She arrived, got wet instantly!

Oh man Jurgen! sorry to hear this on your first legal road trip! I got my license plates also this week and my speedo sensor broke down. I guess that is the charm of old car beauties

Regarding your header tank. On many mondials they are corroded not sure if the coolant then also is filled with water. Normally I would say no as coolant systems cannot corrode if you use proper coolant liqiud, but on my search for a Mondial more then have of the Mondials had a corroded header tank from the inside...

You have a header tank here. There are no new cheaper ones arround. They ship always fast and items intend to be there usually in 3 to 4 days.

Superformance ferrari dino ferrari v6 ferrari v12 specialists 308 246 206 fiat dino 355 328

Hope you get it fixed soon so you can enjoy again!

Rg
MvT

 

Really sorry to hear the unfortunate expansion tank failure, Jurgen. I'm also sorry not to have a duplicate part source, but the tanks are available. Superformance looks like your best bet.

Best of luck getting it fixed soon! At least it's not a situation where there's a difficult problem to diagnose... so hopefully straightforward and a simple fix!

 

Jurgen, sorry to hear the news. Hopefully this will get resolved soon and you'll be back on the road enjoying the car as it was meant to be. The expansion tank will be just one of stories you'll recount of your Ferrari ownership!

Best of luck!

Bill P.

 

That is difficult to say Jurgen. Usually on the belt it says the size (in length). I guess you will not be using it anyway anymore so if the text is worn off you can always cut it and messure the total length.

Regarding your waterpump. I would rebuild it myself with a new waterpump bearing part# 30810030 if you "diy" (do it yourself). Not sure if a mechanic would cost more doing that then a new pump though..

Often I think alternative products better in quality then the original, but I can't say for this one. Most of it is solid so what can go wrong with the 100 GBP one. The bearing is most what can go wrong. I would spend the saved money to replace all the rubber coolant hoses instead They might deceive you from the outside while being a ticking time hose from the inside. This one was how mine was looking.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachments/mondial/1758037d1376822452-what-do-you-think-1989-ferrari-mondial-t-cabriolet-oldhoses.jpg

I do not know the history of this car, although you mentioned it was quite good, but if you are opening her up on that side anyway. I would definately do the cam belts and its tensioners. Unless it already has been done recently.

Hope to see you soon on the road again!

HTH
MvT

 

Did you (or your mechanic) bleed the cooling system. If not, air might be trapped inside causing less efficient cooling.

 

That is awesome! In the end, it's just a car. Don't let it intimidate you!

As long as you feel comfortable doing the work keep on going!

 

Nice work Jurgen. My guess is that you are in the IT business and just like to put your hands in technical stuff

Trickly little washers, aren't they!? one slipped in my air intake!

While you are here check the union of the T joint of your coolant system. #26 on the below pic!.. Mine was all eaten away over the years.

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/userImages/055/Large/055_017.gif

In case the link starts to truncate again:
eurospares co uk/userImages/055/Large/055_017.gif

Mine was looking like this. (It is an aluminum union and it is horror to get it out, but one can manage. If it isn't smooth anymore it will start leaking.. Mine was just a ticking time bomb. If yours is not good and you can't get it out I can help you with it.)

In case you need one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ferrari-308-328-Mondial-Union-water-manifold-106241-/120940302425
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Have you checked the temperatures with a thermo gun? What are temperature readings at thermostat, expansion tank, top/bottom of radiator? Water passes from the top left of the radiator, passes through radiator, and exits at bottom right (if you are facing rear of car). Water temperature should be lower on the right hose at bottom of radiator. My temperature readouts were same at thermostat, expansion tank, and top/top left of radiator. Bottom right of radiator showed lower temperature readout as it should - so radiator was working properly.

