1998 550 Maranello "sorting" thread--DIY

Are you talking about these?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

GS, I had to go to the ad on eBay to see what you were talking about, and I see them! My hood doesn't have these. I will say this though...the reason the matting doesn't stay down is because it's glued poorly in one spot. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

So today I began disassembling the Maranello for major.2 I hope to photographically show all of the things that I am inspecting to demonstrate more of what some of my teachers from this forum have told me SHOULD be included in EVERY major.

First photo shows completed hood after adhesive cure. Time will tell if this adhesive will prove better than the OEM solution.

Removing radiator shroud for repainting and inspection of radiators (Photo 2).

Drivers and passenger's engine mounts, which I replaced four years ago (Photos 3 and 4 respectively). It may not be evident in the photos, but the brace pads are still sitting about a half centimeter above the mount flange. I will measure underneath (something I demonstrated earlier in this thread) to see how much the mounts have sunken in four years.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

As I started looking around underneath the car, I noticed that if I sat and looked at the coolant radiator from the backside forward (looking towards the front of the car) just to the left of the drain spout there was a bit of coolant sitting on the edge of the flange. It was not evident from where it was coming, but I knew it hadn't leaked from the hoses above or from the flange itself. (Photo 1)

I then used a Mity-Vac pressurization checker to pressurize the coolant tank to 25psi (after topping off the tank with H20)
Doing this confirms that I have a leak from the radiator. All that came out at 25psi was that one run and formed droplet of coolant. It didn't even drip to the floor, just that one drop. (Photo 2)

As much as I HATE the idea of pulling the radiator for such a small leak, I hate the idea of putting stop leak in my Ferrari even more. Maybe a few of the experts can lend me an opinion as to whether or not I should even pay attention to this? Remember this is a cold system at 25psi. The car has never required a top-up of coolant or displayed any overheat behavior.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

So it appears that consensus is to pull the radiator for repair/replacement, so here I go. It appears that our excellent friend Sark just posted a thread on this, thank you Sark! I will however, add to the Sark thread the following edit: the AC radiator/PS loop assembly in MY car is held to the water/oil radiator by FOUR screws. The two obvious ones on the top and left side, one on the bottom, and one on the side between the outer edge of the oil cooler and the AC radiator. The last two are accessible only from below the vehicle.

Radiator draining, yields 5 liters exactly. (Photo 1)
Block draining (just passenger side) yields another 5 liters (Photo 2)
Radiator out with attached oil cooler, leaving behind AC radiator and PS coil(Photo 3)

I saved posting photos of the drainage of the oil cooler, because, well, that's so EASY.

Overnight I will cogitate on where the other 9 liters of alleged cooling system capacity are (WSM states 19l). Can there be 9 liters in the heater core and the drivers side of the block? If there is maybe the customary skipping of the driver's side block drain is NOT a good thing???

In addition, I will take opinions on whether or not our radiators should be repaired by the local billybob shop or if it should be sent off someplace as exotic as the vehicle is?
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Dave, it's a real shame. I put a mini boroscope into the radiator and it is completely virgin inside. Looks new. Of course I can't get down to the part where the leak is.

 

So this evening I will post my one positive contribution to society. Finally, a definitive answer as to whether or not the DRIVER's side block drain on the 550 Maranello NEEDS to be opened at coolant change. Does the drivers side of the block communicate with the passenger side with regards to coolant flow, and more importantly, drainage?

I have wondered about this question, searched far and wide, and NEVER gotten a definitive answer. So, I will do an experiment with an n=1.

When I first purchased my vehicle, it had been previously serviced by my friends at Bradan, and they like to use the BMW "blue" coolant in the vehicle. At the first coolant change I did, it was indeed blue. Since then, I have used Zerex G-05, which is a definite green color. IF the block passages indeed do not communicate adequately, and there is inadequate drainage, upon draining my drivers side drain I should get at least SOME blue coolant. I postulated that this was ridiculous and that there is probably no need to break your neck trying to get to that drain.

I drained my car's radiator and passenger side block drain yesterday as posted earlier. Today I removed the entire airbox tubing assembly up to the throttle body, removed the ignition coil, and the secondary air injection hoses that connect to the exhaust manifold. Because our cars utilize two 3:1 exhaust manifolds, if I peered through the crack between the manifolds from above I could see the drain, offset of course.
I assembled a 6mm hex socket connected to a flexible 90 degree 1/4 inch adaptor, and then that was extended out 2 feet or so with socket extensions. Using that apparatus, I was able to get the socket into the plug (Photo 1)

Turning the socket broke the drain plug loose and I slowly rotated it with the goal of keeping the plug threaded but loose enough to allow any fluid to drain. Out came fluid. (Photo 2)

However, I got greedy. If it flowed slowly at one point, maybe if I loosened it just a little bit more it would flow better while still staying threaded. To prove the point of "the enemy of good is better" the plug eventually popped out completely and fell on the floor.

As I swore, I looked down and noticed that what came out of the block drain was a VERY small amount of fluid. 10 oz or so maybe? And what came out was definitely green, with not a hint of blue. (Photo 3).

I feel that this proves that drainage of the passenger block drain and radiator drain are enough, and that yearly coolant changes with regular use of the heater in the vehicle to circulate what is left in the core is probably enough to ensure regular fluid replacement.

Now I am off to figure out how the hell I'm going to rethread that drainplug without removing the damn cat. Grrr.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login