Ferrari 488 GTB Engine Overhaul: Coolant in the Oil, Put Right

The car came to us because it kept overheating. The temperature would climb on a drive, and the coolant level kept dropping. It had been topped up more than once, but the coolant just kept disappearing with no obvious puddle on the ground.

That combination, heat plus vanishing coolant with no external leak, is a warning sign on any engine and a serious one on a Ferrari. Coolant that is not leaking onto the floor is usually going somewhere it should not, and on a high-performance V8 the cost of finding out late is very high. The owner wanted a straight answer on what was wrong and what it would take to fix.

We began by dismantling the engine to see what was actually happening inside, rather than guessing from outside. The moment the oil came out, the diagnosis was clear. It was the colour of milk tea, a creamy light brown. That colour means only one thing: coolant has mixed into the engine oil.

So the coolant was not leaking onto the road. It was leaking inside the engine, into the oil. We filmed the milky oil and sent it to the owner so he could see it for himself. From there we traced the path of the internal leak and inspected the parts the contaminated oil had been running through.

We carried out a full engine overhaul.

• Stripped the engine completely so every affected part could be inspected.
• Repaired and replaced the damaged cylinder head and camshaft components.
• Sourced genuine Ferrari parts for the rebuild. The big parts took around a month to reach us.
• Rebuilt the engine over about two weeks once the parts were in.
• Refilled with 8.5 litres of Mobil 1 and tested before handover.

We kept the owner updated with photos at each stage, from the dismantled engine to the genuine parts arriving to the rebuilt engine going back in. The engine overhaul came to around $26,000, and it carries our 3 year or 60,000km warranty. The coolant parts outside the engine were quoted separately so the owner could see exactly what each part of the job covered.

A Ferrari 488 engine overhaul is a major job, and the figure follows the internal damage found. This one came to about $26,000, covering the cylinder head and camshaft work, genuine Ferrari parts and 8.5 litres of Mobil 1, with a 3 year or 60,000km warranty. Coolant parts outside the engine were quoted on top.

What moves the price on an engine like this is how far the damage has spread and which genuine parts are needed. Caught at the first sign of overheating, the bill can be much smaller. Left to run with coolant in the oil, the damage reaches the head and camshaft, and the repair becomes a full overhaul. The single biggest cost saver is acting early, before the internals are affected.

This Ferrari 488 GTB (Engine overhaul) was handled at 1 Car Service, an independent workshop in Sin Ming AutoCity, Singapore. The work is backed by our 3-year, 60,000km warranty. We hold a 4.9★ rating from 1,775+ Google reviews.