1988 Mondial 3.2

The yellow prancing horse shields on the fenders next to the front wheels. This only became an option on later Ferrari models (F355, IIRC) and are never original on a Mondial. Sometimes they are stickers, sometimes (like mine) they are simple magnets. I took mine off and put them on my beer fridge

 

She’s finally mine! Took possession this evening and had a great drive home.

Initial thoughts are mostly how much I love that sound! It was so fun to really open it up and hear the engine rev up.

It’s quite comfortable inside with truly luxurious surroundings.

I’ve yet to fully familiarize myself with the eccentricities of the electrical systems so I didn’t know there were mirror adjustments inside, nor how to get the dash lights to illuminate. The rear view mirror is also rather loose, so I’ll tighten it up. But who cares if you can’t see all those dials or the cars you’ve passed!

On a later night drive, the parking light indicator was on and the dash lights were off, which was not ideal. I had found the dash adjustment but it didn’t respond at all. Headlights and signals functioned as expected. So we blasted around unaware of the speed and shifted by sound.

My partner surprised me with a vintage 90’s Ferrari jacket too

I’m certain to check back in and wanted to say thanks to everyone for the welcome so far!

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The rearview mirror has a very small flathead screw recessed in the base of the stalk that attaches the mirror to the stubby base on the windshield. Easy fix, just tighten the screw.

 

Thanks moysiuan - I actually came across a post where you had described just that. I had guessed Philips head but was wrong.

The parking light/dash light thing is the next mystery to unravel. I am going to start by checking all the fuses.

 

My rearview mirror is held on with a #1 Philips as it turns out. I was able to get it out with a small flathead.

The fuses were the issue for the lights. It should have been a 15 amp and was 7.5 instead. Two others are incorrect and will be replaced.

Next up is figuring out why the old Sony radio doesn't make sound. It is on, but nothing from the speakers yet.

 

I'm sure the original radio will be on ebay soon....and they did put something else there without connecting the wires.

 

Fuses are replaced and dash lights are working. Mirror is all good now too. Stereo is still a mystery but it sounds so, so good just driving.

Honestly it is the most fun I have ever had in a car!

 

Today's oddness with the car - the tripmeter counts up all on its own. This occurs when the car is running but stationary. Which counts up the miles at an alarming rate - it went up by 70 miles this evening on a 5 mile drive!!! Has anyone experienced something like this before? I'm not one to be particularly fussed about mileage, but this is clearly not right.

I had changed 3 fuses yesterday to the correct amperages, but would not anticipate that would have any effect on the odometer.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273889421191

I presume by trip meter you mean the odometer?

There is an impulse generator that is either getting interference (I understand can be caused by an altertnator that is in process of failing), or has bad connections or has gone bad. The impulse part works both the speedo and and the odometer. I think the ebay link is the part, but would need to confirm the fitment for the 3.2.

I would see if you can clean up the connections, check the grounds on the battery and the engine ground strap for corrosion.

This is just my recollections from some old threads, I have not had any direct experience with this.

 

Mine were stuck on the back windows. And now reside on the rear window of my Tacoma and my wife’s Audi.


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And congrats on the car. Do get those long coolant hoses replaced. They are a pain to get out of the little tunnels but worth the piece of mind. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login


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I meant tripmeter as the trip odometer that can be reset. I tried it with just the key in the on position and it still counts up, so I doubt the alternator could be a factor there. I'll take a look at the connections and grounds to start with.

 

Thanks! It's been really, really fun getting to drive it so far!

Are those the hoses from the radiator to the engine that run the length of the car? I can only imagine that they would be a pain to replace. Any particular hose that should be used? I like Gates for these types of things.

 

Press and turn the little knob of that tripmeter several times to disengage the little shaft inside.

 

Yes. I purchased my hoses from Superformance. Wherever you buy them make sure the outside diameter is no more than 50 mm and the inside 40 mm. I can tell you that the 1 5/8 hoses will not go through the tunnel.


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It will go in easily. Not sure if you have longer hoses then needed? A way that works perfect is to get a rope or wire through the tunnel so that you can pull it through. I made a small hole on the old one before pulling it out so that the rope/wire goes in at the same time. After that a small whole in the new hose to pull it back in. Went surprisingly easy.

There are 2 ways:

• From the front, which I didn't do, where you will need to take out the spare wheel bucket so that you have enough access to pull them out. advanced is that you do not have to touched the shift linkage.
• From the back, if you know how to get the shift linkage back in its original gears. You also have to remove the bended pipes.

More here:
Anyone replace the center pipe coolant hose before? | FerrariChat

 

So I pulled the electrical connector at the speed sensor and the odometer is still counting up with the key on. Speedometer stopped working when I unplugged it which was expected. Guessing that maybe a bad ground could be a factor somewhere?

 

Welcome to the brotherhood! There is a lot of good input in the community and if you like to turn a wrench yourself, you are in the right fraternity. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

 

Thanks!

Still working on the odometer issue and now I’ve got an issue with the heater. No one said this was going to be easy!

I’ve got a new to me set of 360 wheels. A friend picked them up for me so I don’t have them in hand just yet. They look great with a polished finish. Tires are Michelin Pilot Sport 2.

 

What is the heater issue, I have just fixed mine and have lots of insight into how this all works.

