[wheelso]

Newbie question. Just collected my first Ferrari, a 550 and have noticed this week the water temperature is only coming up slightly over 40. Oil temp will come up eventually. Air temp is around 7 Celsius. Thinking possible thermostat problem but unsure? Also Check OK light is amber. Help anyone... am I driving too slow. ha ha

[wetpet]

also consider an inaccurate gauge. Nice car, let's see some pics.

[cribbj]

If your radiator fans are cycling, then as Ed (Wetpet) said, it's probably related to the gauge or its sensor, rather than a thermostat problem.

There are three coolant sensors under the intake manifold. Two of them (items 33 in the parts diagram below) serve to turn the radiator fans on/off (very simplistic explanation - the reality is more complicated - see below) and the third one (item 39) is for the coolant temperature gauge. With your symptoms, it sounds like it's the 3rd one which is producing a bogus reading on your gauge. Unfortunately, it's the most expensive one of the three, also.

If I were you I'd pull off the intake manifold and replace that gauge sensor. While the intake is off I'd also do the following work, as it's only a matter of time before it needs doing anyway:

1) Replace the other two coolant sensors - they only cost around $25 USD each, and are known to fail and cause overheating problems.

2) Replace all the coolant hoses under the manifold with Dave Helms' (Scuderia Rampant Innovations) silicone hose kit. Again, the OEM hoses are known to fail frequently (the big one #45 was replaced twice in my car before I bought it).

3) Replace the intake manifold gaskets as they're prone to leak, causing lean running, unstable idle, etc.

I'm currently in a similar situation as you, except my 550 is actually overheating, and most of the work I mentioned above is going to be done as a preventive measure (my car already has Dave Helms' hose kit), as well as pulling the radiator & A/C condenser to clean them. I also purchased a new thermostat, which will go in as well.

Below is a parts breakdown showing the 550's coolant sensors (and here's a link to this page on Ricambi's website: Ferrari Parts, Ferrari Accessories, and Ferrari Performance Products - Ricambi America, Inc.), a schematic and writeup on how the 550's radiator fans & coolant sensors work, and a pic of Dave's silicone hose kit:

[wetpet]

wow cribb. what a response!

[cribbj]

Originally Posted by wetpet

wow cribb. what a response!

Sorry! I can be kinda wordy sometimes, er most of the time.....

Just wanted to save Wheelso the hassle of pulling that intake multiple times, as it's about 4-5 hours to get it off. Might as well pull it once, and replace all the known troublesome parts while it's off.

[wheelso]

Awesome. Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I will get onto it.

[agp22]

Originally Posted by wheelso

Newbie question. Just collected my first Ferrari, a 550 and have noticed this week the water temperature is only coming up slightly over 40. Oil temp will come up eventually. Air temp is around 7 Celsius. Thinking possible thermostat problem but unsure? Also Check OK light is amber. Help anyone... am I driving too slow. ha ha

Hi and welcome to the forum.

have been faced with low water temperatures when driving my 550 sometimes, it turns out there was not enough water in the expansion tank.

But you would then get high temperatures with the car stopped or moving slow and engine idle or close.

If that's the case, then you should should top it up gently and carefully (to avoid overspill) and it should normalize.

But I never got an amber check OK sign as you describe.

Good luck