Update: 1985 Qv runs hot?

Sorry, lost the original thread. Winter here in western NC has been wet and chilly (farmer's almanac description is true). I have not been willing to drive my car in this inclement weather until this past weekend. Went on a 20 mile run and all "seems" to be OK for now. I replaced the overflow tank cap with the recommended 0.9 bar (13 psi) cap, a Stant product. I had previously installed an Italian made thermostat from AW Italian. I bled the system multiple times and went for a drive. The gauge remains steady at slightly below the 195 degree reading and cooling fans cycle as before. Hopefully all is OK. Thanks to all for the input and suggestions. Regards to all.

DB

 

Other things to looks for, is the radiator itself, and the rubber hoses can degrade and clog it up.

These are getting old.....

 

Sounds like it is normal and running where it should be.

 

I wonder about the high water temps often reported by 308 owners and I would like to make a few observations.
Is your car really running hot? How do you know? If it is puking fluid. Yea, you got problems.
If you are relying on the factory temp gauge, I would not jump to conclusions.

My car has a separate temp sensor mounted in the block (very near the factory sensor) I occasionally see the mechanical gauge on the dash rise to uncomfortable levels without any changes noted on my EFI temp sensor. I trust the electronic sensor 100 times more than the factor setup.

I notice when my factory guage rises I can tap on the face of the dial and it will change. Turn the headlights on and it will usually read higher.

I am sure you don't want to risk damaging your engine, but beware of blind trust in the factory gauge. Find another method to compare temps and see if it really running hot.

I realize many old cars of any brand can suffer overheating issues for a variety of reasons. I have never seen it my 308. Just be sure you really have a temp problem.

If you really do have an overheating issue, there is lots of good information on this forum

Good luck.

 

Should also check the breather pipe from the expansion tank to make sure its not clogged up or sitting against your exhaust like mine was, which resulted in the breather pipe being almost fused close due to the heat.

 

It's a QV thing, mostly.

 

Sorry to rain on the parade but I can not agree that an 85 Qv running at a constant indicated 195 is correct. My 85 runs around 175-180 at constant highway speeds and only gets up to the 195-200 range when stopped at a light on a hot day. It's been that way since the day I bought it new.

 

typically that would indicate a thermostat that is stuck open. Since you owned the car from new, it is strange.

 

I should have added my car is an 85 308 QV

 

No. If the T-stat was stuck wide open the car would take forever to warm up. It doesn't. T-stat should starts to open between 175 and 180. Also, if stat was stuck open the engine temp would drop below 175 on the highway on a cold day. Again, it doesn't.

 

The QV's cooling system were a little under engineered from the factory. Some people have issues like me and some people don't. I live in the deep south and July, Aug can get hot. My QV doesn't do well moving slowly then. Never has.

All you can do is everything you are supposed to do (good t-stat, serviced radiator, make sure the fans are blowing properly, etc.) and just avoid bumper to bumper traffic as best you can. I have lived this way for 19 years. So far so good.

 

Luckily, I guess I live in a cooler climate... Dallas.

 

well, it's a dry heat...

 

You also might want to bleed it front the thermostat housing brass plug. It is not cross drilled so there's no small holes for the air to bleed so, be careful backing it out slowly. Or if you want, what I did is replaced the plug with the bleeder type or drill across it.

 

Any chance the car getting too hot could be an ignition box thing. My qv got very hot in the summer more than once. I never verified the gauge's accuracy, but believe my it was hot. The overflow puked once or twice, not alot, but consistent with hot running. The engine is out now, and rhe water pump is new, which I confirmed. The fans come on as they should, blow the right way, and the rad flows. A leak in a heater core has to be addressed currently, but this was managed easily with diligent bleeding. I suggested previously that the liners are somehow involved, but this was shot down as not being exclusive to qv's, although I have recently seen a 348 liner and it was steel. Haven't seen a 328 yet. So, I wonder if perhaps an erratic ignition box, could be causing problems? I never checked mine, but will find out later when the car is running again.
Otherwise, my car is the same as all the others with athe same complaint. Hot day, hot in traffic, open road, it cools off. However on a really cool day, it never really gets up to temp, especially on an open road. I know it's been beat to death by now, but could a bad Ignition box (or ground or signal) possibly, even theoretically be causing this?

David

 

As I recall, US cars (QV's) have retarded ignition timing as compared to Euro cars. The timing at idle is greatly retarded vs euro. When timing is retarded it raises cylinder head temperatures and likely cooling temps. Ferrari likely did this for emission reasons. Couldn't hurt to check your timing, but if its stock, it's not adjustable.

 

Hi, My name is Dave. I live in Mesquite,Tx. As of Thursday I'm a first time new owner of a 85 Euro 308. Bought it from Glenv6 just north of Dallas. Love the car. Would like to meet and learn from local 308-328 owners in the area. I see Ferrariowner lives in the area. Like to meet you sometime, have you check out my car. You may already know glenv6 and his car. I followed a 308 this week trying to get is attention on garland road with no luck. His plate was FERRAR. Thanks Dave

 

Hi Dave,
Congratulations on your new 308. I know you will love it. I would be happy to meet you when time permits. Just drop me a line. I don't know if there is private messaging on this site. If not, I will send you my # or email.

Regards,

 

Here are some things that helped my '84 QV. It has always run a bit hot (which means +/-190F on the dash gauge under normal circumstances, but creeps past 200F in 85+F weather and/or when stopped/going slow).

One bottle of Red Line water watter had an immediate -5 to -7 degree impact. Remove the coolant tank cap, start the car, and slowly add the water wetter. Let run a minute. Then I replaced the cap and let run until hot. Bleed the air out of the radiator. This worked pretty well, and kept me cool on all but the 95F+ days.

I recently sent the car to a nearby Italian import shop (not my normal service shop). They removed the radiator and completely refurbished. $450. It runs even better, another -5 to -7 degrees. We haven't had a hot day yet here in CT, but car runs cooler even at prolonged idle.

 

FWIW, the temp rating of a Tstat is the temp at which it begins to open, not the wide open temp, which is typically 10-15 degrees hotter. IOW, a 180 Tstat will be fully open at 190-195. In theory, a properly operating cooling system should be able to maintain optimum engine temp regardless of load, including sitting in heavy traffic on a hot day with the AC running. The Tstat/cooling system is SUPPOSED to continually work together so that the Tstat is opening/closing/holding at some mid-opening level - as necessary based on engine heat. The Tstat should NOT have to go to full open and stay there. If it has to do that, the cooling system is inadequate for the job.

 

As I stated early on, in this thread, a radiator service will blow all kindsof gunk out of a unit this old....