488 tensioner failure

The car had approximately 5600 miles when I purchased it in May 2020 so I put on about 1000 miles on regular service roads. No track days

 

The car was serviced in Fort Lauderdale Florida and then in Atlanta Georgia at dealerships. It was purchased at a Ferrari dealership and serviced at a Ferrari dealership. No I’m not a member of any of those other things.

 

I have posted the repair records for all to see. Every single page has been posted. Nothing has been hidden. I think it’s clear from the repair records that the car was driven only 52 miles before it collapsed on the road. The same belt drive that was replaced became shredded

 

I never I asked for the Goodwill money. They came up with that. I never heard of it before. I did ask why a belt drive would go bad after 52 miles and why I should pay for that.

 

Approximately 1000 miles were put on the car before the service. The car was running perfectly until after the service

 

One person at the dealership said they contacted Ferrari and they weren’t going to cover this under the warranty since it’s not a internally lubricated part and then another person at the dealership said it should be covered since it is internally lubricated. I’ve never seen those part so I don’t know

 

Well now I kinda want this 2yrs for price of one new power warranty...


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I do appreciate those comments and exclamations. I did sit down with the service manager and he explained to me that the tensioner and some type of cam is involved when they replace the belt drive. Therefore it seems logical they are related especially when it happens very soon after the repair. So I would conclude that there was some type of problem during the installation of the belt drive or the original part or parts were defective.
Are there any other options to consider?

Don’t get me wrong. I do like the car. It’s a big upgrade over my GT three and Lambo but I’ve never had these type of issues before. I had a Ferrari 355 before. That was expensive to maintain but never broke down on the road

 

Here's the procedure for the 458 (see attached PDF). I'm gonna guess it's largely a similar setup on the 488 motor.

Here's a close up on the 488 motor, showing the layout of the belts and tensioner stuff. Aside from the alternator being down low, it looks like the same tensioner more or less.

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I've never done the job myself, but usually Ferrari uses a Hertz meter to set their belt tension. I wonder if this method was used on your car or not?

I know from talking to FNA - when I was going to do the timing belts on my 360 myself - they were absolutely over the moon about how important it was that I use this method. I ultimately purchased a Hertz meter from Germany (I think the same one that Ferrari used at the time), which allowed you to measure the belt tension using sonic vibration frequency (much like how you tune violin strings, etc.). As someone who has rebuilt a violin from scratch, I can tell you that using this method for your timing belt has got to yield very exacting results! My violin project used special Japanese made violin strings as I recall and I was able to tune each string to within 1 Hertz of the exact frequency for each of the individual strings.

I would be interested to know the specific Hz frequency the belt was set to, if the technician wrote it down during installation. Also, I'd be curious to know if they used this method to set tension or not or if someone just winged it (see my previous post regarding other people working on your high performance cars

If you check the attached PDF, it shows how to do the job on the 458. The belt route on the 458 is a bit different than the 488, because the alternator sits up high in the motor, whereas on the 488 (pictured) you can see it's off to the right lower side of the block.

My guess is that either the tension was wrong or something wasn't tightened correctly as far as the tensioner and the belt slipped off. I mean who knows. Ferrari isn't using a V belt either, so tension is even more critical than say your run of the mill motor with older style V pulleys (which usually are a lot more forgiving when it comes to tension that isn't exactly perfect). I mean, even belt temperature can play a role here, because belts expand when hot. Case and point, the ECU on the 360 has a window of allowable belt expansion built right into the programming, which allows the computer to recognize camshaft timing changes based on the expansion and contraction of the rubber timing belt due to heat and age, etc.

I don't know if any of this info helps your cause, but it does illustrate, I hope, that modern Ferrari motors are quite sophisticated these days; so you've got to be super aware of what you are doing when working on them.

Ray

 

And I know everyone will sleep a lot easier tonight knowing my U-joints are all back together and the driveshaft is a lot happier. I was able to reduce the maximum driveshaft runout on my pickup truck from .035" clear down to .016" (near the gearbox) and just .004" at the differential - so everything feels a lot smoother and the shift lever is no longer vibrating like crazy on the highway.



Ray

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I read over all the documentation.

It appears the car made it about 50 miles before the belt came off correct? I think given the short distance and close proximity to work being done vs. a failure, it's very respectable that Ferrari of Atlanta has opted to cover things. Regardless of the letter of the law with regard to the power train warranty stuff, I think in the right thing to do here is cut you a break and just get the car back to functioning order without dinging your credit card for additional $$.

Hope it all works out and your 488 is back in business and running 100% again soon

Ray

 

Here is a photo of a TTV8 engine from the other side for better perspective, the tensioner is not
" adjustable " as with the older cars noted above, rather is has constantly adjusting tension depending on engine load.

You will notice the large vertical spring just below the roller portion of the tensioner:

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Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and the photograph. Hopefully I won’t ever have to go through this again. That’s a really nice car that shouldn’t be breaking down. Especially that soon after a service. That’s all I’m saying.

 

Sometimes you end up learning more through failure than success. Try to view it from that standpoint and perhaps there could be some valuable lessons in all this for the future.

Look at the upside.. at least you are a known customer at the dealer now

Ray

 

It’s all good. They stepped up and took care of it. Things happen

 

Now for the positives. It’s a beautiful car and rides extremely well for a sports car. The craftsmanship is excellent. The finishes are superb. The dealership was able to work through the conflict towards a satisfactory resolution. That’s all anyone can ask for.

 

Thank you for sharing the full story and sharing with the forum how it worked out in the end!

Now, look into your local Ferrari Club of America chapter, so that you may meet up with other like minded owners in your area!

S

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond to the situation. Happy new year and onward to some warm days with the top down.

 

The videos have been taken off line. I will find them for you . This is just one case . Actually they bought the car 2012 the claim was put in 2015.

Here if i want to claim like they did you go to a tribunal system like VCAT ( Victorian Civil Administrative tribunal ) present your case as consumer law for warrantee , they will rule and you head of to the ACCC.

Thats where it takes time but they will fully investigate. The idiots at Jeep made the wrong mistake not realizing our laws. Not only did they pay for everything BUT they had to reduce their over priced parts by 50% !!!! Suckers.

Uf Ferrari thinks that their 3 year new car warrantee ends at 3 years they will be rudely awaked especially with only 10,000 kms

FYI i have gone to VCAT once and won and twice threatened to go to VCAT and issue resolved immediately.

Interesting reading if you are ever interested

https://consumerlaw.gov.au/sites/consumer/files/2016/05/0553FT_ACL-guides_Guarantees_web.pdf

Ferrari's are NOT immune to our low.

 

Do you have consumer laws at all ? Protect you when the new item you bought passed its warrantee period ?

 

Ferrari dealer should have been ashamed even to have swiped your credit card. Well lucky they paid for it. Just a hell of an eye opener for anyone BEFORE THE 3 YEAR warrantee is over get the 2 full year warrantee.

Also check your state laws if you have a law like our consumer laws that will protect you regardless if there is any warrantee..