Coolant Leak III: The Plot Thickens...

NOTE: I have not touched my 348 since the last time I posted, whenever that was.

Today, I backed her up onto my ramps and took a peek. Sure enough, dripping coolant. Front and center of the engine. Not a lot, mind you, but easy to spot.

I took the cap off the radiator (or where you fill it, since the radiators are behind the vents) and filled it up. It wasn't as low as I was expecting. I then started her up and took her for a spin, keeping a close eye on the temperature gauge to see when or if it would be an issue. I stayed within 10 miles of my house the whole time just in case. Took her down a curvy back country road, took her through some light congestion, and even put her on the interstate at 85mph. Gauge never went over the halfway mark.

Got her home, parked her in the driveway, and walked around to the rear of the car to see how bad the leak was.

Nothing. Zip. Not a drop of coolant anywhere to be seen. Even three hours later, the area under the car is bone dry.

What the heck? Any ideas? I'm not at a point where I can pull the engine and look, so all suggestions and thoughts are helpful.

 

Drive it.


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Pressure test it, could be anything.

 

This happens sometimes to cars that sit for a long time. You may be ok now but damn man, drive it!

 

It is possible that the water pump carbon seal developed a small leak due to light corrosion caused by sitting. During your drive, the pump seal re-sitted itself.

 

I don't think that's it because I drive it at least once every two weeks. The leak actually came to my attention after a 45 minute romp through the city.

 

Drive it x 1000. Seriously.

Tech: you have an oil leak sir.
Car owner: how bad?
Tech: will need a complete rebuild. It is damp and a slight weep at pan to block.
Car owner: ok, how much.
Tech: $10,000
Car owner: sounds about right. Can't have a leak.



I about want to shoot myself when I hear this stuff. A leak is oil pouring on ground to point when starting engine it gushes on floor. That is a leak. Water leak is no different if not pouring out of radiator, timing cover, broken hose, etc. A wet spot or damp area no where near a belt, plastic insert, tube, etc etc (can you say air cooled 911) is a minor annoyance. I like my stuff to be right. Annoyed by little things, but I think technicians take advantage of clients and car guys get way too worked up over perceived concerns. I am 46 years old and the body does not look or feel like I did when new or even at 22. Neither do my cars, even my two new ones.

I say this because you asked and implied and even stated you would pull motor for this. Human hands working on stuff all the time causes more harm and future heartache, more than a drip or two. When it break and being an F car it will, then you fix it. Until then, drive and observe.

We all have opinions; you may or may not like them and a forum thread may not convey my sincere tone or light heartedness in this matter, but please know if we were sitting at bar, having beers about our Ferrari's. I would say, same thing and would drink some more.

Drove my car into work this morning. 6-7 minutes down road. Slow down light came on [emoji19]. Turned around to go home, drove back fine, light flashing. Drove fine, no rich smell, no limp, no performance drop. 1 minute from house light goes out! So I go to work, drives fine. Traffic picks up. Stuck at standstill. Idled fine. Temps fine. Start moving. CEL comes on [emoji35].

Get to work and codes 153 and 159 - 02 sensor slow circuit.
Clear it and drive it.

Will need to be addressed, but it can wait and I can secure parts if I need to. In the end, Ferrari's are a gorgeous pain in ass at times and the cheaping out of electronics, sub systems and general fragile nature, is part of the game.

After 25 years in car business seeing all makes and models, I wish Toyota made Ferrari's (maybe why Lotus uses their engines [emoji848])

Hell, I think the new Acura may be the way to go for style and reliability, maybe?

My Ferrari is special and I love it, but it is a pain in the ASS!


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Well to me this qualifies as a leak-

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/145434622-post2.html


I guess if it never leaks again it has fixed itself but I don't often find things work out that way.

 

That would be a problem if it continued doing it while running for sure. But fluids tend to look greater in quantity on ground then actual volume.

My apologies if that pic was in another post as the links and pics do not always work in Tapatalk. I had to log into webpage to see that photo.

But yes, that would need some investigation. Not sure pulling motor to solve is first thought for me though.


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A leak is stuff dripping out. A weep is a minor seepage. The former you address ASAP; the latter you just live with until it becomes the former.

 

The pic was in the first post I made about the leak. I've whined about it three times now.

It still hasn't leaked again. I'll take it to Cars & Coffee this Sunday and see if it reoccurs. Sooner or later I'm going to have to dig into it.

 

And here lies the problem.

The OP has started three different threads with the same issue. It should all be in one thread, so that all information and correspondence is in one thread.

 

Yeah. That's on me. Apologies to the group. Won't happen again.

 

The benefit (and logistics) is that all of the information is one thread, which makes it easier to diagnose/assist.

 

I know, and the sad thing is I knew it when I posted. Sometimes my brain doesn't go all the way up.

 

Very simple fix - request through one of the Mods to have all 3 threads merged into one.

 

For some reason I always thought you were a mod...

Any mods willing to combine those 3 threads?

 

Just hit the Report Post button on the right and ask them from there.
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