Dear fellow F-chatters, I would appreciate very much your help with what just happened to me. I took the 355 for a spin in Paris and shortly after,she began to overheat very badly with water temp hitting 266F (130 celsius) with the red light on. I immediately pulled over.As i opened the door,white smoke came out from air intake and liquid spilled from underneath the car.When I opened the engine hood,I could hear a loud boiling sound. I noticed both radiators fan were not working.I checked fuses and relays.Both radiator fan fuses were blown. I replaced them with new ones.When I started the car,water temp was still high but just under the red zone although both radiator fans were working. On my way home,the water temp would go up and down 212F (100 Celsius) but by the time i got home,the temp was back to 266 F with the red light on again. Once in my parking,only the left radiator fan was working.I checked the right radiator fan fuse and it had completely melted,although new 30 minutes before... I bought those fuses on e-bay as emergency back-up and they definitely look cheaper than stock. Also,I took the car for a vacation in Normandy just a week ago and car ran great.Major was done less than two months ago at Ferrari dealer. Should I refill coolant liquid (if that's indeed what spilled from underneath the car)? What else should I consider (new fans,better quality fuses)? What do u think caused this? Thanks in advance for your advices and suggestions. Cheers from Paris, olivier
Olive - are you fans cycling properly? are they coming on and then going off? or are they running but the car temp continues to climb?
Hi bobby,until today,left fan always worked fine but right fan would sometimes stop due to blown fuse. As for the cycles,I wouldn't know since I'm not familiar with what those cycles should be.All i know is left fan was working after i put new fuse in even though extreme overheating occured.
First you need to acertain if the coolant leakage was from the coolant bottle overflow tube (left side o f motor) or a blown head gasket. For the head gasket have a look at the heads above the exhaust manifolds & have a look at the oil dipstick for signs of coolant in the oil . If the coolant leak was beneath the coolant bottle overflow tube (left side of rear of motor).....then possibly you have just normal overflow due to excessive temperatures. If its just from the overflow tube I would (replace any burnt fan fuses) refill the coolant, turn the heater full on , bleed the thermostat cover bleeder and start the motor to bleed the system (run up to 95 degrees C)...left cooling fan should turn on followed by right cooling fan once oil temperature reaches 100 degrees C. DONOT let the car overheat again. If your fans donot turn on (left one first)....then shut down the motor. Make sure you donot have a electrical problem (relays, fan motor 'fan' broken and freewheeling, burnt out motor ,ect) If you exceed 100 degrees on the coolant temperature....shut down the motor. If you have coolant in the motor oil (check dipstick) or coolant leaking from the head gasket....shut down the motor. This will require a top end teardown. You could have a stuck thermostat (easy to check with the motor in the car). Take the thermostat out...hang the thermostat in a pot of water with a thermometer. Heat the water and the thermostat should fully open by 95 degrees C......if it does not replace it and you should be good to go.....however if it opens.....then the problem is elsewhere. At the last major....did you replace the waterpump? Not only can old waterpumps fail but new ones can fail as well. If the waterpump impellar fails you will have no flow and this can cause a overheat situation like you are describing. It should be noted that during the bleeding process (heater on)....you will have flow through in the coolant bottle EVEN IF THE WATERPUMP IS NOT WORKING....this is caused by the puller pump at the heater core......try not to confuse this with the waterpump flow. If you still have the problem after bleeding the system.....shut the car down and let it cool off ....then restart the car WITHOUT turning on the heater (full cold position)......if there is no flow during the warm up period....then your waterpump has failed. Unfortunately this will require a motor out to get at . (There have been some people on this chat line that claim to replaced a waterpump with the motor in.....I'm not sure this is possible due to the tight clearences.) Make sure you post your tests and results.
The left fan was on and the car was still overheating? The fan cycles (no a/c on) are that left fan (coolant temperature) turns on first at 95 degrees C and right fan (oil temperature) turns on at 100 degrees C. In full overheat both fans should cycling on /off at the same time.
Fans are cheap if you buy the SPAL units after market (same parts as OEM, just not in yellow Ferrari boxes). If spraying the center units (motor) first with MAF cleaner and then second with WD-40 still causes the fans to blow more fuses, then you should *absolutely * replace both fans (easy to do by removing both rear wheels, the front of the rear fender liners, and four bolts on each fan motor). http://www.srbymichael.com/manufacturers/spal/fans.shtml
Recent major + overheating + white smoke makes me think blown head gasket. I think the blown fuse made car overheat and took the head gasket out when it overheated. The white smoke coming from air intake I believe is steam resulting from the blown head gasket. Water is leaking into a cylinder and boiling. The steam has nowhere to go except out the intake resulting in the white "smoke" you see coming out of the airbox. Suggest refill radiator and take short drive. Check water level. If level is low -> blown head gasket. Then you may start to cry. If the water level stays high, then you got lucky. Put some better fuses in, check for short circuits and thank the deity of your choice. Wallace
This is a complex isuue that I will not address.....but, "IF" you have a bad head gasket, and "IF" your coolant fluid has ANY silicone in it...guess what???? You may really need to take a good hard look to see if the O2 sensors are still functioning properly.
- sorry , but what on earth does the O2 sensors have to do with the overheating (and maybe blown head gasket) issues that the original poster has ? .
Please re-read my post.....I didn't say that the O2 sensors caused the overheating..but, if the overheating is the result of a blown head gasket coolant fluid enters the combustion chamber...whatever goes into the combustion chamber has to go out the exhaust which is where the O2 sensors are. If you are using a silicone enhanced coolant fluid and the head gasket blows then you may have damaged the O2 sensors as a result. This is nothing new...it is common knowledge for professionals who build and tune engines.
Hey Guys, I changed the blown 30 amp fuse in the fuse box , when the coolant gauge showed over heating the other day. Now after replacing the fuse, the car doesnt start. As soon as i turn the ignition on, I hear a squealing/whistling sound from the rear right corner . It was not there before . Any ideas ? I read some one mentioning it here before, but i cannot locate the thread ...
I'm thinking another trip to the service dept? What you think? So did you check the dipstick? Still clear oil? no milk in it? You need to follow up my friend, cause there are alot of people that learn from threads like this one, ok? Also, are you stuck in traffic when you start to overheat or are you cruising at speed? Say above 35 MPH ? If you are cruising and it still overheats the fuses would definately have nothing to do with your overheating. The airflow alone would have cooled the engine. I had one electic motor seize on me and melted the fuse box. (Funny that the fuse didnt blow, huh? ) My car went up pass the half way mark on the temp gauge and I knew there was an issue. When you own a Ferrari or anything that you care about, your nose should be about 25-50% in the gauges, monitoring temp, oil and charge...well, maybe speed too hahahah Its hard to train yourself to do that but you have to. Please post what happened? Ski
I noticed when I started my F355 this afternoon I noted a small puddle in the passenger side( right side of car facing out from inside). I am thinking it might be the hose to the heater section in the climate control any ideas guy's? Perhpas need to pull of the cover and look into the storage section in front of climate area for the culprit leak etc? Your thoughts truly appreciated!! Thanks, GEO
Sorry not sure what side since i jacked it up on the left it dripped on the right etc.... Any ideas? Thanks, GEO
I found out that the Ferrari F355 leaks out a small amount especially after a few years from the 30K engine out service. nothing big and it will normalize after a period...