 

The heater will blow hot air at first and then gradually fade to cool air. The water temperature gauge is also reading low in a range of 150-180F, but mostly on the lower end. It's cold enough in Toronto with temps around 6C, but it should definitely produce heat in spite of that. I would expect the engine to be operating around 195F since that's the middle of the gauge, but maybe that isn't the case?

In another thread, it was suggested to check the heater valve voltage inside the passenger footwell.

 

Did you check if there is a thermostat on the engine ?

 

In hot summer Toronto grid lock traffic my temp guage will read about 195F (my car is Swiss market and reads just under 90C normally which would be more like 185F). During these cold days, running colder at the levels you noted would also seem normal enough, I would think about 170F or so while cruising would be about right. The oil cooler gets a ram air effect while in motion and keeps the temperatures down. I use the OEM specified 0.9 bar radiator cap, some use a 1.1 bar which the factory recommended in a service bulletin, but my car runs perefectly well with the lower pressure cap. When your car is cold and not running, open the bleed screw on the rad and let the air out, air in the system can cause a lower temp reading.

150F seems a bit too low, others may want to weigh in on this. If you need a new thermostat, Superformance in the UK has them as a reasonable price. The item is easily accessible to replace, but if your t stat has never been changed, the studs that hold the thermostat cover on can corrode to the cover and make it a bit more of a delicate project to remove the cover and not break a stud.

Regardless, even at the lower temperatures you should still be getting noticable heat from the heater.

Under the dash just above the centre consol, there are three small relays. The one on the left is what controls the heater valve, specifically it grounds the valve. When this relay grounds the valve it causes the valve to move to its heat position (ie. drops a plunger in the valve which diverts coolant through the heater core), when the console temperature control and a special little computer box located under a metal panel in the passenger footwell tells it to. You can do a simple check of the relay with an ohm meter. The ohms between pin 85 and 86 should read about 80 ohms. The ohms between pins 30 and 87 should be 0 or very close to that. For greater certianty, you can also energize the relay with 12 volts and the 30-87 pin should be infinite resistance. My relay had failed and it showed in the unenergized 85-86 pin resistance being way too high meaning the internal copper winding were shot. This relay cycles on and off a lot to modulate the heat, so wears out more quickly than other relays that would actuate much less frequently. The relay is an odd kind made by Italmec, unavailable new, but there are used ones on ebay and there is also a wiring connector workaround with a bit of fuss to use a readily available relay. I do have a spare OEM relay I would be loath to part with, but also a spare Bosch relay that works with the wiring workaround (and is one that is also used in our main fuse boxes).

Another easy way to check things is as follows: If you reach under the dash on the passenger side, the valve is bolted onto the wheelwell panel area, and has a wire connector on its top. Sitting on the ground with the door open, I can (just) get my hand up there and can disconnect the wire connector. If you do this, then with the car warmed up running your heater should be blowing heat. The valve itself is designed to fail in the always heat position. Since you are not getting heat, the valve solenoid is probably ok. When you disconnect the 12 volt connector, you are causing the plunger which is being held up (no heat) by the voltage, to drop, which should divert coolant to the heater. If it does heat with the wire disconnected, it tells you the problem is in the controls, including the easiest item to deal with being the relay as noted.

I attach some pictures, the first shows you the heater valve under the dash area, the second is the top of the valve where you can see where the wire with the white connector goes to.

There is another aspect to this system on our later model 3.2's. There is a small auxiliary heater pump in the engine bay, you can see it looking down between the coolant tank and the coils, picture also attached, it is right under the coil.

This pump gets the coolant flow to the heater valve. It goes on when you press the console pushbutton to actuate the heater and the temp control on heat. You can test this by having the ignition in accessory position, ie. engine not running, with the heater off, then push the heater button on and you should hear the whirring pump. It should sound smooth and consistent. If you don't hear it, or it is very noisy, the pump has failed. There is a tiny seal inside this pump, and if it leaks you get coolant in the motor part of the pump and it will corrode and fail. I have a spare rebuilt OEM pump, although new ones that are similar to the original but for the wiring harness connection position are available.

There are some other things in the heater valve that could go wrong, the plunger has rubber internals that can perish (rebuild kit available), an internal spring that can weaken, the solenoid that can fail. The controls themselves involves three temperature sensors, the temp potentiometer control on the console, the computer itself and various wiring connections. So lots of bits that make the system work, but generally are not so common failure items.

So, to sunmmarize, if you do the simple relay and heater valve disconnect checks noted, plus confirm your aux pump is working you will probably solve for this with little fuss, or at the least get some better clues where to look next.





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Wow - thanks for the thorough response! I’ll try these steps out and report back.

 

Small update - I bled the thermostat housing which didn’t seem to have much air if any before coolant started coming out. After that I unplugged the electrical connector at the heater valve in the passenger footwell. I found the heater relays under the dash and unplugged and replugged them all - the middle one seemed slightly out vs the others. I plugged the heater connector back in too. Took it for a drive and the heat works again! The water temperature appeared to be in a more ‘normal’ range too.

I tried out the wipers for the first time and they are hilariously slow. I would hate to be caught in the rain with them. Would that be an old grease thing like the window motors? I’ll tear all of the window mechanisms apart at some point to address that. The wipers would be a real hazard if I actually needed them so that would be good to correct. Not sure how to operate the pump or if it just isn’t working. I tried pulling the stalk but nothing happened.

Aside from the minor electrical stuff, it is a really fun car to drive. I want to get it to the point where all the systems are working well, which I know is a function of it being stored for so long.