My ex-wife broke the timing belt on an old Volvo 6-cyl engine many years back. She had been having the car serviced at one of those quicky-lube places, never took it to a real mechanic, and never read the owner's manual. It was a high interference engine, and she was on the highway doing about 70 mph when it let go. The manual recommended changing the belt at 30K miles. She had close to 90K on the car when the belt let go, so I guess Volvo built in a bit of a safety margin on their recommended service interval, knowing that people like my ex don't bother reading the manual. Needless to say, she ended up putting a new engine in the car. p.s. The ex tried to get me to pay for it, saying it was my fault because I hadn't told her that the car needed to have the belt changed. When the laughing finally died down several days later, you can imagine what my answer was.
belt route has ZERO to with the life of the belt -none-. What does though is pulley diameter, there is a minimum bend radius the belts internal cords can tolerate before they start to fail. The lower drives on the 3x8 is small, very small and runs right near the limit on the L series belts, hence the short life cycle. Add in time degradation of rubber products exposure to ozone, fuels, oil etc. and viola we've got an est life span. The OEM belt is 25~27mm wide the new belt style I designed around is 29~30mm wide those extra mm help with load strain, also the newer curve linear tooth and it's HTD development will handle more tq and have less lash for better accuracy and longer life. The belt chosen for this project will also tolerate a smaller bend radius then lower drives, it's no longer at the limit. must be some kind of spooky clock that necromancers the belt topic every 5yrs it's the ZOMBIES......
Had that happen to my mother-in-law nearly 20yrs ago, course it was the 740 GLE Turbo OUCH! failed bolt and excess miles, also going down the highway.
" must be some kind of spooky clock that necromancers the belt topic every 5yrs it's the ZOMBIES......" True but as someone pointed out earlier, this one seems mellower, more like a discussion as opposed to the past rant-fests/screaming matches!
There can be other reasons for different interval specifications. For one example - Mazda specifies that the timing belt on the 1990s vintage Miata should be changed every 60K miles - except in California, where the interval is specified at 100K miles. The belt and configuration is identical - but California requires emissions controls and maintenance items, like cat converters, spark plugs and wires, etc. to last for at least 100K miles between service intervals. So, Mazda just changed the California interval for the timing belt to 100K miles. That doesn't mean the belt is good for 100K miles- they never fail before 60K miles, but failures are known in the 90K mile range.
That is funny When mine let go the motor just stopped, like I just turned the key off. Very uneventful. I was going down a hill and was able to coast into a nearby gas station and right into a parking spot - like I had planned it that way! I had no idea what happened and it was after dark so I left it there and went home. The next day I could see what happened in the daylight by peeking through the cover or something, I don't remember now. The first thing I thought about - and I mean the VERY first thing - was the 308.
Sad story, I bought the car about 6 years ago and have 5000 miles on her. I bought my first set of replacement 3 years later, I threw them away 2 years ago and bought a new set. I am about to throw them away and promise my self the next set I will actually put on the car.
In several hundred prior threads on the topic it was explained that the 52,500 figure was due to Ferraris misunderstanding of the US 50,000 mile emission warranty requirement. They believed timing belts were covered....they were not. New threads on the same subject don't bring out more new information as is often the defense for starting them. They just loose much of what is already known.
It would scare you even more if you understood how much work it is to remove heads from a 308 that has not had the heads off for 30 years. I don't even take those jobs any more, just too much trouble and in many cases before you are done the overall job is such a high percentage of the value of the car it is better to just call Ted Rutland and see what he'll give you for it.
Doug, too many cars. I have the same problem. The Lamborghini needs all 14 CV boots replaced. Been that way for a while.
QV heads can get absolutely welded to the head yes, and it requires the engine to come out! Any mechanic familiar with the car can have the engine out and on the ground in 10 hours max. Then rebuild costs of course which you're right can go big and spiral but people seem to be doing it more now then they have in years for these motors. Lots of rebuilds, good rebuilds going on lately regardless of the value of the car.
No kidding. Personally, I just don't get the problem people have with this. You have what it takes to buy the car, you should have a dollar a day to keep it in fresh belts. Among other things... Oh well
90+% by do it yourselfers. A very small percentage of the owners. If you are one of the majority of owners and have to pay for it to be done it is often an ownership ending experience.
It's one of those things with Ferrari ownership and the occasional reasonable price of admission, especially for these old 308 and now 355s where a large amount of them do need a good mechanical once over. With 355s it's of course slightly more terrifying so I have to wonder how long until most 355s for sale are just improperly maintained cars being essentially dumped. I had a spyder offered to me for $35k not long ago by a shop who stated that very thing happened, the owner found out it needed guides and put his hands up and said 'dump it'. I didn't take it, but I know whoever did take it still hasn't done the guides!
"the 52,500 figure was due to Ferraris misunderstanding of the US 50,000 mile emission warranty requirement. They believed timing belts were covered....they were not." LOL... so maybe Ferrari marketing just internally said, "Heck, nobody keeps these cars five years and if they do, they don't drive them much, so let's just tell the Amreicans they're good for 5 years and 52,500 miles." In any case, I've just gone over the 5 years on the belts but have about 40k miles to go to get to the 52.5k miles (or 50)
Factory service bulletins supersede workshop manuals. Which is why they publish service bulletins in the first place when you think about it.
Nothing like a good old cambelt thread to get the blood flowing. Here is the technical bulletin in question. Sounds like all Ferrari V8s to me, "all 8 cylinder Ferrari models (ie 308/328/348/F355/360), independent of the Model Year, must have..." and the rest you know. Hated to muddle things up, but... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for posting that, Taz and dang, you are absolutely right! For some reason I had either forgotten or never realized the bulletin said "all model years." So clearly Ferrari's recommendation applies to any of their V8 motors with cam belts - including my 328! So now instead of saying "I don't think Ferrari's bulletin applies to 3x8s," I have to say, "Although Ferrari's bulletin clearly applies to 3x8s, including my 328, I don't pay any attention to it."
THIS is it, in a nutshell.....they probably won't come off, at this point! I think I'll buy the belts...still have the valves to fret about...glad to seethe both of you posting, you and your brother. Hope all is well..
Brian, Tried calling the other night, you must have been out celebrating! Happy Birthday! BTW, I did sell some of the cars, drove the Shelby on and off the trailer a few weeks ago at a show
