348 running much hotter than it used to....

Try bleeding the air out of the cooling system first. If air gets in the water pump it will cavitate, because the impeller has nothing to pump, and can cause a hot coolant temperature issue like you are having.

When you bleed the cooling system be sure to do it with your heater turned on, and set to the hottest temperature. This will help insure you don't miss air that could be in the heater core/lines as well.

Give that a try and let us know how it goes.

 

What Ernie said, except I'd add.

1. I think the book says do all that with the expansion tank cap off too. (Not sure why, except that it is itself a pressure release valve)
2. And, when I had the same issue (which bleeding cured) I went for a trial run (when cold) of cracking the bleed nipples open a tad, before re-tightening before I started the engine.
a) There are a bit of a stretch.
b) Being steel onto aluminium there might be corrosion, and I wanted to know that before everything was hot, especially if the unthinkable happened and I snapped one.

I forget which of the two got hotter first , but its fairly logical when you are standing doing it. I tightened them up in turn once there was a good dribble from each, and havent had a temperature issue since.

 

Yes there are only 2 and they are located to the left of the 2 and above the 2 in this photo: http://img.webme.com/pic/m/myferrari/eu23.jpg

 

No offence, but this might be a better photo:

(see the 2 yellow arrows)
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Rightly or wrongly, I did mine one at a time, after it got warm, but before the needle got to "normal"

I cracked it open a bit, made sure there was "flow" and not "bubbles" and then when it flowed I tightened it up fully.

I have honestly no idea if I got all the air out, or what, all I know is that the temp gauge started to fall when I wanted it to, so I called it "job done!"

I cant say it felt like I got a lot of air out, nor did I expect the procedure to work. I'd had no temperature issues before, and then one day I got a wet garage floor. (I'd fired the car up to back it out, then taken a phone call for 5mins and saw the water start to flow out of the overflow) If you'd have asked me for a "gut feel" I'd have said it was a blockage on pipework AFTER the thermostat as symptomatically, it was fine, fine, fine, fine, then suddenly flow out of the overflow, like the stat had opened, which in turn opened a new channel - which was blocked - hence the water found the next easiest path - the overflow. But it wasnt any of that, because as soon as I did the bleeding thing it was all fine, and no issues since. Happy me.

Am sorry I cant remember which one got hotter first, but I focussed on that one first, then the other once that warmed up.


For info, if you suspect its blockages elsewhere in the circuit - its not a big job to jack the rear end up, remove the wheels, and then its only a few self-tappers to remove the inner wheel arches exposing all the radiators and that. Be careful with fingers and fans, but you should be able to feel if areas on the rads arent working.

(Eg.. see photo below, takes about 10mins to get that view.)
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Sorry, should have said, the upper one is the radiator, lower one is the oil cooler (Hilz) , and another 10mins shows you the other rad on the other side.

 

Here is how I bleed mine.

I fill the expantion thank all the way up and cap it shut. I get a long clear vinyl tube and attach to the bottom bleed nipple first (where you have the yellow arrows), and open the bleed nipple. I leave the cap on the expansion tank. Start the car and let it idle. I watch the tube until I see a steady stream of coolant with no air bubbles. Once I don't see air bubbles I close the bleeder. I do the same thing for the top bleed nipple. As a double check, once the car has gotten to full operating temperature, I repeat the process. Be sure that when you do this you have your heater on and set to the hottest temperature. You want to be sure all the air is out of the entire cooling system.

 

My process is similar to Ernie.

I leave the cap off, fill up the tank about 2 inches from the top, then start the car and crack the lower bleed nipple open. To my understanding, the thermostat will recirculate the coolant in the engine until it begins to open, so you have a good 5-10 minutes before anything happens.

Once the thermostat opens, you may see coolant levels drop in the tank (and there is some turbulence) and you see some sputtering out of the nipple. I wait until it is a solid stream, then close it off, add any more coolant as necessary, then repeat the process with the top nipple. Then I close the cap. When it cools, I'll check the level one final time.

BE CAREFUL as the coolant can get hot very quickly in the tank when the thermo opens. Wear eye protection, (steam/splash), and watch the tank to ensure it doesn't get too low and pulls air.

The manual indicates that you should leave 6cm of air at the top of the filler tank, and that your cap should be rated for .9 bar. I suspect this is to provide some compressible "cushion" for expansion in the closed system. If your system was overfilled, and your cap was bad, this might cause some leakage elsewhere?

 

Follow Ernies way of bleeding the system. I had instable temps till I changed the exp. tank cap. The OEM cap is a 1.1 bar cap and so is the new cap. We have a rather small cooling system, so if you loose coolant, your motor will run hotter than normal. When testing my old cap vs, the new one, I found thar my old cap had a weaker spring than the new cap. After installing the new cap, I have no coolant on the garage floor and a perfect motor temperature. .......When talking to our local Ferrari dealer, they said that it's a common problem with old caps.
Bertil

 

Pic of the caps. The new one to the right.
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After reading this again, I don't think you have an air problem. I think your thermostat is bad and not opening all the way, or at all.

- Fans not kicking on. I believe the fan thermocontact is on the fan housing, not the engine. If you aren't pushing coolant to this, the fans will not come on. The dash gauge is fed by the engine coolant temp, not the sensor.

- You aren't cooling at speed. Your temp should drop like a rock if you are moving. In fact, many engines run cool if the thermostat is stuck open.

- You aren't getting any pressure out of the nipples. Again, supports lack of flow outside of engine jacket.

- You seem to be getting too much pressure in the expansion tank, seepage around the hoses. You may have gotten hot enough to push past a hose clamp, the radiator cap, or the thermostat housing gasket.

I'll let others chime in, but that sure makes sense to me. You can pull the thermostat in 45 minutes easy, then test it on your stove. You'll have a definitive answer.

As for bleeding, here's the OFFICIAL method from Ferrari to fill the system, abridged:

1. Pour coolant into the tank until its full.

2. Turn on heater to max temp. Warm up engine until thermostat opens to allow coolant to enter radiator.

3. Add more coolant to top of the tank. Bleed the system through the valves. Top up the tank and close the cap.

4. When cool, check to ensure coolant level is not below (or above) 6 cm from the filler opening. You need an air gap there for expansion prior to opening the cap valve.

 

Thermostat sounds like the culprit to me. I see You long term guys have not mentioned possible head gasket issue. I am still new to the Brotherhood, so clue me in, is the 348 motor bullet proof from overheating and warping the heads?

 

Good shout on the hose from the engine to the expansion tank. Prone to corrosion in that area on top of the block. The fitting can rot away. Pull the hose from the tank end and see if there is any flow there. Thats easiest first.

 

Agreed. This is definitely a known failure point from corrosion. In many cases, the hose will swell and split near the clamp.

You can access it by removing the air filter box and disconnecting a few plugs from the intake plenum. There are several threads posted that show the process.

When mine started leaking, it looked like a major coolant leak on the front of the engine.

 

1. Correct. Only one on the right.
2. Just fans.
3. Only one thermostat.
4. The thermostat housing is on the end of hose 9 in diagram. Part of the faded section of picture.

 

Make sure to search this site for Thermostat replacements. There was allegedly a bad batch of OEM ones that were not opening at the proper temperatures. I purchased one out of a company in Arizona and it was perfect, but I did have to use the original gasket.

Wherever you buy one, I recommend testing it on your stove top with some water and a thermometer to ensure it opens and closes as it should.

 

Correct

No.
The thermostat is mechanical.

There is only one thermostat.

A quick look in the 348 DIY sticky reveals the answer. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/385608-348-thermostat-removal.html