308 GTB COOLING SYSTEM HEADER TANK

There was recent situation "over there" that was strange but true, the old coolant hoses were shedding rubber bits into the coolant stream, eventually clogging the radiator to about 10% flow!

He had to remove and flush all these old rubber bits from his radiator..it took many rinses to do it....

Just thought I'd mention that, who would have thought it?

Check the interior condition of all your coolant hoses....

IIRC, a 1.1 Bar cap is correct, and should cause no damage......

Hello everyone, back again after a bit of a break and happy to report the car seems to be running well without a thermostat in place. She does not seem to be losing any coolant and there are no obvious signs of oil / water mixing, which seems to suggest all is well with the head gaskets.

I will replace the thermostat, as the car is not reaching full running temp. without one and will report any problems in due course.

I have noticed a drop in power since dismantling the carb heads / aircleaner, but guess this is just a matter of getting a tune-up.

The Kitchen is almost finished as well - so all in all, it seems to be looking a lot brighter!!!

Many thanks to all who offered assistance.

Trevor,

I have a spare 308 radiator that I had refurbished a few years ago when I had a 308. I was given a brand new one off the shelf and never got around to selling the OEM one. She's fresh and ready to go if you need it.

JL

Jeremy how much do you want for your radiator?
I might need one.

Thanks Jeremy, but I think my radiator is in good shape.

However, we took the car out yesterday, as we seem to be running out of Nice days in UK and the car blew about 2 pints of coolant out just as we were driving back into the garage?

Seems strange to happen after the car has run OK for a few trips out, so my guess is we are losing a little fluid as we drive and allowing air into the system somewhere, but tracing where it gets in seems to be very difficult!

Might want to take the car out again,and see if the car was just self adjusting the coolant level. You may have a cold overfill level, that needs to discharge a little coolant on the first really hot cycle.

[trev]

Hello All,

After a lack of time to play with the car, I took her out yesterday (still minus the thermostat) and in the cold weather, about 4 degrees celcius in UK, she seemed to run fine, but did discharge approx. half a pint of coolant whilst I let her warm up before setting off. I think I will try to get the new thermostat in over the Christmas break and see how we go, as she should be running hooter than she is able to do without one.

I did notice a strange 'tapping / ticking' sound on initial start up that I have heard once before. It sounds very similar to a broken belt slapping against something, but all the belts are in good order. It seems to eminate from the forward bank of the engine i.e., the one just behind the drivers seat and it dissapears after gently revving the engine and warming her up a little.

Is this a valve problem? can I be doing any damage?