My car currently has 74k miles.
In 1995 at 49k miles, Michael Sheehan (european auto service) completely rebuilt the engine from the bare, dipped block. No deposits. All of the hoses on the car were replaced at the time. They also completely rebuilt the radiator. I have photographs of all of this, close to 100 of them.
I have every receipt for service for the car since then, and the coolant has been flushed and replaced numerous times by Ferrari specialists (one in North Carolina, and the other in Cincinnati -- the gent in Cinci is a close friend). I know it has had phosphate-free coolant since 2000 in Cincinnati; I seriously doubt the Ferrari specialist in NC would have put the wrong stuff in.
When I remove the expansion tank cap and wipe my finger around the inside, I don't feel any deposits. The most I have ever been able to reveal with a light has shown clean insides. I have installed a modern, higher pressure expansion tank cap to see if it changed anything -- it didn't.
My 308 does not overheat. Never did. I've been in a few traffic jams in 90+F degree weather, and it was fine. The owner in North Carolina had no issues on the Ferrari Club track days he took the car to. I am quite confident that my 308's cooling system is working properly. I passed on a bunch of typically neglected 308s in the 2-3 years I was looking and bought one that had $140k USD lavished on it in the past 20k miles by fastidious owners at experienced specialists. I was familiar with this car for about two years before I bought it. And when I did buy it, I spent about eight hours inspecting and test driving it (I have been servicing sports cars part time for years).
As I said, my 308 does not overheat. Never did. I've been in a few traffic jams in 90+F degree weather, and it was fine. . . But so have two of my friends (one is the shop owner) with black 2-valve injected 308s. Their cooling systems are well-maintained, too. So we are talking about three black 2Vi 308s that don't overheat in stop-and-go traffic jams in 90+F weather. As I said before, my car has SPAL fans. Again, I'm not impressed with them. Yes, they work -- indeed, they do the job. Like the two stock 308s, mine doesn't overheat. Maybe they do move more air; I don't know. Maybe they move more air and that makes a difference for people with 30-year-old radiators and deposits in their engine blocks. But my belief is that the stock cooling system is adequate (remember, 308s never had a reputation for overheating in the States), and the particular model of SPAL fans installed on my car make don't really make a difference if your coolant is flowing freely. They are adequate, just like the original Lucas fans, but I don't see a reason to switch to them, as the stock system works fine.
You're right, chaz -- it is hard work around here! I have to write a big long post to defend an informed comment I made! As I was writing my earlier post in the thread, I said to myself that someone would probably chime in and question the rest of my cooling system. The most tiring thing to me about web forums is having to qualify what I write because someone who doesn't know me thinks I must be a total noob. :wall:
:smiley:
