DIY Maintenance 458 thread.

Pre-mixed (ready-to-use) is so lame. Who can't add distilled water and have twice the coolant product? The pre-mix is 1/2 the product at the full cost.

 

Availability

 

Forget about it, go to Prestone. Not the diluted stuff, dilute your own with filtered water. Per my service manager at Ferrari, GlycoShell is not available and to use Prestone instead.

 

I used Peak Euro Pink and diluted it myself.

 

Porsche coolant works fine.

 

Got to say, very impressed with the technology in anti freeze these days. The Prestone is good for 10 years or 100,000 miles. I'm sure the Peak is strong as well.

 

Wow, awesome thread! I wish some of you guys were in my area!

 

A few things that I would like to add:

- Remove the round sound cover off of the high pressure fuel pumps, that will give you more room to work

- I would suggest paying the extra money to buy the OEM "pretty box" Ferrari spark plugs. Not completely necessary, but I did a lot of research, and there are slight differences. The difference is that Ferrari requires a tighter tolerance and more stringent testing, so before they get the pretty box, the performance is tested. If they are not up to spec, they get the regular NGK box. For the plugs that don't pass a standard "lower standard" generic factory test, they fail and are not sold. I'm not sure if that makes any noticeable, or important difference, but it's a Ferrari! We should use what's designed for the car. In addition, I can't get a confirmation even from their tech support, but they alluded to the fact that sometimes, OEM will specify slight tweaks. (So, maybe a slight adjustment on gap, etc. but unknown in this case) And since it's an Eldor system that uses the spark plug resistance figure to adjust timing on the car, that value may also be tweaked.

- I also highly recommend these adjustable pry bars! The first time I did the job and used my bare hands, and rope etc. my hands were numb for 3 days! With the proper angle set on the head of the pry bar, and a rag to protect the heads, finish, coils etc. the job becomes much easier! without the pry bars, I was fighting for hours!
Here is the kit I purchased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M0O1MU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

- According to the shop manual put a drop of motor oil on the threads before installing. And make sure that they are torqued properly (It's less than you would think. I don't remember the exact#, but I'm thinking around 8 ft/lbs)

 

Yes it's amazing to work on your own car, and also to save money! A great feeling. Unfortunately, there aren't many of us that do that.
Good job with the plugs!