What type COOLANT to use for 308 QV?

A few spices are definatly in order for down here. I wonder if instead of antifreeze if we just used some distilled spirits? overflow could be rerouted from dripping on the ground to the passenger compartment....It could be pattented for use in heavy traffic to maintain the drivers spirits!

 

Tex, ya gotta purge the air out!!! Isnt there a stepwise method for this on a 308? I know there is for an Alfa, ant they have all sorts of hills and valleys in their cooling tube system!

 

Hey Stewart, when we going to get together, we live too close not to

Doug

 

Florida, whew, hot!!! Norway is coooooooler!!!!!

man, dont want to beat it to death, but all I use is 50/50 ethylene glycol based/H2O.......got 4 cars, although, no ferrari (yet)

 

I don't think the point is so much coolant as antifreeze. I have a real horror story that occured in 1960 when a certain owner running straight water in his 250GT took a weekend trip to his weekend house in the Alps. Guess what happened that night.

 

And pleeeeeeeeeease, while Im away, behave yourselves....no inciting an arguing about difference between DI and distilled, now(pointing finger, beating brows)!!

 

Don't let ownership stop you from working on a Ferrari, we can lend you one needing belts, hoses, clutch......

 

I hear ya. Sick of looking in the Florida section and everything is Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale this and that.

This weather is been just perfect for driving with the top off (the only way i go unless i get caught in a storm). When the 98 degree days hit i'm swithching back to the z i guess.

Charles.. ckracing lives in town too.

The guy that owns Al's Pizza supposedly has a ferrari too i think a 360 of 430 or something. Never seen him on here though.

 

The wife has been bugging me to get us together and do a Pizza night, just say when.

Doug

Wk 904-996-0450
cell 904-545-1992
hm 904-996-0450

 

Sounds good Doug i'm up for it too.

I usually work weekend days. What part of town? If it's a haul to come out here to the beach i don't mind jumping the ditch to meet a Fchatter.

Say where and i'm there (equipment willing).

 

The early 308s have the air bleed screw at the radiator, later ones have similar at the Tstat housing IIRC....

Sometimes it takes a few passes to get it all out, that's what I meant!

PM sent Doug.....re: Avanti

 

Lots of people up here have boats, something like one boat for every 5 people. And its amazing how many with I/O's, forget to drain them of water in the fall. Ice will push out the sides of the block, bust the head/s, crack open the water manifolds, and split open the outdrive, making the entire drivetrain a lump of scrap. It wouldnt have any trouble doing the same to a Ferrari. In some rare cases, 50/50 mix of antifreeze is still not enough. Thats only good for -34F. While it wont bust anything if it gets colder, slush wont go through the radiator and you'll overheat. Seems crazy at -38F to be overheating, but its happened. So I normally run it richer, about 60% or more by volume. IIRC 70% is good for -72F. Usually they print a freeze protection chart on the back of the antifreeze. I went out to look but I dont seem to have any. But IIRC, 20% should get you down into the teens. 30% would probably get you close to 0F. Also, even a weak solution is usually enough to keep from breaking anything, even if it gets much colder.

But ive never seen 50/50 antifreeze overheat any more than plain water. Ive seen over 250F on a coolant gauge, pulling a small camping trailer out west climbing moutains in 100F plus temps, and it never blew. It might have even hit 260F once or twice.

OTOH, I have owned a few cars from southern states that ran nothing but water. One blew steam, and once the head was off, you could tell it was pretty much junk. The inside of the aluminum head was all corroded and oxidised. There were so many pinholes in the exhaust ports it was like an airstone you use in an aquarium, and entirely a piece of unsalvagable scrap. And thats actually pretty common to find with southern cars. Fresh water doesnt effect the boats so bad, because they run with cooler 140F thermostats, and its constantly flushed through. In a car it just sits in there getting baked. Your car, your choice obviously, but cars ive seen that ran nothing but antifreeze are sure nice and clean inside.

As far as distilled vs DI, all I know is that you DO NOT want to put DI in a model steam train engine. One guy used it in a brand new engine and it destroyed it within a week as the ions in the silver solder and brass were stripped away. In the model steam train community its a big NO NO. Run only distilled.

 

I drive all the way out to the beach from time to time...ha ha. I work at Beach and St johns, live in Mandarin.

