Oil in Coolant Overflow Tank

The whole deal with the Getrag DCT is very vague and foggy, I suspect an attempt to dissuade 3rd parties from servicing them.

From what I can tell, there are several kinds of fluids involved with the 2011 car's DCT. These are the wet clutch lubricant which is "Shell DCT F3", (ATF) transmission fluid and gear oil for the actual transmission and differential gears which is GL-5, and then there is also water which is used in one of two possible heat exchanger designs, which took the heat from the lubricants.

There was a small heat exchanger (part 240632) at the front engine area that was only used in chassis assemblies up to ass # 89388. Gear oil (GL-5) was brought to that unit and probably exchanged heat with water from the engine radiator. The small heat exchanger only exchanged heat from the GL-5. I suspect the original design assumed the AFT wouldn't need a cooling circuit. The ATF was also not meant to be replaced as the wet clutches were designed to not require service... but we all know what happened to that idea. Sometime in late 2012, this small heat exchanger was then deleted in favour of a much bigger heat exchanger (part 262811) mounted behind the DCT, probably because it's too big to put up front where the former small unit was. The new unit is only spec'd applicable for ass# 89389 onwards (probably starting with the Cali30) and exchanges heat for both GL-5 and ATF, transferring the heat to water which is then shuffled back/forth across the undercarriage to the engine radiator.

I believe the 2011 Cali uses the small heat exchanger so the engine radiator water circuit is all up front, in the engine compartment. If your water radiator got oil contaminant from the DCT it has to come from inside the small heat exchanger and the oil has to be GL-5, not 5W40 engine oil.

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Of course, please note I'm not a trained Ferrari mechanic and am just another Cali owner so my information is only based on personally researched deductions so make sure you check for yourself before spending time and money to use this information.

 

Ask a qualified mechanic to examine your car and let us learn from your experience.

 

4th gear, the DTC ATF on the 2010-2011 California's is cooled by its own radiator at the front of the car. Look at the parts diagram that you uploaded, and you can see the two pipes, hoses and radiator for the DTC ATF on the lower portion of the diagram.

The engine used in the California is a wet sump motor with no external engine oil hoses or cooler. Instead it uses a heat exchanger located in the center of the V of the engine (under the intake plenum) to warm the engine oil when it is cold, and to cool it off when it is hot.

Your oil in the coolant could be coming from either of these exchangers or a leaking gasket in the engine.

Brian Brown
San Francisco Motorsports

 

Oh well, nothing in that V is easy to get to. Best regards.