I had this happen same as this guy on **************** Took the 03, 360 out for a spin today. Car has just about 5K miles. Car ran fine during the drive (about an hour) and no issues. Parked the car in the driveway and let it run for about 15 min before pulling it back into the garage. I was sweeping out the garage while it was running and i heard some noises coming from the car. Went to check it out and found the temp gauge just crossing into the RED. What i heard was the steam coming out of the overflow..... I shut it down, let it cool and looked around. Noticed about 2 gal of antifreeze under the car.... After it cooled for about an hour i restarted it and it sounded fine....i did not refill the overflow yet. Not sure what happened, but ill have to take the body pan off and look around to see whats went wrong. Appreciate any thoughts - maybe the cooling fan did not come on? Blew a hose?? Any advise will be appreciated. I have not heard the fans come on at all during my two month ownership, 2001 360 spider. Also I am getting air conditioning, but no heat. Any advice? If this is a thermostat, can I change this out myself, if so how?
Well I don't idle the car before shutdown, except to put the top up, but it is getting a little colder here in Washington State in the evenings, and I would like some heat when I am driving with the top down. Any suggestions, other than Mr. Helpful in the previous post?
I did, still get a little anti-freeze here and there after driving hard, but nothing like the big spill I had when idling.
I had the same overflow about 9 months ago. Mine was because the antifreeze got some air trapped inside (during shipping of the car - I am guessing). I took it to a local F shop and flushed with new antifreeze (get all the potential air traps out)+ Replaced the overflow tank cap with a new one. All are good since then.
Someone else with more knowledge will chime in here but there is a thermo-resistor (something like that LOL, its green) that is close to the fans on each side. They can burn out an make the fans not work. More than likely your fans didn't come on. With the AC on with no fans, the condensor gets hot and it super-heats the radiator and boils the coolant them causing the overheat. Get your fans checked and see why they aren't coming on. BTW, you will need to bleed your system. Turn the heat on and press the stop button it will turn of the ac compressor. If you get heat then you should have the air out. If you dont have heat it has an air lock and you will probably have to use the bleeder valve located top front center of the engine. Read the owners manual to double check what I said. Good luck!
Burp the cooling system, air is more than likely to be the culprit, I've seen it in two separate 360's.
check the overflow tank cap, look for any sign of leak, you need to replace it once in a while. also check the left and right fan by putting your hand in front of the front wheel. one side goes on first, the other side will go on when temp gets higher. The air con also speed up one side of the fan.
Lots of good info here. I found that after having the system flushed, I had to check the reserve tank in the morning and top off for 2 or 3 days- it's almost like the system had to go through some heat cycles from the car being driven to get any air pockets out...I had no leaks but sometimes I would smell some antifreeze for the first few times driving the car (the car is only driven on the weekends so probably took a few weeks time for it to work out) - almost like some of it was overflowing during driving (air pockes moving through and causing just a bit of overflow that I could smell?) but then settling by the next morning when I checked the level which needed some topping. Now I have no issues and going forward I'll check the first few cold mornings after getting my annual anti-freeze flush. My mechanic knows what he's doing and tops it off correctly when doing the flush- I think the 360 for whatever reason just needs that bit more of topping off after some heat/drive cycles- maybe something to do with the relatively complex plumbing of having a mid-engine and two radiators up front? -Andrew
3rd separate 360 -add mine as well, air pocket(s) pushed temps into the red and huge overflow! Dealership flushed and seems to be fine now.
watch your two temp sensors. Depending on what's wrong, when you actually drive the car, the temp will come down to normal operating temp. In my epxerience this is usually a temp sensor problem, and i've never owned a ferrari that didn't need them replaced.
I was told by my mechanic on hot days or stop and go traffic...to put the AC on, as it engages an extra cooling fan??? which in effect makes the car run cooler!! no idea on this as i have ZERO mechanical ability or knowledge!! but i assume if temp of water or oil got hot enough the fans would kick on automatically...but i guess doing the AC thing would maybe avoid the heat level ever getting that high??
Thanks to everyone for the helpful information. I will have to learn where this "bleeder" valve is. I bought it at Park Place Ltd. in Bellevue, so it probably has the air leak situation, and or the temp valve problem. Won't be driving it much during the winter, so maybe will get a bunch of stuff checked over next spring. Until then, a couple gallons of anti-freeze is no big deal, since I get the stuff at cost.
Just check it the next few mornings after a prior day drive and top off (don't fill it up to the top of the tank of course as that will overflow when it gets hot) and see if that helps.
I'm just a plumber, not a mechanic, but i think if your car is overheating the end result might be a bit more severe/costly than just a couple gals of antifreeze!!
if you've got a heat problem, running the AC won't help you. Your fans should kick on when the water/oil hits a certain temperature. But when you turn on the AC it should automatically kick on the RH fan. (if i remember correctly). Turning on teh AC will just be a test to see whether the systme is working right. Temp sensors on these cars go bad regurlarly. They're usually the culprit of overheat problems. As i mentioned before, i've never had a ferrari that i didn't have to replace the water/oil temp sensors. Hope this helps.
Definitely don't let the car idle for 15 minutes before shutting it down either. The engine bay builds up heat really quickly when not moving. Don't idle it at all, IMO.
you might have to bleed the cooling system and the bleeder screw is on top on thermosta housing, try that and make sure the fan come on and keep a eye on the Temp.gauge
I humbly concur. Don't understand why you would let it sit and idle. I simply pull into the garage and open the rear bonnet when I get back from a spin.
Renew the water filler cap, it may not be keeping the pressure hence the water does not get to the radiator thermostat.
@Markjayw Did you get it repaired, and if so, what was it, I recently had to replace my thermocouple, left the car running 15mins after clearing the engine light, when i noticed my temp was just about to touch the red line of overheating, I quickly shut off my car, saw some coolant under my car coming from the, coming from the little hose at the top of the coolant tank, I tested all my fan fuses and relays, all is good, any help would be greatly appreciated. Nabil
Some reckless/scary comments throughout this thread. Overheating is not good for your expensive motor and a guaranteed way to kill it. Sounds like the OP's fans did not kick in and the system either blew a hose or more likely vented just out of the cap which is a safety device and letting you know something is wrong. Never drive a car that you think may be overheating. Depending where the temp guage sensor is the temp can go down once the coolant has leaked and left it air locked only for the motor to then seize. No need to idle, your just stressing the car and wasting fuel. That used to be for early turbo cars and even then it only needed a minute or so. Take it in to a specialist. I'd assume with an SD2 they can cycle all of the controls to test it out. Don't take the risk.
