Radiator Problem

Has any replaced the left radiator located behind the front bumper grill? There is a puddle of antifreeze on the tray behind the carbon fiber wing. Also, there's antifreeze underneath the radiator. I checked the back hose and no leak. The radiator bottom is all rusty which leads me to believe it's the radiator and not a leaky hose.

Does anyone know if the bumper has to be removed to replace radiator?
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I believe you need to remove the front bumper to gain access to the radiator.
Since you suspect there is a leak, have you noticed ay change in the water temp gauge reading ?
Is there a warning light on the dash display.

 

Yes, the bumper needs to come off. What year is your car?

 

No change in the temperature gauge readings and no warning lights. There appears to be two radiator hose connections and the bottom one is not leaking the I would think is the top one was leaking there would be fluid further towards the front. Either case the bumper has to come off to replace or check the front hose that's hidden.

My car is a 2010. Any recommendations for antifreeze and refill process to remove air bubbles?

I'll tackle this sometime this week or weekend.

Thanks!

 

I use Pentafrost NF, it is what my dealer recommended.

There is an excellent thread in this forum for changing the fluid; it includes how to bleed the system.

 

Tell me that radiator is not your standard pinch tank to core setup ? t looks like it might be if I'm looking at the radiator and of course I'm afraid to ask the price of it LOL !!!

 

The cost of new radiator wasn't that bad. Best price and delivery was from Scuderia Parts and can have it in two days.

https://www.scuderiacarparts.com/part/24197/ferrari/262837/lh-water-radiator.html

My 458 is a 2010. Going to remove bumper Wednesday or Thursday and tackle problem.

THANKS FOR EVERYONES REPLY!

Going to search thread for refilling and bleeding system.

 

That's not all that bad a price . I'm in domestic dealership repair and felt so vindicated looking at your pics knowing that you can put any price on a car you want but they are STILL a bunch of parts bolted together . LOL!!!! Also glad to see you wrenching on your ride !

 

Remember to read the package. Sometimes one needs to dilute and other times it is already diluted and ready to pour.

 

Have fun!
Everything on these cars are tricky. Especially if you are doing it for the first time and without a shop manual.

 

Do the hoses and clamps with your order and any underbody missing bolts/items that the dealer may have lost along the way. Good luck.

 

Good point!

First time I did on (on my 360) there was only the concentrate available in my area; when I did it on the 458 I could only get the diluted. So I marked the leftover jugs with blue masking tape.

 

I recently took off the bumper and had a few mis-matched screws and order them last week. Good idea on new clamps, I hadn't thought of replacing them. New radiator will now arrive on Monday. I'll post photos and information on the work.

What happened to the good old days where you just put the yellow container of Prestone Antifreeze in every car. Now I'll have different antifreeze for four different cars.

 

Finally got around to removing the bumper again. Yes, again. I removed the bumper a few weeks ago to install carbon fiber wings. I didn't see any leak at that time. I confirmed the leak was caused by the radiator. After removing everything I ran the car and then drip, drip, drip. I had to remove the luggage compartment tub in order to get to a couple bolts holding the condenser. I had to remove the condenser to get to the radiator. Below are a couple photos. The radiator got delayed and scheduled to arrive on Monday.
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New radiator on truck out for delivery today.

 

Nice work! Had a radiator leak in my California. It was a tiny puncture. No puddle which caught my eye. But the display showed the temp going past where it normally sat. The car never went into the red. Ferrari replaced it and covered it.

 

Arrived
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Pressure test your old unit just to see where it lets go. Ferrari, like most OEMs, use plastic tanks.

 

My TR had copper tanks ….. but they can leak too …..

 

Can you please make a big write-up for us Darryl, as this may happen to other readers here too …. + lots of photos ….

 

For sure. Before plastic they all eventually leaked as well. Plastic saves weight and is cheap but I don't like them for many reasons especially since you cant braze them.

 

Had to work this morning doing some dog training, but got the radiator installed. tested for leaks and all good. Didn’t install bumper, I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll write something to wrap this thread up soon. Thanks for everyone’s comments.

Tried. Long day training. Video of my dog training work:

 

Update:

I first noticed a small puddle of antifreeze under my car after the last few short drives. I wiped the floor and had another puddle about 4”x4”. I didn’t have any overheating problems but was afraid it would get worse after a long. I called around and the best price I found was with Scuderia Parts for $1,110 including shipping. Good time to order new hoses and clamps.

In order to replace the radiator you have to remove the front bumper, luggage compartment and plastic trim surrounding the luggage compartment, front tires, and wheel wells. When you remove the bumper you will have to disconnect the wiper fluid hose and tape the hose up so you don’t lose all the fluid.

There are a couple hidden bolts holding the bumper in the wheel well and under the wire mess as shown in photos 1 and 2.

In order to remove the luggage compartment you will need to disconnect light and cable release shown in photo 3.

Since you have to remove the bumper if you ever thought about replacing your bumper wings with carbon fiber ones this would be a good opportunity. In photo 4 you will see the six bolts you have to remove in order to replace the bumper wings with carbon fiber ones.

You will have to separate the condenser from the radiator as shown in photo 5 and 6.

Reinstalling the bumper is pretty straight forward, just make sure you place the bumper over the clips shown in photo 7.

To make sure you don’t have an air pocket which will cause overheating, I used Air Lift kit shown in photos 8 and 9. There’s YouTube videos online showing how to use the Air Lift kit at



Hard to say how many hours it took because I worked on the car a little over six days. If I were to guess it took me from start to finish about 6 to 7 hours. Note that I did some extra cleaning while the car was apart, I labeled and bagged the screws to make it easy to install the correct screws. In addition, I replaced the leather strap in the luggage compartment.

After installing the new radiator I used Air Lift kit and get air out of the system and add antifreeze. Also, I ran the car to test for leaks before reinstalling bumper. Everything went well. I went on a drive today with the Ferrari Owners Group (FOG) and no leaks!


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First of all thanks for the nice write-up. Good job on getting your radiator sorted out.

I have a quick question. Was it difficult to align your bumper?

The reason I ask is that my service center had to remove my bumper in order to do some radiator work. When they refitted the bumper, there is an uneven gap with the hood and the edge of the hood on one side is no longer flush with the top surface of the the bumper. The edge of the hood rides about 1/4 inch higher one one side compared to the other side.

I am planning to bring the car back to the service center again.