i would like to know how many Miles or Km i have to change the Timing Belt in 612?
Every five years or 30,000 miles/50,000 kms, whichever comes first. In your warranty/maintenenace schedule.
In Europe the schedule appears to be different - cam belt replacement advised at 18k miles (30k km) or 3 years, whichever sooner. Does anyone know why? Can't think of any logical reason why belts need to be changed more regularly for Europe spec cars.
No, should be the same in Europe. Ferrari introduced new Kevlar belts in 2002 on the 575M and the 612 has the same belts and engine with manifolding differences. Here is the US bulletin on the 575 and 612. Your dealer should have something similar, except it seems most dealers have not done a good job on keeping the bulletins. This is FNA's translation of the bulletin from Maranello. Note is spells out the 50,000 kms for Euro Ferraris. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great info, Taz. Thanks. However, I feel much of this has to do with how you drive the car. If your very hard on it and track it, probably every 3 years would be better for a major. This often comes up with the TRs and Boxers, which require the dreaded engine-out major. The costs of those major services are so ridiculous to the point where many replace their belts closer to 8-10 years for just highway miles (no hard stuff or track). If your paying close to 10K for every major, the risk of potential engine failure (30K ?) is not so bad.
Thank you for the clarification Taz. As you said, it seems not all dealers are on board with this, and go by the schedule in the service booklet with the car. My '05 612 has already had two routine belt changes, and still on 23k miles
Understand that belts would eventually degrade if driven hard, but guessing that most cars would not achieve the recommended mileage guidelines and have belts changed based on a 3 or 5 yr schedule. Out of curiosity, does kevlar actually degrade over time or are these belts made from some kind of rubber/kevlar compound? Has anyone experienced a failure of the kevlar belt inside (or outside) the recommended change schedule?
Adam, cls- Three year belt changes on a 575M or a 612 with less than 30,000 miles from the last change is just throwing money down the drain, regardless of how it is driven. If a dealer is saying three years for these two V12s, I would not let them touch my Ferrari because they obviously are not keeping current on Ferrari tech bulletins. Those are Kevlar belts and as long as the tensioner pulleys/bearings are changed at the same time, not a problem to have them last 5 years. Ferrari went to considerable effort in this case to extend an expensive service procedure by updating to a much tougher belt. Kind of silly to circumvent it just because the dealer did not keep current on tech bulletins. All the V8 guys grumble incessantly about 3 year belt changes. Feel lucky ours have a 5 year recommendation.
Taz, totally agree. I discussed changing belts with Carrs, who are a well respected dealer in the UK, about changing belts at this year's service (mine have 4 years on them) and they were clear that the interval is 5 years. So major expense will be next year, not this...
Nick- Not too bad if it is a lock and swap, but more if the cams need degreeing and she needs resealing up top. On the 575Ms and 612s, cam timing marks are scored on the backs of the cams (different from the assembly marks on the front of the cams). You need a mirror to see them, but on mine they were spot on after degreeing the cams.
The rubber gets hard, just like a tire. As it hardens it is more susceptible to FOD which is a real danger. It will get hard enough given time to shear teeth off in cases where a newer belt would not. That is why I get a laugh every time someone here says they took off the old belts and they look perfect. Its a little like saying I have a 98 degree temp so my heart is obviously perfect. I know plenty of dead people who looked perfect the day before.
Not saying it's correct, but 3 dealers have told me 3 years for the 612 belts. Here's one dealer reply from a service manager, others have more definitively stated 3 years. "In regards to the belt service, the belts we done on this car in January of 2011 and require changing every 3-5 years. "
I always wonder whether the Ferrari belts are of inferior quality, compared e.g. to the belts of the good old Porsche 928 V8. Factory instructions for the 928 were to change every 80,000 km or 8 years, if I recall that correctly. And this was one single belt of about amazing 2 meters circumference (with a weird bimetallic element at a spanner roll, for compensation of thermal expansion).
cls- Why take their word for it? How about looking it up in the manuals that came with the car? The Superamerica and 612 manuals clearly state a change interval of 5 years. How about naming the three dealers who say 3 years so we can avoid them? Should say something like this. How many pieces of documentation do you need before you believe 5 years instead of hearsay? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Like I said, I'm not saying it's correct, but the dealers will say that. The OP is not the first one to hear it. For me, in order: Auto Gallery (when they were doing warranty F-Car work) said 5 years was in the manual but 3 years is recommended. Cauley Ferrari, that's where that quote was from and where I bought my 612. Their service manager Joe is also the one who said brake fluid in my car wouldn't go bad if the car was sitting in their showroom so they saw no need to change it before selling it to me. (It was bad.) I have plenty of other reasons why there's no love lost with Cauley. Boardwalk Ferrari, they post here and seem to have good info. I have spoken to their service and they were very polite and helpful. But when they were buying my 612, their salesperson told me 3 years for belts.
cls- Just amazing. I never expect a salesperson to know anything about a Ferrari, but you would think the others would know better. The first bulletin on those Kevlar belts came out in 2002, plenty of time to have learned what was needed. Brake fluid does not absorb water while it is just sitting, eh? Learn something wrong every day. Happy to hear you do know the rest of the story.
