| Author | Message | ||
| Michael N. (Man90tr)
Member Username: Man90tr Post Number: 720 Registered: 4-2001 |
Jeff, Your headers sounded great the other day  , I wouldn't worry !!!! Nice high rpm takeoff down the street. I felt obliged to do the same in the TR a minute later. Michael | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 607 Registered: 11-2001 |
sorry - didn't mean to stress anybody out :-) i just want to be as educated as possible. the good/bad news is that we can afford it. so it could be worse ;-) doody. | ||
| Jeff (Jeff_m)
New member Username: Jeff_m Post Number: 21 Registered: 9-2002 |
Doody, You are starting to freak me out, I am starting to convince myself I hear noises coming from the headers!!! | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 603 Registered: 11-2001 |
great data, art & tom. so it sounds like there's a 7 year federal warranty and CA happens to have an 8 year warranty. presumably your car was outside the federal seven year warranty, art? from a cost perspective, it sounds like there's no way to attack this issue cheaply in preventitive mode. you could replace the cats and valve guides, but in the end that'll cost the same order of magnitude as just waiting for the header failure. less, but not 10X by any stretch. interesting. wildly educational. thanks again everybody. hope others find this useful. doody. | ||
| arthur chambers (Art355)
Member Username: Art355 Post Number: 793 Registered: 6-2001 |
Doody: I just had this problem. FNA wouldn't fix under warranty. If the 355 had been sold originally in California, there would have been an eight year warranty, but it wasn't and I had to replace them. There are quite a few alternatives: Tubi, original new parts, or rebuilt items. The tubi costa about 4k for both. The original items cost 2800 per side, and you'll only have to buy what you need. QVLondon rebuilds them, and that is the way I went. They use a thicker guage material, and claim that their rebuilds won't crack. The fit was good, as was the quality of the work. As to the cause of the cracking, etc. I think that it is the cats that causes the problems. The cats go away, and plug up (that rattle you hear may be the pieces of the cats rattling around) the exhuast, everthing gets real hot, and next thing you know, you need new manifolds. My cats had to be replaced also, and I was lucky enough that FNA replaced them. The cats used to be about 1500 each, now they have new part numbers, and they cost 3800 EACH!!!! There are alternatives such as having your cats rebuilt (Cost about 500 each, plus labor to remove and reinstall), but the basic problem remains: they don't last. I'd check the cats and make sure they aren't going away, and then replace the manifolds, and the cats (if needed). I'd try to get the dealer to warranty them. My 355 is a 96. Art | ||
| Tom Bakowsky (Tbakowsky)
New member Username: Tbakowsky Post Number: 45 Registered: 9-2002 |
The new replacement header that is showen in the pic turns the same brassy colour once install on the car and has been run for a couple of days. As far as I know ferrari(ansa whoa makes the exhaust) has not updated the manifold with differant metal to prevent this prblem from happening again. As I understand,Ferrari has found that the reason for the exhaust manifolds burning out on the earlier cars was because of crappy valve guides. | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 593 Registered: 11-2001 |
ben - that is excessively helpful. i seem to have the "new" headers. great news. thanks, doody. | ||
| Ben Lobenstein 90 TR (Benjet)
Member Username: Benjet Post Number: 881 Registered: 1-2001 |
While not totally familiar with the problem or the solution I do have a handy diagram! You should be able to inspect your headers, for a change in style. The common problems on some later cars is the rattle coming from either that cats or the bypass pipe. The later models headers should be updated, and you can tell by comparing the smog tubes on top. The major problem was not always with these pipes, but this is the easiest way to tell if they have been updated. Problematic headers are labeled "old", updated "new". Should be pretty straight forward.  Hope this helps. -Ben | ||
| Hans E. Hansen (4re_gt4)
Member Username: 4re_gt4 Post Number: 476 Registered: 4-2002 |
If it ends up being on your own dime, I hear that Tubi has a higher quality replacement. | ||
| Jeff (Jeff_m)
New member Username: Jeff_m Post Number: 19 Registered: 9-2002 |
Does the 7 years go by the production date or the in service date? | ||
| Michael Klein (Malibumk)
New member Username: Malibumk Post Number: 45 Registered: 5-2002 |
Here's some info for Doody: Take a look in your warranty book. It addresses the emmissions warranty for "your' car. But as far as I know it is a 50 state Federal emmissions warranty for 7 years from entry to service date or 70k mi. whichever comes first. All of the exaust is covered. I had a '96 that Ferrari of Dallas replaced one of the cracked headers on at no cost....so it goes beyond CA. They are made from welded Stainless tube, not iron castings like our old Fords. My 97 with 19k miles has never had a crack, but the CA dealer did replace both Cat's under the emissions warranty because the rattled. I've recently been asked by the dealers here to 'keep them in mind' if I have exaust system failures and that they'd be pleased to administer this warranty work. They wouldn't be asking if it was trouble for them. My advice is not to worry about until 6 years and 11 months and then get it to the dealer with any complaints. Hope this helps you relax, Mike. | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 588 Registered: 11-2001 |
greetings all. apologies in advance if some of my questions are on the simplistic side - i'm not much of a mechanical engine expert (but i'm learning!). i live in constant fear of getting the dreaded header cracks the 355s seem to be prone to. these failures have been well-reported here and elsewhere. i know i'm probably just being a worry wart, but although, should it happen, i'm happy i can afford to fix it, i can think of more entertaining ways to spend that kind of money. i'm wondering if anyone can shed some more detail on this. specifically, for starters, i have the following questions: * where do the headers usually fail? in the joints where they merge together (cf: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/engine/headercracks.html ) or is it somewhere else? * the stock headers are "cast"? what are the alternatives and why are they better? * does anyone know for certain what the warranty coverage is on these things? some folks have said there's a federal seven year rule. some folks have said that's only CA. i can only find mention of a federal two year rule, but obliquely. * does anyone have first-hand experience on how FNA has dealt with this and whether they covered problems, and if so, how old the vehicle was? thanks. doody. |