I spent quite a bit of money replacing many parts unnecessarily. I rebuilt the water pump, re-cored the radiator, replaced long middle hoses/thermostat/heater hoses/radiator cap, installed new belts and second radiator fan (second fan was optional on Mondial QV), and my mechanic bled system thoroughly. After all of this, car still ran hot, and temperature would reach 3/4 mark at idle when in traffic. Car ran cool only at cruising speeds. After all of these improvements, I had no improvement in temperature readouts.

I finally found the problem almost by accident. I was getting car ready for Mondipalooza in June, and I noticed the primary fan was not turning on. The fuse had tripped and had a burn spot. I installed a new fuse, and as soon as primary fan turned on, it burned out the fuse again. I assumed I had a short or fuse box problem. Then I then turned the fan blade by hand and noticed the fan wobbled and hit the fan shroud causing the fuse to burn out.

In the past, the fan always turned on. It had only recently stopped working causing the fuse to burn out last summer. I assumed for two years the fan was spinning and working properly. I had a slow failing primary fan that did not efficiently cool the radiator and cooling system. And, it finally failed. I purchased another primary fan that was same as the secondary fan, and this resolved my cooling problem.

Now I have a new cooling system, but none of the components I purchased solved the cooling problem. Sometimes it can be a simple item. Replacing the primary fan was much less expensive than replacing the entire cooling system, and it took me two years to resolve the cooling problem.

In summary, do a little homework. When does car run hot? All of the time? At cruising speeds? At idle? Do temperatures readouts increase with higher ambient temperatures? My car ran hot all year if I was in traffic, but readouts were slightly lower in winter months. If cooling system is running properly, fans should NOT turn at cruising speeds- of course this is hard to check when driving. The fans should run only in traffic or slow speeds. If system cools at cruising speeds, I assume water pump and thermostat are working properly. When do your fans turn on? I think my fans turned on when temperatures reached 180-190 degrees.

Hope this helps.

 

Finest food & finest cars! I cannot imagine a better combination!!

My experience with rubber and gaskets is that the prices are almost the same buying replacement or genuine (As far as it is genuine) Gaskets and rubber I actually always buy at the Ferrari dealership since this always fits and having bought replacements a few weeks ago it wasn't always a good fit.

To tell you a secrect this is my best and most used tool ever! My flexible magnetic pick up with light. bolts, nuts, rings and even these tricky little washers, which I can recover from deep and dark places that this engine compartment witholds. I even use it to hold nuts in place to put them back on in not so convenient places.
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Your fans must be hot wired, or the fans bypass the fan switch/sensor at bottom or radiator. The fans should not turn on when you turn ignition on and engine is cold.

Maybe you simply have a clogged coolant line. Keep us posted.

 

Chris is correct, the fans should run when you turn your ignition.

The green sludge indicates that you have Dex-Cool in your system or mixed with Ethyl-Glycol coolant. They should not live together in one system. You need to flush the system and not only one time, but preferable 2 or 3 times as draining is will simply not get all out of the system. (Ask the previous owner what they put in, just so you know)

- Fill it up
- Get the air out using the venting on your termostat house.
- Drive with it for 200 to 500km
- Drain it again.
- Fill it up with new coolant.

btw Dex-Cool you need to replace every 4 to 5 years. I prefer not to use this stuff and I have Ethyl-Glycol coolant. (regular coolant)

 

Nope the cleaner won't stop leaks. It's called "radiator super flush" of Bardahl. There is also "radiator stop leak" that's a seperate product

I would use the bardahl product too for flushing in your case. How much degrees the temp is rising? 90 close to a bit under 100 degrees is fine. (195 Fahrenheit if you still have the US temp in it)

one thing as a quick check.. does your "oil" fan cooler work? Did you ever hear it running?

 

When it stays around these temps it should be fine when driving normal. More sportage or trafic driving the temp goes up 5 to 10 degrees. Personally I would not use the leak stopper. In my opinion this is only for emergency usage If you would have a leak it holds only for a certain amount of time and you still would need to fix your leak. You simply buy time. Not sure if it pollutes the system or not.

HTH
Tijn