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In 1980, did purchasers of new 308s have to return to the dealer every few weeks/months for "bleeding?" System leak or wrong radiator cap will produce the need to bleed.
Don’t have any experience with that - owned this car for five years and it is yet to run Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Wow, that is one Gorgeous engine Kiwiokie! All the 308GTB/S had a bleeder screw at the thermostat housing, but I guess the GT4 does not. It is a pretty low pressure system, so drilling and tapping is probably okay if the casting is not too thin. However if you do, you will need to mill a flat surface 90 degrees to your threads to seal against (either a copper washer for the regular bleed screw, or an o-ring for this automatic bleeder). I wonder if the housing from a GTB/GTS could be swapped in?
The bleeder screw is top RHS of the radiator. Relative height of the expansion tank , engine stat housing, and rad ......it’s easy to bleed it all through . It’s not a one hit thing , after replacing coolant, do it once , then the next few trips out .Parking up hill on a incline for the 3rd , 4 th bleed trip is helpful . You need to get the temp up before btw .
Adding these guys and the radiator foam has certainly helped me run cooler in 100 degree heat in Phoenix. The gauge climbs at a standstill towards 222.5 degrees and then jumps back a little. I think given where I live I should probably get a 180 degree switch for the radiator fans
No argument there, Portofino. But for all of twenty-five dollars, the auto-bleeder makes it such that you don't need to park on the incline and do a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th bleed. Additionally, when some stubborn bubble dislodges from your heater controls next month, or you have a micro leak of compression across your head gasket (I learned there is no such thing as a perfectly sealing head gasket) this will take care of it automatically. I, for one, think these things are wonderful on my 308s.
I think it’s the t-stat that will determine the running temperature of the engine. If you change the fan switch you might want to change the t-stat as well if your goal is to lower the running temperature of the engine.
The Tstat will determine the running temp of the cooling system AS LONG AS the cooling system has more capacity to remove heat than the engine does to produce it - as any properly designed cooling system does. Of course, age and other factors can reduce the efficiency of the system, raising temperatures above the specification even though the Tstat is fully open.
In addition the other side of the equation needs to be considered as well. The engine must be allowed to come up to the proper running temperature in colder weather. Personally I wouldn’t mess with what the original designers decided was the correct running temperature which by the way shouldn’t be trusted by the car’s gauge.