F1 360 Spider. Working on changing fluids starting with the gear oil. Here's a pic of what it looked like. Looks pretty nasty, what do you think? Image Unavailable, Please Login
I agree .. if in doubt send out to be analyzed but looks like a heat exchanger failure ..if so ..fix it ..flush gear box two three times with gear oil or atf and then fill with gearoil and flush one last time
That's what I'm thinking. I don't see any discoloration in the coolant reservoir but I'll drain the coolant and check it. If it's a failing heat exchanger will the coolant get into the engine oil as well?
Sorry I thought you meant me or the OP .. my true apologies ..happy holidays Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk
Yes, Gear oil definitely looks contaminated to me. But I did also ask about the regular engine oil so thanks for responding to that as well. It stands to reason that a failing heat exchanger could cause cross contamination between gear oil and coolant but I wasn't sure if there would be a way for coolant to get into the regular engine oil that way. I guess if there's coolant in the engine oil that would be a bigger problem. I'll change the oil tomorrow. But there are no codes being thrown and the engine sounds fine so I don't expect to find any problems..... I hope.
Looks like a failed heat exchanger. When it gets really bad, the trans oil will float to the top of the coolant resevoir. Replacement can be done by pulling the water pump and going in through the access panel or by pulling the intake manifold. Kinda a pain to get to. I flushed mine by filling it with gear oil, driving it around a bit so it warms up, then draining it, and repeating a few times. This failure happens due to coolant not being changed. There is a coolant pipe in front of the timing cover that I always pull when I look at timing. (Someone told me it doesn't have to be removed to look at timing, but I don't understand how). You may want to check your belts as well, because if the coolant wasn't changed, I doubt the belts were. A well known Ferrari dealer did a "major" on my car that was never done prior to my ownership. My heat exchanger failed and my belts were 20 years old. The two sometimes go hand in hand.
Do you have any empty clear water bottles, the taller the better. Put the oil in them and leave it a few days to settle in a warm room. If its water it will settle out- then buy a new cooler
Thanks for all the advice folks. Looks like I have some work to do ahead of me. The holidays are going to put a crimp in my time now and then I'm off to Hawaii for a bit. I have drained the gear oil and put in fresh mobile1 75w90. Hopefully that will keep the car OK until I get back and can get to work on it. Thanks for the idea of Eurospares. I'll check them out.
There was an aftermarket maker of heat exchangers for these cars. It was American made I think, and far better made than OEM. He originally offered them on eBay but I can’t find any trace at this time. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
