Gearbox tempreture

Sark, the oil circuit for the gearbox is separate from the engine, and I don't think you're going to get much heat into the gearbox by just running the engine. Even in neutral, only the input shaft to the 'box will be turning, but none of the other gears.

If you have the car on a frame lift, go ahead & run it through the gears a few times and see if the 'box doesn't heat up. Obviously you can't do this if it's on a drive-on lift.

Also warn any bystanders not to get near, as the rear wheels will be spinning.......

 

I doubt there is a thermostat for the gearbox oil... but how can the oil travel all the way up to the left wing mounted cooler if there is no check valve on the lines...? Never thought about it before... anyone know this? Taz? Dave? Thanks. I woyld guess a food houre drive is what is needed to get the oil to full working temperature..?


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F456M, the gearbox oil and its cooler are completely separate from the engine oil cooler. The gearbox oil cooler is mounted in the left rear fender well. Sark might be able to get it heated up a bit if his car is on a frame lift and he can start the engine & run it through the gears for awhile, but otherwise he's going to have to drive it and put some load on the system. Have a look at this illustration from Ricambi's site and you'll see what I mean:

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Luckily for us V12 owners, no intercooler using coolant like there is on the 360. On the Maranellos, the vent on the starboard rear fender feeds the oil cooler outside air.

 

Like you said, it is better to warm transmission oil up in order to change it. It gets all the particulate matter into suspension and drains out quicker. If you already have the car on the lift, you can run it for a few minutes to get the particulate matter into suspension and then drain it out. It doesn't really matter that it is not warm, it will just take longer to drain out. You can let it drain out overnight and it will be the same as if you got it hot before draining it.
You never really get out all of the oil during a change anyway, there is always residual oil in the housing/cooler/hoses, which is why it is good to change it at regular intervals before it turns black.

 

Sark- Luckily now our V12s have thermostats or equivalent to control oil cooling in the dry sumps and transaxles. In the olden days, my Daytona did not and it was almost impossible to get the oil temperature up with normal driving in relatively cool weather (no transaxle cooler for the Daytona that I remember). Like our pro said, most important to get everything stirred up and be patient.

 

Sark- I never had any problems with overheating in my three earlier Ferraris, probably helped by the fact they were not very old when I got them. I remember the SOHC Ferraris were not too good about keeping cool in traffic.