360 Antifreeze Flush

My mechanic advises every two years. Your owners manual should give you the specifications.
Alan

 

Many use the BMW brand concentrate antifreeze, dilute to 50% with distilled water. If you use a Zerex, make sure its phosphate free.. I've heard of some using the G-05.

 

My 360 came with Shell GylcoShell and that's what the owner's manual says to use. It's a long life coolant using an OAT (organic acid technology) formulation. It's purple. I live in Italy and I am unable to source that coolant, but you might be able to.

I use Arexons Rolin Alux Viola (violet), a similar product with very good specifications and especially good corrosion protection . Using the recommended 50/50 mix it protects down to -39C (-38F) which should suit most folks. In theory, you can leave this stuff in nearly forever, but some people say 5 years max. These kinds of modern coolant are nothing like the traditional cheap green stuff Dad used in his 56 Ford.

The recommendation to change every two years is, in my opinion, overkill if you use a top quality long life coolant of the correct type.

If you search this subject you'll find all kinds of misleading information, including some downright bad recommendations. For example, there is a great "how to" on servicing the Ferrari 360 which says NEVER use OAT coolant. But the car comes with OAT coolant from the factory; go figure. Others say you can mix any coolants and others say mix anything of the same color. None of these statements are strictly true. Even the recommendation to "read your owner's manual" is faulty since the Ferrari 360 owners manual doesn't give any recommendation for how often to change coolant, or at least my copy doesn't. In other words, do some careful research before you change your antifreeze.

Remember, your Ferrari cooling system is mostly aluminum, but that doesn't mean you should grab the cheapest stuff on the shelf at the local auto parts store just because it says, "OK for aluminum" on the jug. If you mix the wrong antifreeze or use one with an incorrect corrosion package, bad (read expensive) stuff can happen. Price a replacement radiator for a hint, but to really frighten yourself, price a replacement transmission because your cooling system involves a transmission cooler and when it fails due to corrosion you might fill your tyranny with coolant; not good at all.

Here's a link to some basic anti freeze information:
Antifreeze Facts

 

Where did you source the information that Shell GlycoShell is an OAT coolant? I could not find any reference to it on its data sheet: http://www.corriboil.com/uploads/documents/Glycoshell%20(Pdf).pdf

Also the data sheet says it's blue, not purple...

 

http://www.epc.shell.com/Docs/GPCDOC_X_cbe_24855_key_140002255194_966.pdf

It would appear that Glycoshell long life concentrate is OAT, although it still isn't clear as the data sheet appears to contradict itself.

I understood that the blue glycoshell in the car on delivery is a standard glycol based coolant. I stand to be corrected though and I've topped up with BMW blue glycol based blue coolant with no issues.

I picked this issue up a couple of months ago. I think this is poor of shell to sell an OAT under the glycoshell brand name. Perhaps Oatoshell doesn't have the same ring to it....

EDIT according to wiki and the link on Mozella's reply the OAT is the corrosion inhibitor not the anti-freeze so it can be a 'glycol' OAT coolant....

 

I've got Shell Glyco in mine. Going for 3 year service intervals on coolant.

FWIW, my Fiat came with similar OAT coolant and the service manual specs 100K coolant change intervals.

 

My brother and I do a complete fluids flush on our 360's every year and that includes engine oil, gear oil, power steering, brakes and engine coolant. I need to ask him what coolant we use as I'm not sure . I know it isn't glycoshell... I'm sure some of you may think its overkill, but to me it's preventive maintenance and I have fun doing it with my bro.

 

Nope, not crazy at all....I do this once a year on all my vehicles too

 

I see that the premixed GlycoShell doesn't say one way or the other. But the data sheet for the GlycoShell concentrate, the stuff you dilute with distilled water, says it uses OAT technology. Here's the link:
http://www.epc.shell.com/Docs/GPCDOC_X_cbe_24855_key_140002255194_966.pdf

The stuff in my car when I bought it looked purple to me, but I see now that Shell calls that color blue.

 

Are you guys actually doing the flush yourself at home?

 

Sure, catch it in a big tub and then take it to O'Reilley's or find another place that will take it....

DO NOT DISPOSE OF IT DOWN THE DRAIN!

 

G05 works great and that is what we use in mine. Flush every 2 years or so, although Brian Crall actually prefers annual changes.

Unfortunately, the 360 maintenance schedule does not call for coolant changes at all, which means watch out for used Ferraris where the coolant has had no or infrequent changes. Can do substantial damage to the coolant system and aluminum components.

