[DeTomaso] "Throwaway Cars" tale

[thomas]

My cousins Diablo used to lose half of the cylinders. It was diagnosed as a bad coil, it has two coils, one per bank. The car had a fairly new coil when he bought the car, and it had crapped out again.

The original Lamborghini coils where around $800 each. I checked the part number, and it turned out it was the same Magneti-Marelli coil as the Fiat Tipo had. Got one for about $15 at the junk yard.

He had this happen again, always on the same coil. The real problem turned out to be a bad coil connector. Once he replaced that he no longer had any coil issues. 

Thomas

15 jun 2013 kl. 22:31 skrev " Charles Engles" <cengles at cox.net>:

> Dear Forum,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                  A true story follows.  
> 
> 
> 
>                 A friend of mine owns a Lamborghini Diablo.  He has owned
> it for several years and was driving it on a backroad when it lost power.
> He came home on a roll back.  He thought  it was a bad oxygen sensor.
> Further home diagnostics seem to show that it is the main engine computer
> and that accounts  half of the V12 cylinders missing in action.
> 
> 
> 
>                When that diagnosis came up, he thought, "This is bad."   A
> call to our nearest Lambo dealer and service center in Dallas-Ft. Worth gave
> him an unpleasant earful.  It seems that they have a Diablo with the same
> problem.  It has been in their shop for *several* months.   They have
> plugged three new computers into it and untold man-hours and still haven't
> solved the problem.   They were able to obtain the few remaining factory NOS
> engine computers.   Lambo does not make them any more.  It appears that
> there is no source for a new Diablo engine computer.
> 
> 
> 
>                Further research showed that there are apparently two guys
> in the U.S. with the ability to understand the computer circuitry and code
> who can actually work on a sick computer rather than just replace it.  One
> fellow is in Ohio and the other is on the West Coast.   He'll have to put
> the Diablo on a transport and send it to one of them and hope they can fix
> it.
> 
> 
> 
>                The plan that occurred to me: pull the offending and
> uncooperative Diablo computer and install something more user friendly---has
> already been done by other Diablo owners.  Some have converted to a Motec
> system that is supposed to cost about $20k..!
> 
> 
> 
>                After the onset of this major headache, he said that he was
> reminded of something that Bob Smith  (  www.bobsmithcoachworks.com ) said
> years ago when we were touring his fabulous Ferrari and Exotic Restoration
> Shop in Texas.   Someone in the group asked about newer Ferraris and sports
> cars in the post carburetor  era.   Bob said, "They're throwaway cars."
> Cold and succinct.    My friend said that in his current situation, he is
> afraid that Bob was right.
> 
> 
> 
>                I hope he gets it fixed, but it does make me appreciate my
> Panteras even more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                                Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> 
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at poca.com
> http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> 
> !DSPAM:51bccf47141271562831224!
>