[Guest]

Howdy folks,
I've got a p

Howdy folks,
I've got a problem. I was driving my car yesterday and after about 10 minutes into the trip (highway) I noticed the temp was showing slightly higher than normal which is just under the half mark. So as I continued on I watched the needle. It quickly started rising up above 3/4 in a matter of seconds. I pulled off and as I was slowing down the guage went back down to about normal. I pulled into a parking lot and the temp guage again rose to nearly max. I shut of the car and turned the ignition back on to see if the fans were running. They were not.

I let the car cool a bit and then opened the bleeders (the car was off) to see if there was air. Both bleeders bled for quite a while (few minutes) until they started showing coolant. The rad bleed took much longer than the thermostat housing. So, I fired it up and bled while running- no real problem and the fans did come on during this time. Weird.

I let it cool again and started driving home on surface streets. By about halfway home (five minutes) the temp again rose quite quickly. I parked, let it cool for a while and then got it home.

Later, after it was totally cooled down- the turned on the ignition and jumped the thermoswitch wires at the bottom of the radiator to see if the fans spun up. They did turn perfectly. I warmed up the car and all seemed fine for a while.

The coolant level in the tank seemed maybe a couple cm low when cool.

After ten minutes the temp gauge started showing high again. I felt both sides of the thermostat housing and both were very hot. But, the radiator and rad hoses were cool. I squeezed the upper hose of the radiator and hear a gushing/bubbling sound from inside the hose. The rad then warmed up rather quickly and the fans started to run a few minutes after. I let the car idle for 20 minutes and the fans cycled off every 45 seconds or so the entire time. Short test drive was fine. Temps seemed fine.

Did I loosen up some crud? I suppose I should flush the entire system.

Everything is stock (euro) on the car and has never had a cooling problem while I've owned it.

Sorry this is so long folks, but I wanted to describe this problem as well as I could.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Guest]

John,

nice full description

John,

nice full description, thank you, really helps in this type of long distance environment.

Typically this time of year people are turning on their heaters for the first time in many months. When the heaters are first put back into service they dump a large air pocket into the lower cooling system that has accumulated over the non-op summer period. This large air pocket can and often does cause the cooling system to go haywire as the air becomes trapped in all the high spots of the engine & radiator and the water level suddenly drops.

It is SOP on Ferraris to run thru the entire filling, bleeding procedure with the heaters on in the late summer, early fall.

With the engine barely warm, remove the cap to prevent a vacum on the back end, turn on the heater valves (coolant portion, fans not necc.), start the engine, fill the header tank (using anti-freeze if your climate dictates), and begin 'a full bleeding process' until the Thermostat has fully opened and the fans have cycled on and off a few times. Running thru this drill until you are satisfide that the heaters are filled with coolant and purged of air and secondly that the radiator is fully purged of air. (*Note* : of course stop if engine begins to overheat).

We recently discussed this procedure and concluded that it could take 20-30 minutes to fully and completely service the cooling system, fill, bleed and purge and check all the associated operations such as fans, thermostat and water pump operation to maintain peek performance. By following this comprehensive servicing any problems that may exist should be exposed and/or eliminated.

Regards, JRV

 

[Guest]

Hi again John,

Here's o

Hi again John,

Here's our previous discussion on cooling system bleeding:

http://www.ferrari-talk.com/discus/messages/5/989.html?1065099446

 

[Guest]

What's the best way to flu

What's the best way to flush the coolaing system on a 308. Is there anthing more efficient to do than just draining /refilling?

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill, welcome aboard.

Go

Hi Bill, welcome aboard.

Good question!

IMO the all Aluminum & Brass construction of a 308 cooling system negates the need for your typical older american car with cast iron type flushing with chemicals, on average, if the car has not seen long periods of sitting or neglect..

It is helpful/neccesary to remove as much old coolant every few years and renew however. To maintain peek system condition and remove possibly corrosive and worn out antifreeze mixture. On 308's and other models there is no real procedure or easy way other than finding one of the lowest points in the system and loosening a hose and let drain until empty, fill with water, run a few minutes, drain again. Then refill, bleed and check to nsure proper levels and operations.

HTH's

Regards, JRV

 

[Guest]

JRV,
Thanks for the thorough

JRV,
Thanks for the thorough procedure information. I performed the operation, and did get a few burst of air out of my 328. It appears it has fixed my heating problem: Whenever I come to a stop, the heaters would start blowing cold; take off and then blow hot air again. I tried bleeding a few times, but never knew the "proper" procedure. Even my Ferrari mechanic bled it a couple times trying to solve the issue and was stumped. I will drive it some more and see if the problem comes back.

Thanks again!

 

[Guest]

I was told that for proper ble

I was told that for proper bleeding you have to lift the front end of the car a bit. True?

 

[Guest]

>>I was told that for

>>I was told that for proper bleeding you have to lift the front end of the car a bit.<<

I've heard that...I've never found it to be neccesary on any street Ferrari I've ever worked on. If one looks carefully at how the system is designed, it can be noticed that it's layed out in such a way that gravity feeding works perfectly when certian procedures such as the ones described above are adhered to. If a system won't bleed using the standard proper procedures it's possible other issues may exist.

The Romans mastered gravity feeding of water centuries ago and were believers that, Gravity isn't just a Good Idea, It's the Law ! {

}

Regards, JRV

 

[Guest]

It worked! My problem was tha

It worked! My problem was that I was about 2 liters low on coolant. I don't think the coolant level was ever exactly correct. I went through the entire bleeding procedure described and a test drive proved that my car is running cooler than ever. It's just back and forth with the bleeders- that's the important part. I also cleaned out the heater blower filters and now the heat works great.

This car was from Texas and my not have run it's heat in quite a while. Now it's in Maine and heat is quite useful.

But alas- another problem! After the test drive, I wanted to bleed it all one last time. After hissing out a little air from the radiator, I want to tighten the thumb screw/bleeder and it snapped off and blew coolant out for a few seconds.
I used a tapping screw to pull out the remaining piece from the rad.

I checked the ferrari UK site and couldnt find this part. I bought a steel 6 mm allen head bolt for a temporary fix.

Any ideas on where I can buy this bleeder, or will my replacement (with anti-sieze?) work?

Thanks for the help folks.

 

[Guest]

Hi John,

Congrats ! glad

Hi John,

Congrats ! glad you got this hiccup sorted out quickly and easily.

>>Any ideas on where I can buy this bleeder, or will my replacement (with anti-sieze?) work? <<

Well, your fix will work fine, but it will make bleeding a pain (and dangerous hot) without the internal hole. You can order a new bleeder from Algar, Ferrari UK or Rutlands I believe (or was it FAF?) used to have some aftermarket bleeders that are beefier. Or you can drill a small hole (2 holes, one lenght wise and an intersecting hole) in the proper size bolt in a pinch and make your own.

Regards, JRV

 

[Guest]

Thanks folks.

Yep, I bought

Thanks folks.

Yep, I bought a bleeder from T Rutlands ($20). They said Ferrari does not have them but they (Rutlands) made up a batch a while ago.
I'll have it tomorrow.
Thanks again.