Car stalled in the middle of the highway... any ideas?

Sounds like the timing belt snapped. I don't own a 360 but thats exactly what it was like when I was driving my GF's Prelude 20 yrs ago when the timing belt broke.

 

Sounds like ( hopefully ) a CV Joint on one of the axles.

 

If only one broke, car would still want to drive wouldnt it?

I reckon its something inside the gearbox.

Looking forward to hearing the diagnosis next week.

 

This is completely wrong. If the Timing belt broke the engine would not run or would sound like a bucket of bolts rattling back there.

My guess is CV joint/axle but that's just a guess. I think it's unlikely it's a problem in the gearbox itself.

Take it easy until they look at it. There's nothing you can do now but find out what it is.

 

+1

For gods sake what a cruel thing to say to Ferrari owner in his moment of fragility...

I think you will be okay.

 

I am very sorry to hear that Marc!

See you this weekend.

-Jim

 

I hope I am wrong. Let me also clarify that for most cars with timing belts you can have the symptoms you described ('free wheeling" it feels like the car is in neutral, it revs but does not move), and is symptomatic of a timing belt break that did not include valve damage or piston damage. How do I know? As mentioned I have experienced it first hand. In my case the car would rev but cvar would not move-- it was like the car was in neutral. I was lucky and there was no other damage-- just a timing belt replacement. Timing belts breaks do not always involve a bucket of bolts sound/valve damage/engine not running (at least in other cars). My apologies if Fcars are different and my experience can't happen Fcars, I did not mean to give false info. GL.

 

The 360 is a "non-free running engine".

Meaning that if the cam belt/s snapped, the engine would soon come to a grinding halt.

With possibly a lot of bent valves.

 

I apologize, thanks for the corrections/clarifications. I will go back to my hole lol

 

So sorry to hear this, hope she gets back into shape soon. Don't stress out, it's always something money can solve. That's what my mechanic tells me all the time. Hmmm.....

 

Lol, you're right mate.

 

If a timing belt breaks in any engine free wheeling or not the engine will stop running as there is nothing opening and closing the valves.


Now back to the question about a cv joint breaking, if a car has limited slip (no matter the car, engine placement ect) the diff needs resistance in order for the clutches and or gears in the limited slip to mesh allowing power to be transfered. With out resistance (from the tire contacting the ground and resistance feeding back through the wheel, hub, axle, into the limited slip) the clutches/gears of the limited slip open and free spin. Even if one wheel is slipping very badly say like on ice there is still enough resistance for the power to be transferred to the other wheel, when there is a broke component (axle, joint, drive shaft ect) there is zero resistance thus not enough to cause the clutches/gears to transfer the power to the other wheel. This is a likely scenario causing the described symptoms or something in the transmission broke, or an electrical problem maybe even (not that familiar with these F1 transmissions).

 

I really do not think it is your clutch or you could not have shifted your car.
CV joints or the CV joint bolts have the tendency to let go as you apply power, as you described. Best of Luck !

 

This happened with my manual (stick-shift) 360. As the gearboxes are the same apart from the shifting mechanism, my problem was a broken slave cylinder anti-rotation pin guide bracket. If this relatively cheap composite plastic part breaks, the slave cylinder with attached thrust bearing rotates with the pressure plate (constant contact) and when the clutch release on the next shift, the slave cylinder is not able to return to its normal position and the pressure plate remains half operated. The clutch plate then rotates freely resulting in no drive.

All will be revealed when the gearbox is removed.

Good luck!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles Elmani, hope you're back on the road soon.

I'm going for clutch and/or release bearing but really only posting to subscribe and learn the cause in due course.

 

You were so happy its back on the road...You forgot to tell everyone what it was marc..

 

Definitely one of the better outcomes of what this could have been.

 

Thanks for following up and letting us know. I'm glad it worked out.

 

Very good, lucky it was a realitively cheap fix. Thanks for the follow up and I hope you enjoy your Easter weekend also.

 

Glad you found a solution elmani.

I presume this is a relatively unusual failure?