Coolant level 360 and small leak

Anything called "Ferrari Coolant Service" is a joke. Their service schedule for the cooling system and transmission oil is a very direct cause for the heat exchanger failures. Anyone not ignoring Ferraris service schedule for both is a failed heat exchanger waiting to happen.

The service schedule does say to pressure test the system at services but few dealers ever do. As I recall Ferrari does not even supply a tool to facilitate doing it. The dealer service department I ran I had to buy the adaptors from an outside source and every car was tested.

 

AW auto parts has the caps for $39. Anyone deal with them ?

 

I used them once. They had a great price on the alarm module ($255).
Everything went smoothly and the price was great, so I have to say they are good.

 

Thanks for the input. BTW, good deal on the alarm, it is $325 now......

 

I saw that they raised the price almost a year ago (I purchased mine ~15 months ago). It made me wonder if they had "old stock" with old/weak batteries in it? Still works great, so I'm probably ok. If it fails again, and I catch it quick enough before the battery leaks, I may do the surgery that lets me use an external (replaceable) battery.

 

Look like the OEM unless you know different.
Alan

 

Just checked my cap and its shot to pieces! Rubber seal broken and the white plastic cap is hardly being held on

Checked for a replacement and eurospares is quoting a special order item which basically means up to two weeks wait. Am I safe to drive my car during this period at all? It it more important to seal the expansion tank when the pressure builds up or is it more important to allow air in when it cools? Really wanted to use the car this easter weekend.

 

Hi Brian - are the heat exchangers on F430's prone to failure as well? I believe the design is different.

I have my coolant and transaxle oil changed annually in any case as it is cheap insurance.

 

I got mine from Carrier Transicold for $10.00. It's part number 58-04663-00 which is the exact replacement. In the picture, the left one is the old, the right is the new.
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Since we're talking about these caps maybe someone can shed some light on the following. I replaced mine as well last year on my 360 spider, just as a preventative measure. I ordereded the replacement from Eurospares here in the UK, which says something strange: the tank plug (which is the same for a wide range of Ferrari models, from the 550 to the 458) is listed as being superseded by a Maserati part:

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/searchResult_one.asp?M=&Mo=&A=&B=&ID4=&S=145030&SO=1&SB=3&SM=&SMo=&O=10

The original Ferrari part is 145030, the Maserati one is 374030103. I also spoke to Eurospares on the phone and they confirmed it. I ordered the Maserati part and indeed it looks very similar, but it is stamped "0.90" instead of "1.00" of the original, which makes me think it's rated at a lower pressure. Do you think this is a problem?
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Thanks for that information Steve. I'm going to order one.
Alan

 

Didn't we start a sticky thread for parts cross reference? Maybe that was a different section. If not we should and we should add things like this cap to the thread.

 

If you take the cap off you will see that the inside the thank will have two lateral cuts extending about two inches into it, as you add coolant it will come into contact with this slots and it will cause the coolant to take an oval shape, same as adding fluid to older type batteries, which had similar slots cut into it to keep from overfilling. stop filling when you see the above mentioned conditions. just my 2cents worth.

 

easy way to tell if your cap is bad, just keep an eye on your temp gauge ,if the cap is bad the temp will register on the high end of the gauge. the cap is basically a radiator cap need to keep the proper pressure in order to keep the temp at bay. if the pressure goes to high there is not catch tank, it will dump the fluid into the left bottom under tray. just my 2 cents worth.

 

Would be grateful if anyone knows of a cross reference part for here in the UK. Need on badly and all suppliers a quoting me weeks to receive one. I did read somewhere that its the same cap as a Nissan Micra(!) but can't confirm it. Anyone with any insight, please post!

 

You're right. According to the manual, the coolant level should be checked when the engine is cool and the level should be 40mm from the top of the neck. I measured distance from the top of the neck to the bottom of the slot and it came to be about 38mm. Close enough.

 

This is my uneducated guess, so accept it for what it is worth.
1.00 bar is 14.5 PSI which equates to about 220F boiling point of water.
0.90 bar is about 13 PSI which equates to about 205F boiling point of water.
I gathered in the above calculation that you'll be fine if your driving temperature falls within that range.

Is there a physicist in the house that could give us a definitive answer?

 

The Eurospares website says they have the "equivalent" Maserati part in stock - as I said, it's not identical but I've been running it for a year on mine and it seems to be working fine...

 

Boiling point of coolant is higher than the boiling point of water.

 

Try Steve Holdsworth @ Joe Macari. He has 5 deliveries a week from the factory and can get his hands on pretty much any part.

If you really are desperate I think I have a used one on the shelf somewhere - happy to lend it to you until you get a new one. PM me.

 

Thanks Voicey (and London), I might take you up on that offer if I have no luck but will speak to as many people as I can on tuesday first and send you a pm as a last resort. Thanks though. The maserati one is a great tip too. Hopefully I can get one by next weekend at the latest and the weather will stay like this so it doesn't make me feel as bad as it did last week! Thanks again.

 

Great info.

Where specifically did you purchase this?

I tried searching on Google and could not come up with an online source.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Do a FleaBay search.....

 

Thanks. I already did that, but there was only one listed and it was an auction.

I'm looking for an actual supplier that I can order from.

Anyone?