Am I Crazy

The failure pattern directly correlates to lack of maintenance. If your coolant has been changed when due then there may well be nothing wrong with it....

 

As rustybits mentions above. Keep an eye on the coolant, change it out yearly and enjoy the car. I wouldn't change it... but if you're that worried about it.. aren't you going to spend that money ANYWAY if the part goes? IF it even goes?

 

It's a pretty personal decision you face. I generally approach maintenance on the basis of fixing what's broken or worn out but otherwise simply providing it with a steady diet of the best fluids money can buy.

I don't think it's worth changing just because it might fail. If you had another reason to have to remove the inlet manifold and you were "in there" anyway I'd be inclined to change but not otherwise. It might never fail and/or it may already have been changed by a previous owner and not included in the service records you have received.

I check my coolant really regularly and you'd notice oil contamination immediately it starts so if you follow that routine you won't go far with a problem.

If you do change, Dave Helmes would advise changing the self-bleeding pipes that return the steam & air mix from the radiators to the reservoir tank. (They're the narrow gauge pipes that connect to the reservoir tank).

 

Alan, think about it... and some techs might chime in here.. but how much extra will it be?
Better, what will the extra clean be? Put detergent in the antifreeze and flush 2-3 times to remove oil from the engine block. Then, removing the antifreeze and oil mix in the transmission. I'd guess and say an extra grand perhaps? So maybe $3000? $3500?

Versus: Never having to replace it during your ownership and having the $2000 in the bank.

 

usually you replace when broken. At least this is what I do. Otherwise you will start to think about engine failure...gearbox failure, F1 pump failure....what will you do? replace the whole thing with new ones before they could break up?

 

Many posts on this subject...I heard of someone who had MUD in their transmission and coolant lines. Took many, many hours at the shop to get the system cleaned...I am sure it depends on the amount of contamination...call Doug at SF motorsports...he recently had a client who's car experienced this failure...I'm thinking the cost was substantially more than 2-3K iirc....

 

I was just punting at a number..

 

slippery slope, where do you stop replacing parts that MAY fail or wear out ?

Yeah a gearbox is not cheap but I think its silly to replace that part now, if you have to get into the maniforld for another reason, that is a valid time to think about replacing the heat exchanger.

 

Sorry but why would you? Each to there own, but if it ain't broke................

Fluids/filters on the other hand, well that's different.

 

Mine went out at 22,000 miles. If you check the coolant reservoir you will
see it mixed with oil. Very sludgy. That's how I caught mine.

 

Maybe consider removing and flushing the exchanger and changing both fluids if you are that concerned about a failure. Then do the fluids yearly as Brian C has mentioned. To replace a non broken part that does not fail normally if routine maintenance is performed seems unnecessary.

 

Question for the pro wrenches here.
Can a functioning heat exchanger be flushed or cleaned ?

 

Good thought. I am curious too. It's not a lot to flush the system every year. This is my chosen path. I think it's like ~$250 IIRC. That's from a Ferrari dealership FWIW.

 

No reason it can't be cleaned. It's just a simple cylinder with some tubes running through the middle of it. The problem isn't a build up of dirt or sludge though, the failure is caused by an electrolytic reaction between the old coolant and the material the cooler is made from. If there are greeny/browny deposits in there the reaction has already started..

 

Oh yeah..

Well if gauging corrosion on the part is the desired goal, then you're measuring flow through the part. If its all corroded and there is diminished flow, then in the first 5 minutes of warmup you should be able to take an infrared thermometer and hold it 1 inch from the rubber on the intake of the exchanger and then at the outflow rubber. If the part is corroded, the differential between the two should be greater than say 5 degrees.

Oh yeah.. the part is inaccessible.

If it goes on mine I'm going to a challenge setup and getting rid of it altogether. It'll get enough heat on warmup from the cats on either side of the transmission.

 

I disagree. The known weak spot is folks who are unwilling (that's the polite term) to flush the coolant at regular intervals, as recommended by techs who have worked on these cars for nearly 15 years.

 

Drive it, Love it, Maintain it....Repeat!

 

If it aint broke.....

Seriously though, when you do start messing around with things that aren't broken I find that when you start to have issues, i wouldn't mess with anything unless I really had to.

John.

 

When mine failed (2003 360 Spider with 30K miles), Sphere Motorsports charged me over $5K to repair. And, I saw all of the work done; not only pulling everything off of the top of the engine to get to the heat exchanger, there were multiple flush/refills of both coolant and gearbox oil until both were clean.

More expensive than a major service.

 

Just curious, because I really don't know the answer, but I have suffered a failure:

Why would flushing the coolant regularly reduce the failure rate of the exchanger? My understanding is that one or more of the tubes in the exchanger crack, probably due to heat stress.

Aha, maybe now I get it... not changing the coolant leads to less heat transfer, which increases heat, which causes the cracking of the tubes?

 

I think its an argument of corrosion in the system with acidic buildup over time with old coolant.

 

Agreed, that seems to be the concensus....but they could just fail right? Anyone do frequent coolant flushes and still have a failure?