348 Servicing and belt intervals

Ferrari currently recommends 3 years, or 30k miles whatever comes first.

Everyone else on the internet has their own opinions on the subject.

 

Ferrari's latest official stand is as Daniel says. 3 years or 30,000 miles.

For me it's 50,000 miles or 5 years. I will be changing my belt later this year as I'm at 5 year mark.

If you want to know more just run a search of the archives and you will get LOADS of threads on the subject.

 

Just to add to what Daniel said... These cars are often driven hard. If you drive your car hard then I would suggest every 3 years. If you do mostly cruises you could probably get by with the old 5 year schedule...IMO.. Now let the flood gate of opinions open... LOL...

 

Personally, I'd go for a fluid change every year or so, and the major with the belts and waterpump every 5 years or so.
BT

 

+1 Altho i'll never hit 50K in 5 years.... so its every 5 years for me to do a major... 3.5 years to go!

 

My car had always had its belt changed from new, EVERY 3 years. I have all the paperwork to back that up.

Anyways................that was 2 years ago.

Cam belt is still in there, is 5 years old this September and has around 5000 miles on it. Whether or not I do it this year is another story.

 

The cam belts are pretty much made of the same construction as modern tires. If you lose a belt you need an engine rebuild, if you lose a tire at 130 you may lose your life. With that said I don't hear near as many people giving advice on changing tires every 2-3 years no matter what the miles, unless they were dry rotted, not likely on a garaged Ferrari. The cam belt is a modern rubber construction and with good car storage and normal running frequency should easily give you five years of performance. Don't forget that dealer services are an income stream, and the recomended service intervals are adjusted accordingly. Just my opinion.

 

Unless you drive your car like a maniac, anything less than 7 years is insane. I've owned 3 Ferraris, and they all had their FIRST major as follows:

1982 308 GTSi - @ 21 years old and 27,000 miles.
1990 348 TS - @ 15 years old and 28,000 miles.
1990 348 TS - @ 17 years old and 23,000 miles.


Either I was stupid lucky, or Ferrari is feeding their service shops with this paranoia.

Proceed as you wish.

p.s. - Every time you drop that engine out and start taking things apart, you run a legitimate risk that you will replace GOOD working parts with FAULTY parts. Or something doesn't quite get put back correctly. Do a little archive search on this - examples are aplenty. So the first 200 miles after your service, you HOLD YOUR BREATH.

 

IMO It has more to do with how often the car is used not how hard it is driven, if it is left to sit for long periods then I would be replacing the belt more frequently than a car that is used very regularly. When sitting the belt is under pressure from the tensioners and is run through some tight curves, if left in this position for extended periods then it will change the rubber's memory, for example if you removed the belt after a year of sitting without running the motor, sit the belt on the work bench and it will retain the curves from the tensioners and gears.

Drive your car regularly and service it when the time is due, for me that will be fluids every year and belts every 3-4 years.

Anyone seen that wooden F50?

 

I have heard that the belt change frequency for a 308/328 is 2 years. Perhaps you could verify that in the 308 section. That may be the source of the 2 year recommendation. Its an easy and inexpensive operation on those cars so why not. Not so for a 348.

FYI - I did mine at 5 years 5000 miles. Belt was ~OK but tensioners were just about all done. Glad I did it.

 

How often do you drive 130 mph? If you have a cam belt failure at idle, your valves can still be toast.

Also, tires seem to be very differently constructed, so I'm not sure the analogy is all that valid. And, as we know, failures in the belt path can be from factors other than a rubber belt shredding/snapping.

Five years might be fine -- it's all about how much risk you feel like taking. I like my 328 to be very tight and leak-free, so I'm probably doing the next major at the 3 year mark to fix a cam o-ring leak.

Nope, same Ferrari TSB applies to 308/328 -- 3 years or 30K miles, although the engine stays in for a belt change on a 308/328 so it is less expensive.

 

LOL, I've only been on F-Chat for 15 months but this must the the 7th belt thread that I have seen...

Every 2 years, no 7 years, 5 years, 3 years is ok...

Kai

 

Honda's will go 60K miles regardless of time. Go figure.

This has been beaten to death, but my 348 went 7 years and belts that came off looked new. I bought a 308 from an authorized dealer in '99 that had 13 years on the belts and they made no mention (even after minor service) that it was due.

 

The flip side of that comment is that by not servicing you run a legitimate risk of leaving in a faulty part, or you don't correct something that has worked itself loose, etc...

6 and 1/2 dozen of the other IMO..... Moral of the story..... Service your car at "your level" of risk tollerance or financial capability. Or whichever comes first....

 

BTW.... My Honda went 150k miles before I had the timing belt changed. And I drive the living dog sheit out of it... Of course a rebuild would cost me $2-3k... LOL...

 

Yeah, but at least you know that the parts that are in there now are proven.

 

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Ya kind of funny

Since i only get to drive it 8 months out of a year mine will be 5 years so that is 4.3 from now and because I live in Canada with the metric system it's actually 8.6 years..

 

So far I've done it after 2 years and will probably do it again after 1 year, but only because I'm doing some more work on it.

After that it'll be back to every 3 years.

 

Interesting reading - since i got a bit of a hard time on another site about saying if you do low mileage it'd be acceptable to push the belt change out to four years rather than the three that Ferrari recommend.

On a slightly different note, if you were buying a 348 (not that i'm selling mine - it's a keeper) and the independant inspection was A1 but the car had had it's belt changes at 4 year intervals rather than three - would it put you off buying?

 

Not at all as long as it had recently been done before the purchase.

 

I have had my 348 for 18 years and have used the car for everything from track days and hillclimbs to trips to the mall, and I have done majors every 5 years (mainly from fear), and the belt and the tension has been in PERFECT shape each time.

Ferrari is on a revenue generating scheme for the dealers, as well as CYA. My manual says change the belt at 52500 miles, and to 'check' the belt each time it is serviced.

 

Here's the stats on my 348 -

Car delivered 21/01/1992 by Evans Halshaw Ferrari

Annual Service - Evans Halshaw Ferrari 1993

First Cam belt service 26/04/94 at 3826 miles (2 years and a cambelt at 3826 miles ) - Lancaster Ferrari

Annual Service - Lancaster Ferrari - 1995

Second belt service 13/12/1996 at 11795 miles (nearly 3 years) Maranello's

Annual Service - Maranello's - 1997

Annual Service - Maranello's - 1998

Annual Service - Maranello's - 1999

Third belt service 11/09/2000 at 31696 miles (nearly four years - this owner really used the car - 5k per year) but paid the price with a bill from Westover Sports Cars at over £7000

Annual Service - Meridian Modena Ferrari- 2001

Fourth cam belt service 22/07/02 at 33828 miles (just two years) by Meridian Modena Ferrari

Annual Service - Meridian Modena Ferrari - 2003

Annual Service - Meridian Modena Ferrari - 2004

Annual Service - Foskers Ferrari - 2005

Fifth cam belt service 24/05/06 at 37239 miles (four years ) by Foskers Ferrari

Annual Service - Foskers Ferrari - 2007

Annual Service - 2008 - Now Due

Should i be concerned about the car previously going four years before a belt change?