Ferrari 550 Coolant Change
Discussion
For anybody interested i did this yesterday.
Not difficult to carry out as long as you can get underneath the car.
Remove the front undertray.
There are 4 screws at the very front.
3 bolts at the front of each wheel arch in front of the wheels - 10mm spanner
5 Hex bolts on the undertray itself.
There is an air duct on the driver side the directs air towards the belts, this should pull off. Jubilee clip holds it in place.
The drain hole on the radiator is on the passenger side at the bottom - plastic plug. Large flat head screwdriver.
It comes out but is held in place by a plastic "tail" so it wont fall in the bucket.
About 6 litres or so came out of this, although most seemed to end up on me or the floor....
There are then two drain holes on the block itself just below the exhaust manifold. The drivers side you can see and touch, the passenger you can see but not touch as the manifolds are in the way.
Ferrarichat seemed to be of the opinion that once the drivers is undone there is not a huge amount left in the passenger side.
I didnt drain the passenger side.
Refit the plugs and then top it up.
You will need to bleed the system.
Run the car until it starts to show on the temperature gauge, then turn the heater onto full and let the coolant circulate everywhere.
Turn the engine off and open the bleed valve which is on the top of the water pump housing at the front of the engine, where the two black coolant hoses are. 10mm spanner.
It is exactly the same as doing the radiators in the house. It hissed for a bit then coolant came out.
Repeat a couple of times.
Top up the reservoir 6 - 8 cms from the top of the filler neck.
I then took it out and ran it hard for 30 mins with the heater on, then came back one final bleed and only coolant came out.
Refit the undertrays.
I have some photos of the drain plugs which i will try to post up.
Couple of hours in between playing computers.
Not difficult to carry out as long as you can get underneath the car.
Remove the front undertray.
There are 4 screws at the very front.
3 bolts at the front of each wheel arch in front of the wheels - 10mm spanner
5 Hex bolts on the undertray itself.
There is an air duct on the driver side the directs air towards the belts, this should pull off. Jubilee clip holds it in place.
The drain hole on the radiator is on the passenger side at the bottom - plastic plug. Large flat head screwdriver.
It comes out but is held in place by a plastic "tail" so it wont fall in the bucket.
About 6 litres or so came out of this, although most seemed to end up on me or the floor....
There are then two drain holes on the block itself just below the exhaust manifold. The drivers side you can see and touch, the passenger you can see but not touch as the manifolds are in the way.
Ferrarichat seemed to be of the opinion that once the drivers is undone there is not a huge amount left in the passenger side.
I didnt drain the passenger side.
Refit the plugs and then top it up.
You will need to bleed the system.
Run the car until it starts to show on the temperature gauge, then turn the heater onto full and let the coolant circulate everywhere.
Turn the engine off and open the bleed valve which is on the top of the water pump housing at the front of the engine, where the two black coolant hoses are. 10mm spanner.
It is exactly the same as doing the radiators in the house. It hissed for a bit then coolant came out.
Repeat a couple of times.
Top up the reservoir 6 - 8 cms from the top of the filler neck.
I then took it out and ran it hard for 30 mins with the heater on, then came back one final bleed and only coolant came out.
Refit the undertrays.
I have some photos of the drain plugs which i will try to post up.
Couple of hours in between playing computers.
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