (not covered by warranty either)...probably because faults are not found as quickly with more common cars because for most Ferrari owners this is their third or fourth car, so they simply don't accumulate the miles. Look at the OP, he has a 39 year old car with 23,000 miles. That's 590 miles per year on average...though in reality more were put on in some years and less in others.