 

The link I posted is not for premixed GlycoShell, it is for regular GlycoShell, ie a concentrate: "Shell Glycoshell is a concentrated phosphate and nitrite-free, low silicate, anti-freeze, to be mixed with water, for engine cooling systems." (http://www.corriboil.com/uploads/documents/Glycoshell%20(Pdf).pdf)

Although it does not spell it out, this is a strong hint that silicates are the corrosion inhibitor, rather than OAT. From Wikipedia:

"Traditionally, there were two major corrosion inhibitors used in vehicles: silicates and phosphates. American made vehicles traditionally used both silicates and phosphates. European makes contain silicates and other inhibitors, but no phosphates."

Antifreeze - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The link you posted is for Shell GlycoShell Longlife Concentrate, which I believe is a different product from the regular Shell GlycoShell, which is what the 360 uses as standard.

 

How do you flush out the power steering fluid?

 

Well, it's not any easy task as it involves disconnecting the hose which feeds the power steering fluid located underneath the car between the front boot and footwell in the center. It's a messy job, so my bro retrofitted a valve to drain the fluid without undoing hoses and making a mess... He's the engineer in the family... He's got it all documented, just like the servicing of the gear oil filter which normally requires the removal of the rear bumper... You can rest assured that the dealers as well as some indy's don't bother with the removal of the bumper hence the filter never gets cleaned. Look at the pictures of my gear oil filter during one of my spring services.... Never cleaned since the car left the factory. Luckily, no damage was done.... The filter did its job, but it was only a matter of time before that artery clogged up and cause my gearbox to have a stroke ! First pic on the left if the engine oil filter, the one on the right is the gear oil filter and own below is the access my brother made for the gear oil filter. The hole is plugged with a rubber grommet.

With regards to an earlier post , we collect all the fluids in plastic containers and bring them to our local Canadian Tire for disposal.
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Can you tell me your source for Shell Glyco?

Thanks.

 

Can you tell me the coordinates to locate the center of the hole, and the diameter of the hole?

Thanks.

 

Ferrari dealer stocks it. A quick internet search shows you can buy it from places online if you don't have a dealer parts department nearby.

 

Why not remove the bumper when doing the annual anyway? Its fairly simple and easy and this way you get a look at the whole engine area?

 

I have done them all before. Not too hard. I can help if you are Jonesing to do it DIY.

 

You risk damaging paint and you need to be two people to remove and reinstall the bumper which takes almost 2 hours ... Why go through all that when you can make an easy access hole? Besides you do not need to remove the rear bumper to see the complete engine from underneath .

 

Very unlikely, especially since the data sheet your reference says: "hybrid, low-silicate technology". This sounds vaguely similar to HOAT coolants which are similar to OAT formulations but the HOAT coolants contain small amounts of silicates. I'm quite confident that GlycoShell does not use silicates for their primary corrosion inhibiter in same way as the old IAT green stuff that has been around forever. It's not quite clear what's in a bottle of GlycoShell, but it isn't IAT coolant.

I think there is one thing we can agree on; gathering reliable information on coolants is pretty complicated. Manufacturers have semi standardized colors, but that is NOT the same as having a real color standard you can rely on. And one company, Arexons, makes an identical product in two different colors................. sigh!

Shell, and others, warn that the published specifications may not be applicable since they change their formulations from time to time, presumably without changing the name. So the coolant you put in 5 years ago may not be the same one on the shelf today even though the package looks identical............... another sigh.

Different formulations are called by the same name depending on who's making the product and where it's sold. Some of this is because of different regulations here in Europe when compared with those in the USA.

Further confusing the issue is that manufacturers produce different formulations using the same or nearly the same name.

And, for marketing reasons I assume, some companies refer to their corrosion inhibitors by special names to make them sound newer or superior to past formulations rather than call them IAT or OAT or HOAT or PHOAT which would at least give us a hint of what they really are. For instance, what is TOT (total organic technology), OAT or HOAT or something else?

Finally, one of the potentially important aspects of coolants aren't even usually discussed. For example, I had a boat with a John Deere 4.5 liter turbo diesel. It had wet liners and the operating instructions made a big deal out of using special (expensive) Deere coolant and using their special (expensive) testing kit and periodically topping off with a special (expensive) additive. This sounded like a rip off to me until a (non-John Deere) mechanic showed my a liner which suffered cavitation damage from using a coolant without the approved wetting agent. It had a number of tiny holes eroded completely through caused by cavitation. That really got my attention and I decided to stick with the high priced stuff and follow the factory recommendations.

Are the wet liners in the 360 engine subject to cavitation problems? I don't know and perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I use a coolant which significantly exceeds the ASTM D2966 cavitation tests.

 

I have a procedure for coolant flushing; let me know if you want to have a look.