argh... chronic overheating... help....

The mis fire you are seeing may be a result of the Temp switch that goes into the catch tank... it sends a signal to the FI to richen or lean out the mixture.... once it gets warm it evens out the mixture... good news is they are cheap - like $20 at Ted Rutlands.... and easy to swap out.

I still say you will love the car much more once your radiator is functioning properly.... I would just go for a recore... have them test it first ... if it holds pressure then you are ok.... but my gut says your radiator is either clogging up or rusted out.... in colorado with all the salt of winter on the roads... I vote for rust... saline is just in the air from all the salt used over winter...

IT is possible to be driving your car in really hot temps with out pegging the temps.

 

You *might* still have a cooling capacity issue but it doesn't look too bad except that with a working Thermostat the temp really should not be yo-yoing about quite so much I think.

A couple of things to check are:

What's the temperature on the gauge when the fans cuts in? They shoudn't be running constantly.

When the car is warm, what happens if you leave it sitting at idle? The temp should rise & then fall again as the fans cut in. It should fall far enough so that the fans turn off & then the temp will start to rise again till the fans come on again - and repeat ad-infinitum. What high & low temperatures are you seeing if you let it cycle like this?

Also check the connection at the temp sender - they can get corroded & affect the gauge reading. The sender is in the V of the engine.

Somebody (DGS I think) posted up a good routine for pressure bleeding the cooling system on 3x8s not so long ago.

If you have a working cooling system then outside temperature really shouldn't affect the thing. The ability of air at 80 or 90 degrees to take heat out of a radiator at nearly 200 degrees is pretty much the same as air at 50 degrees. Maybe at 50 its a little better because its a bit denser, bit the difference is very, very marginal. Indeed your system should work properly right up to 110 degrees F plus. If it doesn't then its not working right & you need to get it fixed (accepting the fact that 308 cooling systems can be a bit marginal and the air is a bit thinner up in the mountains).

If the system is working right the temperature gauge really should not move much except in slow traffic/at idle where it should climb so that the fans come on & then fall again. If you are stretching its legs you should see more movement out of the oil temp than you do on the water temp.


I.

 

Correct. The thermostat should close before the temperature could go as low as the first mark. It actually sounds to me like you have a bad thermostat AND a clogged radiator. I had the rad re-cored on the Mondial 2 months ago and it cost me all of $350. The shop said that rodding an ancient radiator is risky because they are fragile and you might damage it. Worst case is that it springs a leak and you have to pull it again and re-core. But the re-cored rad has a newer internals that are more efficient and it looks stock.

This is a cheap repair on a simple system (water pump, thermostat, cap, hoses and a radiator....not rocket science). Just give it a once over, replace all the likely wear items and you are good to gofor 20 years.

Birdman

P.S. There is a comprehensive bleed procedure on my website. Click the link below.

 

Contact info please? I should have mine done, that rod job worried me since it was done.

 

James,
Now that the weather is getting cooler, your temp gauge is likely to show less temp anyway. For some reason, all 3 of my 308's and 2 328's just show less temp in winter even though everything is working properly. Drive it for a while. If everything works well, then further money may be a waste. New owners often get concerned about temp movements because they are used to standard car gauges where the needle stays dead center all the time. Howwver, on normal cars, the gauge is supposed to stay dead center unless the temp gets really hot, or really cold so that people won't obsess about minor movements.

Dave

 

Cooling Issues---Whew!!!
Hey all,

My Ferrari guru, EUGENIO, advised me to pour two containers of this product into Rachel's expansion tank (keeping the final level below mid point of the tank). I hear that it's a favorite temperature control product for many racers. Well, what can I say - as it's the end of August and it's 105 degrees here in Burbank, CA--------- my top is up-----my air is on-----and I'm driving in normal town type stop and go traffic--------190 degrees TOPS------

BTW, Rachel is a 1992 Mondial t Cab, Valeo Equipped--------and is a dream come true.

Cheers, Hank
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You can't use water wetter year round in Colorado - there is no anti freeze protection.

 

Birdman's fuseblocks and replacing ALL of the relays ($8 ea at Rockauto.com) has eliminated electrical problems from my 308qv.

 

James, do you have your heater on high heat full fan when you are bleeding your coolant system?

How much trouble would it be to swap your two cooling fans from left to right side to see if the same side was sluggish (current/voltage problem) or if the problem fan moved (i.e. bad fan motor)?

 

Sounds like a good idea, but if the problem is voltage/current, even a new fan will be slow (this is why it makes sense to test before buying new parts). Also, you probably need to pressure test your cooling system. Having so much air in there may indicate an air leak.