Coolant problem

Drove the Dino today in a fund raiser charity event - all was going as planned until some clear smoke came out of the engine bay, and then the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero. Some sort of radiator or rad hose leak. Would anyone know why the OP would drop to 0 - yet all other gauges were showing fine signs, I would have thought the water gauge would have signified this coolant leak?

Any suggestions?
Car is at the mechanic now - I hope it's a minor thing like a faulty hose - though nothing in a Ferrari ever seems to be 'minor'.

 

OP to zero, close by a big puff of clear smoke (which I assume was steam). Don't think a failure of a coolant hose would make OP drop to zero, unless it shorted out the sender, which is a possibility.

Was there a large puddle of coolant under the car when it got towed away?

Kind of hard to tell from here what happened. Let's all hope for something simple, you know, like a repair that doesn't cost more than $5K.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Dave M.

 

Possibly the oil pressure sender got soaked by leaking coolant causing it to fail/malfunction? Or maybe just the wire came off the sender.

Either that or if the OP sender & gauge are working it sounds like you might have lost your oil pump & that might be bad.

I.

 

The bad news is that there are no water conduits near the oil pressure sending unit. Hence, water damage to the transducer is unlikely.

The good news is that there was smoke. Presumably you pulled over before finishing the 200 mile high-speed run. A few revolutions without oil pressure is unlikely to have caused harm.

A head gasket leak would not have led to catastrophic loss of oil-pressure. Only a blown hose at or near the oil pump would do this.

Jim S.

 

Has any work been done on the car recently?

 

I had the car flat bedded to the Ferrari dealer. They put it on the hoist and said there was nothing wrong with it - it simply overheated. Apparently some coolant started spraying - possibly from the overfill rad. and this caused the white steam as it burned on the engine.

Does this make sense?
And how would this affect the Oil Pressure gauge?

 

Congrats on having no damage!

The Pressure sender is between the heads on the top of the engine, above the area of the gearbox on the driver's side. You might want to clean the contacts.

Again Mr. Corbani has had an excellent article about this - check out his thread.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119757
He's got a great index of his articles in a thread somewhere, but the title was a little obscure so I can't find it right now.

Veglia gauges are notorious - I have three Italian cars which use them and I MUST tap them at startup before the oil pressure needle will move from the zero pressure reading. I'd think another likely suspect is the gauge (try tapping it).

 

I'd still have some concerns about the cooling system if the car overheated on a regular drive.

Had you been on a "spirited drive" and then got caught in traffic?

Are your cooling fans functioning properly?

Did you have the cooliong system serviced recently?

Could it need bleeding? Some of the hoses, especially the top one at the thermostat, need to be burped after the system is refilled, otherwise they can trap large air bubbles.

I'd want to get the cooling system check pretty carefully before running off on another bunch of hot highway laps.

DM

 

Another thing to check is if the coolant tank is filled properly. There's a little metal indicator in the tank showing the proper level - the tank should not be filled all the way. I actually saw a new mechanic at the same place you took your car to fill it all the way up.

Though I don't know how this could cause the oil guage to misread.

 

Problem diagnosed fully today - failure at the water pump......

 

How does that account for the oil pressure?

Mark

 

Not a lot of info here. The water pump failed... So water sprayed out? On to the oil pressure sender? Did the fan belt brake and smack the wire connector?

 

I'm not much of an expert on the mechanical aspects of cars, but the water pump failed, so the car began overheating. This made the overflow reservoir boil up, which sprayed some coolant on to the super hot engine....thus producing the infamous white smoke. No damage whatsoever, but of course the ensuing mechanic bill for 5 hours of labour + a new water pump.

Isn't it fun driving old cars?
Luckily this happened within the confines of a city and a flatbed.....

 

And apparently the Oil Pressure gauge went down as without the necessary coolant (or less of it) the oil started having to work overtime, thinned out, and for this reason had to compensate for the lost coolant. The gauge then went wacky.

 

With all due respect, that sounds pretty far-fetched!

 

I dunno. As I said I am make no claims of being a mechanical genius, I only have a decent understanding of the engine and functionality of my car. But the car is back in my hands now with a new water pump and running perfectly again.

 

OK. If that theory is valid, I trust the oil was changed when the pump was changed!!! If the lubricant got so hot (thin) that it essentially rendered "0" pressure, then the oil is now junk. Get rid of it.

