| Author |
Message |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Saturday, January 20, 2001 - 3:20 am: | |
Make sure the keys are out of the ignition. Open the engine lid, look for the cam belt cover to the right and stick your finger under the cover and touch the belt. If it feels greasy, you got leaky seals.
For distributor seals: Keys out of ignition, remove coil wires, remove distributor cap and remove distributors. Check the spline drive on the shaft, the O-ring on the shaft and the well on the cylinder head where the distributor sits. If all is excessively oily, you got leaky seals.
I've never heard of belts getting saturated from oil, but it isn't a good idea to have it sit there. If you don't trust it, schedule an early belt change and while you're in there, replace seals. |
nish
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 6:41 pm: | |
I was told that almost all 328's & other ferrari's have oil leaks. Specially
from distributor & cam seals. Is this true.
Last time the belts were replaced ( 328) in 97 & 30K is due in 2002. I see medium oil leaks. Is it
safe to drive. How do I know whether the oil has
leaked in to the belts |
Bret M
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 6:40 pm: | |
No problem.
All the best,
Bret |
Gary Buffamanti
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 5:52 pm: | |
Bret--thanks so much for the trouble. The color scheme is exactly what I want....maybe I'll call and see if price is negotiable.
Thanks again. |
Bret M
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2001 - 5:19 pm: | |
I talked to one of the guys there (a mechanic that I am friends with) and he said that the thing is A-1. He said that it is really as perfect a 308 he's seen (accept the new ones back in the day). It's really in just about perfect shape. Other than any problems that might arise from it being a 15 year old sports car (which none of us can really avoid), it should be perfectly reliable. I personally like the rosso corsa Ferraris, but I must say that this 308 is quite a bit nicer than mine. The buyer definitely wont be disappointed with it to say the least. The only problem I have with it is the price. I would try and knock them down a little and try to get them to throw in some sort of warranty, etc. or something along these lines. If you don't want to work on it very much, this would be a good one to go with. You might find better deals though getting one cheaper and putting some money into it, but the upside of this one is that it is perfect right from the get go.
Good Luck,
Bret |
Gary Buffamanti
| | Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 8:39 pm: | |
Thanks Brett--appreciate anything you can find out.
Gary B |
Bret M
| | Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 7:51 pm: | |
They have a lot of cars, but I was up there when they were delivering a new 550 so I was in the back lot (where they keep most of the cars) and I vaguely remember seeing a gray 308QV. It looked pretty nice from what I could see. The next time I go up I will check it out. Everything they sell is really high quality stuff, they don't mess around at all. The price is a little high though.
Talk to you later,
Bret |
Gary Buffamanti
| | Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 6:20 pm: | |
For Bret M--
This is going a bit off topic but Wide World of Cars is showing what looks like a very nice Grigio 308QV on their site. Price seems a bit high (?) at $41,500...would you know anything about this car? |
Bret M
| | Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 2:44 pm: | |
I'm 17, 18 in a week. I don't remember much of anything yet. I go up 59 pretty often because I play hockey for my school at Sport O Rama (Monsey, NY). I live just across the border in Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Do you still live around here? |
Mondial Man
| | Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 8:06 am: | |
Spring Valley NY!!! I grew up in Nyack. Are you old enough to remember the Maserati place on Rte 59? I saw A Muira there when I was 8 and the exotic car bug bit me! |
Gary Buffamanti
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 7:25 pm: | |
Good point about trying to find someone to do work on the side. Problem is, in my area (Buffalo, NY) there is nobody that I've been told about who has experience with these cars. Closest would be the dealer in Toronto, and even with the exchange it could be pricey as Bret says. |
Bret M
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 6:38 pm: | |
If you are really good at this stuff (and have the tools) you can do the 30k yourself for a couple hundred dollars and some man hours. I'm good friends with the owner (his daughter goes to school with me) of Wide World of Cars (Ferrari in Spring Valley, NY) so I know all the mechanics there. The one guy does work on the side so that's where I'll be sending any big work I have (major services). I can do all the stuff, but I don't really want to spend a few weeks after shool doing it, and he's been doing it for years so he definitely is better than me.
Try to find someone like him that does work on the side, it will save you greatly. Even though I see him all the time I didn't know he did extra work until another one of my friends (who owns a transmission shop) told me. I guess since he works for Ferrari they might frown upon him taking their business, but as long as he only works for friends they don't seem to care. |
Mondial Man 85 QV Cab.
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 6:08 pm: | |
Buy from a dealer and insist on the 30K service unless it was done VERY recently. They should do this for a lot less than when you just bring your car in. (I didn't do this BTW but I lucked into a great deal) So if you start with a maintained, working car, you start out right. I budgeted $2000 a year on average, meaning it may only be $1000 or less per year 4 years straight than be ready for a 5K hit next year. So be prepared. So far in 2 years I've spent less than $1000 total since it's a perfect car (God will get me now, right?) but I have a 30K coming due and that's maybe $3-5K depending on what they find, so it averages out. How about everyone else out there? This is a good question!!! |
Bret M
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 6:04 pm: | |
If you are mechanically inclined then the maintainance isn't that much, more than a normal car but not anything huge. It seems that stupid things go wrong, like fixing fuses or contacts (ferrari electrical system is almost humorous at times). But how much does it cost to fix a contact (providing that it didn't start a fire and burn your car to the ground)? The whole car was put together by human hands, so likewise it can be taken apart by them (and put back together again in theory). It depends a lot on how good you are with mechanics, you can make it very inexpensive to own if you look for good prices and do your own work. If you aren't that good with mechanics, don't get scared away you'll learn them over time. Mechanics is just the ability to follow a set of steps to remedy a problem, it's a car not a woman, you don't have to be a superhuman to figure it out.
If you plan on sending it to Ferrari for every little problem though, I would suggest that you have deep pockets.
I have found it to be a lot less expensive than everyone (not ferrari owners, but skeptics of a 17 year old getting one) had said it would be. |
Gary Buffamanti
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 4:00 pm: | |
I'll be looking for a 308 come springtime. I realize it depends on the individual car, but I'm wondering how much I should budget for yearly maintenance, including scheduled and the inevitable unscheduled things (short of catastrophic failures) that crop up in older cars.
Thanks all. |
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