modena 360 timing belts

i have a 1999 360, 33,000 miles service recommends replacing at certain age/miles with only 33,000 miles most cars,trucks never have this issue am i really at risk? the cost,was rumored to be quite pricey

 

There are a million threads about belt replacement but if the cost worries you that much (a) its as nothing compared to the cost of a repair or (b) you can't afford to maintain and therefore to own the car - oh and (c) its not a truck

eg https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/probably-the-longest-timing-belt-life-recorded-in-a-360.525336/#post-144751258

 

One thing you need to look at is not so much the risk factor, but what happens if the belt breaks. For whatever reason, Ferrari still recommends a 3 yr/30k interval on the 360 vs. 5 yr for some other belt driven engines. For the most part, the 360 is easy to work on and it doesn't require a computer for everything you do. However, as some have pointed out, it's not a run of the mill vehicle.

With that in mind, I'll go back to my original statement. It's not how much risk are you at but how much risk are you willing to accept?

A 2003 Toyota 4Runner has a 4.7 DOHC v8 using a timing belt with a recommended change interval of 100k miles. If that engine craters due to a timing belt failure it would set you back $4,140.00 from AutoZone. Likewise, a used 360 engine will run you at minimum $10,000 over that for a used engine likely without any warranty.

Depending on who does the belts on the 360, it could cost anywhere in that range $4k to $14k. every three years or so. The main difference being if the engine is pulled which some places do. I average 5k miles a year on my car so .8 cents to $2.80 per mile over 5000 miles. How many miles do you plan on going per year on average?

 

What??? Belts on a 360 do not require engine out; that was one of the big improvements over the 355. The typical indi cost for belts and tensioners is around $1700 and dealers are about $2500. $4K includes other stuff; if the question is belts let's not intentionally muddy the waters. AND the belts don't usually break as in snap; they usually jump a tooth and that can be because of stretch, tensioner issues, wear on the teeth or teeth breaking off. Tensioners are a known weak point.

I also think you would be lucky to find a decent engine for $10K (unless you meant 4K + 10K, then I agree), consider it $15-20K US. You can probably rebuilt yours for $10K IF the damage is limited to the head; it often is.

 

So, you have a 19 year old 360 with 33K on the clock and it has never been serviced? There are a number of updates and recalls that are probably open, especially the cam variators. If they fail, you are in for quite the bill.

If you can do the work yourself, its pretty inexpensive to do. If not, a couple of thousand should take care of your service. Whoever is paying $4K-$14K for belts is being bent over. The engine doesn't come out to do this. I've done mine twice and it takes about a day.

 

thank you all for your help(except for greyboxer) i drive the car 4 -5 times a year i realize not doing service is risky(i have the money,but see below) my main interest was to get an idea of cost(i heard rumor of engine pull) ive been looking at other cars(not trucks--"grey") solely from the fact that with little to no driving ive now replaced ac compressor,starter(shaft broke!),and am trying to figure out if model is a money pit im tempted by the new evora 400..so $1500-2000? i can "do" an appendix,,but not a "belt(s) lol

 

You have an 18 year old car. Things can go wrong. The fact that you are only driving 3-4X/year is part of the problem. Mechanical things like cars need to be used or they will break. Ferraris seem to definitely work better, the more you use them.

 

Respectfully, if you did your due diligence prior to creating this thread, you might see the wisdom in greyboxers post.
Your lack of understanding of something critical about these cars and that has been written about many, many times, is more concerning than his tone.

Fwiw, I’m in the very 5 year camp. In fairness, when done last year, my mechanic said the parts were looking dodgy, so it was good to not push it any longer. He sends pics of all old parts that he replaces, so I can likely dig them up if anyone wants to see,

 

Easy to do i didnt even pull the seats clamp and swap me and a buddy my cost was around $1400

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

Correct, the design allows the belts to be changed while the engine is still in the car. However, when I was looking into doing mine, one dealer was charging 14k and another dealer was charging 2400 for a lock and swap. The dealer that charged 14k would not confirm if they pulled then engine but when I talked to the other one, they confirmed that the cost they quoted would be about what one would expect to pull an engine. One independent told me they would pull the engine since that is what they do and my mech. told me about 3k including annual.

Cheapest engine assy. on ebay that I found was 14k. So when I said $10k on top of the belt service that included the 4k already quoted.

Haven't spent much time in a Ferrari shop but I've spent plenty of time in other dealers. When the repair is covered under warranty, they usually will find the quickest way to complete a repair since the cost is based on book time. When the customer pays, well that changes things. So if that one dealer can make a convincing reason on why the engine needs to be pulled believe me, there are plenty of people that will buy it.

When I said timing belt failure, I really should have said timing component failure as you are correct. Usually, the failure is the tensioners allowing the belt to jump a tooth which can result in a catastrophic failure. So, even though my 4 year old belts passed the screw driver stretch test when changed, the tensioners did not and the three year interval allowed a full inspection. Also, since this was the first timing belt change under my watch, I wanted to see what was in there and what kind of shape everything was in.