However, you mentioned in your initial post that "all the other gauges were showing fine signs...." That would indicate that both the water temp and, more importantly, the oil temp were in a safe range & should have had no effect on the oil pressure.

Having said all of that, I've a question. At what rpm's did your gauge indicate zero oil pressure? If it was at idle, and the oil temp was somewhat high--yet still within limits--then the pressure gauge might have read 'zero.' At least it might have appeared to be zero. I've seen more than one electric gauge in a Ferrari-built machine register zero at idle, yet there was sufficient pressure when checked with a direct-reading gauge. If that's the case, no harm...no foul. The oil's probably fine. If the anemic reading was at any off-idle revs, then I defer to your theory & reiterate my concern about the integrity of the oil. If there's a chance that the oil was compromised, I'd get it changed before you drive the car again.

If I seem to be rambling on, it's late/early. Just remember that oil is relatively cheap, in the big scheme of things. Don't take any chances.
Let me know what ya think.

 

My car's woes happened at the end of a long high speed run on the highway, when traffic got gridlocked. So the engine started smoking at 30 mph and the OP gauge hit Zero when I hit O mph. So basically the gauge did not drop until a few minutes of driving at a decent speed in 2/3 gear as traffic was slowing down. Then when traffic was at a standstill, that's when that gauge dropped to 0 but all others were perfect. I then pulled over minutes later when I finally hit the off-ramp.


The Ferrari dealership said the oil was fine and while always recommending an oil change, said one was not necessary.

Does this all make sense?

 

Sounds like an innocent zero reading. Warm-hot engine, idle RPM, zero pressure. Sounds like every Dino I have driven.

Jim S.

 

I think you're demanding a bit too much information from the Veglia gauge. These gauges have three numerical markings on them and that is probably pushing the resolution.

Do you recall seeing the oil pressure red light? It comes from a separate sensor near the oil filter and would confirm a serious problem. If not, I doubt there is any need for worry.


PS - I've had a Maserati Bora for over 18 years and a similar Veglia gauge causes new owners much consternation. The gauge typically reads low numbers and owners freak when they see it (rightly so, it is shocking). In every case the actual oil pressure is fine, the red indicator light does not illuminate and the engines perform without low oil catastrophe.

 

No lights went on.

 

Veglia is Italian for "Very Vague".

 

So true. I was watching a movie with friends when the actor gets in a vintage Ferrari, starts the motor, thumps the gauge and drives off. As I was laughing I was asked if it was a real Ferrari. My answer was, "either it is or the actor owns one". Couldn't imagine that being written into the script.

 

Yup. Thanks for the added info. Now that we have the Big Picture, I've two questions for you. After you noticed the smoke & subsequent Z-O-P at idle, did the gauge reflect an increase in pressure as the revs came back up? Was the needle operating reasonably close to its normal-for-your-car range at all but idle-rpm? Even though you weren't zinging it by then, you were probably seeing 2-3 thousand rpm "at a decent speed in 2/3 gear" before you were able to shut 'er down. There should have been a rough indication of appropriate oil pressure for those engine speeds.

As has been pointed out by our fellow Veglia-readers, the accuracy of these instruments/senders leaves a bit/lot to be desired. (I've also seen them work pretty well, with or without fine-tuning them.) So, we are generally not looking for numbers as much as a range of movement.

And, according to the Ferrari "Dino 246GT Repair & Workshop Manual," the low oil pressure light comes on below .5-.8 Kg/cm2, A.K.A. 7-11 PSI. That would place the needle pretty close to the left side of the cage even on a finely calibrated gauge. Your most recent response was "No lights went on." That's a good thing; you apparently had adequate pressure at idle.

Morry, it never hurts to err on the side of caution with our magnificent machines. Although I bend the wrenches on my Dino, as I have on previously owned V-8 & V-12 cavallo, I know all too well that they can be a 'tad' expensive to maintain, even for the routine stuff. We need to drive the hell out of 'em, all the while remembering to do anything we can as operators to prevent a minor glitch from becoming a major fiscal event. You obviously were right on top of this and minimized the impact. Good Show!

 

Perhaps it is time for an oil analysis - take a sample and send it in.
I will reveal if there is any water or antifreeze (or any other goodies) in the oil.