Just say when, prefer a day/night with out rain, if the Ferrari gets wet and shrinks, I won't fit in it.

 

LOL....got 'nuf work for now!!! no thanks, hehe

 

Aw, c'mon, man, Im gonna miss my plane, now!!! Another DI/distilled old wives tale, LOL!!! Destroyed the train how, I ask!!! LOL LOL LOL. Too much, ROTFLMAO........

Artvonne, dont buy into this.....we gotta talk......

 

Hay Joe,

Is there any Ferrari activities here in FL that I should know about. There seems to be a real shortage of Ferrari groups here in jacksonville

Doug

 

(Damn, missed the plane, rescheduled for tomorrow...)

Doug, I dont know that much other than once a month, local people get together for "cars and coffee" , Sat mornings at 7 am. Look up area nearest you, or ask around in the Fl forum section. I havnt been at any of them yet, cuz i have no Ferrari car, so I just have coffee at home (chuckle). let me know what you find out. good luck .

 

Thanks, Mike. whew, 106deg!!! You in death valley or something?? Still, here in Tampa area its 90 with wicked humidity (thats the killer)(humidity lowers vapor pressure, and your body can overheat). Current temps in western Norway are about high of 65 deg F at this time....cant wait.

Best way to fight it is to drink plenty of DI water!

 

I emailed Mike Miller with BMW and he didn't have any scientific information to impart, just that his experience with BMW coolant has led him to believe that a 50/50 mix universally is the right thing for all BMW's. No reason's why other than experience. In a warm environment, a higher distilled water/coolant mix would be acceptable, using common sense, or even a water wetter and distilled water mix. A lubricant of acceptable levels is needed and phosphate free(and other minerals free) is needed to prevent corrosion, that is what's most important. Is this correct? It would seem in a warm environment, distilled water is most or equally effective and the only other thing needed is the lubrication that water wetter or antifreeze provides. Is that a reasonable assessment? Obviously different environments have vastly different needs.

Jeff

 

Did you even read what I wrote? People around the world have been building and operating model steam train engines as long as the real ones have existed, almost 200 years! And many are as expensive (some more so) as many Ferrari's, and many of the owners and operators are just as educated, wealthy and anal. Do a search on google under model steam trains, there are lots of forums, blogs, etc. Like I say, I may not be a chemist, but I can read. And if everyone running simular equipment says not to use something, they usually have good reasons.

My understanding is the guy who ruined an engine writes for trade magazines and owns and operates small steam train engines he built from scratch, as well as ones built commercially. My understanding was he operated a brand new commercially built engine on DI water for the sole purpose to see how it would function, etc.. Within a week the sweat solder joints in the boiler began to weep, he claims from the ions in the silver solder being stripped away. He certainly has no vested interest that I am aware of in promoting or discouraging the use of any type of water, as the amounts a model steam engine would use are amazingly small. Now, perhaps pure DI water in a superheated environment reacts differently with surrounding metals, I dont know, I'm simply reporting what I read.

Anyway, laugh at me all you want. I have to much money and time wrapped up in cars and toys to argue the difference over a $.99 gallon of distilled water I can buy anywhere on a Sunday afternoon in Podunk, vs some potentially destructive DI water. There is enough controversial evidence of DI found in a five minute google search to argue against its use, IMHO, to just simply suggest distilled to everyone and leave it at that. Its a freaken car for Gods sake, and cars have ran on normal products and plain old distilled water for the last 6 or 7 decades or more, and many are still around and running just fine. So why does everyone persist in re-inventing the wheel? Personally, I dont feel like experimenting with my Ferrari engine to find out your wrong about DI water. I doubt many others here would either.

50/50 prestone (or simular) and distilled water, changed every four years. It wont overheat, it wont freeze and bust, and it wont allow anything to corrode excessively. Pretty darned simple if you ask me.

 

Agreed, but I would also say to stay away from Dexcool - my PO was running that in my car, and there was probably an inch of reddish-brown sludge in the bottom of my expansion tank, really nasty stuff. Also, previous POs either didn't change the coolant often enough, and/or used tap water. The results of that can be seen in what I found when I pulled my intake manifolds last year.

A friend that runs a Porsche shop suggested that I run the same coolant that Porsche/Audi/VW use - it is made for alloy engines and is non-phosphate. I'll let everyone know how it does if I ever pull my manifolds again...
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Now that is an ugly picture!