Yearly service

Bad thing.

 

how often have you been replacing the timing belts?

 

I personally think skipping a year on the super low mileage cars is not a bad thing, skipping 2 years might be bad. If the car is driven regularly, yearly should be done.

As I understand it there are 2 reasons for the yearly. 1. The gearbox sits between the catalytic converters and gets super hot, heat breaks down the oil, so changing it often is a good thing. 2. In the coolant are corrosion inhibitors and they break down with age, the corrosion builds up in the gearbox heat exchanger and the tubes leak and allow coolant into the gearbox, really bad thing. I ASSUME the corrosion inhibitors will last a few years on a car that is barely driven but if you drive regularly, the heat cycles has to effect it.

Of course the other reason is just that the motor oil builds up acids from combustion and can harm the bearings but that would have to awfully dirty oil.

I change my oil, both engine and gearbox every 6,000 miles, that is about every 9 months and do a full annual every other oil change so every 1 1/2 year I get all the fluids changed.

If you are looking to buy a car that has not had regular fluid changes, make sure its all done now and enjoy the car that is about all you can do, or walk... but I would not worry about the cycle your car has had, its been changed a few times and while not normal, I would not call it abuse.

 

It would definitely be a must for me to have an annual done at least every 12-14 months, regardless of miles. Even though full synthetic oil is used, oil is the life blood of engines. Especially with the high revving engines, you don't want the oil breaking down. Plus these cars need to be looked at at least once a year to make sure they are in tip top shape.

If someone is not doing it, my first assumption would be the fear of cost. Then you wonder what else was skip or not attended to because of cost.

Deiger

 

My 360 has all its service stamps (including for annual services), with belts changed at the correct intervals.

 

Not changing the fluids yearly in your car is like wearing the same pair of underwear for a month. It CAN be done... but it shouldn't largely for the reasons of oxidants and acids that accumulate in the fluids. If you've skipped a year you'll probably be OK IMHO... I wouldn't go much farther than that.

If it's not in the book as a stamp, do they have receipts for prior services done that might no have been stamped in the book?

 

Stamps in the warranty booklet indicating service aren't that important if the seller can otherwise document regular maintenance via invoices.

Yes, it's important for these cars to have periodic belt changes (every 3 years or longer, depending on your level of risk tolerance) and annual fluid change services, even if not driven much. The cats cook the transmission oil, breaking it down. Oil additive packages needed to deal with moisture and acids that form from low use chemically give themselves up and go away (the synthetic oil itself actually lasts longer). Ferrari decided to run the coolant into a heat exchanger with the transmission oil, so corrosion in the cooling system is very, very bad, as it could break down the walls between the two very different fluids, and if that happens... it's not good. Changing the coolant every year may be overkill, but again, the danger is chemical processes breaking down the corrosion inhibitors, which happens over time regardless of mileage. Annual fluid change services just shouldn't be skipped

 

In 2004 there were not too many of any manufacturers that logged prior maintenance via the on-board data log. Mercedes has been doing that for a while now, as have a few other select makes. But no... The OBC does not log maint data on our ten year old cars.

Its a special Ferrari. But not cutting edge data technology.

 

I do fluid changes every year while putting on 1500 miles. Seems silly not to.

 

Just did my annual service after putting 3K miles on her. Doesn't make sense not to...

 

My dad was one of those old time, common sense mechanics, and when I bought my first car in 1971 (a Mustang with a 289, & factory 4 barrel, 4 speed car), he told me:" the ONLY thing cheap on a car, is oil, grease, and filters, and when you neglect those 3 items, and have to start replacing mechanical parts, then you will spend real money". Good advice then, and good advice now.

 

Very good advise

 

One possible exception. I didn't hold my couple of 8 cyls long enough to have it come up so don't know if they have the same issue, but in doing the major on my 612 I was counseled by the Mgr of the service dept at FoW that the one thing that MUST be done annually for MY safety is actually a brake bleed. For some reason, that brake system tends to gum up and CAN lose effectiveness catastrophically if not serviced. He said if you do nothing else each year, which would be bad, but if you do nothing else, bleed the brakes.

Bottom line is if you're going to keep any of these cars through a service interval, you'll get a better price at resale on a well sorted vehicle. There is no reason to avoid the maintenance and they deserve it. If you can afford a Ferrari, you can afford the annual. Care about your car. If the car is already showing a history of neglect, continuing to perform only bare essential maintenance is a sure way to watch your car's resale value drop toward DFL.

 

Just because there aren't stamps in the book doesn't mean it wasn't serviced. I don't think mine has any stamps, but I know I just had it serviced. Missing a year here or there is not a big deal. Going three or more years without any fluids getting changed is a bad sign, though.

 

I highly recommend complete fluid changes on a yearly basis. The cost of this compared to replacing the heat exchanger or ABS pump, etc is piece of mind and a savings.