who has gone the longest without major service on a 308 or 328? (be honest) | FerrariChat

who has gone the longest without major service on a 308 or 328? (be honest)

Discussion in '308/328' started by Mario Gonzalez, Oct 8, 2004.

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  1. Mario Gonzalez

    Mario Gonzalez Formula 3

    Apr 13, 2004
    1,333
    Out of my mind
    who has gone the longest without changing timing belts, pullies, valve jobs, ect. I guess it would be comforting knowing that these beauties can out last the recomended major service time with REAL numbers...

    mario
     
  2. bwhitney

    bwhitney Guest

    Aug 14, 2004
    51
    Cow Town, NH USA
    Full Name:
    Brad W.
  3. Fan512bbi

    Fan512bbi Two Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Mar 25, 2004
    20,938
    Wales-UK
    Full Name:
    Steve.
    Speedy 308 - 12 years on the same belts in his blue 308.
     
  4. Mike C

    Mike C F1 Veteran
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Aug 3, 2002
    6,081
    Southeast USA
    Full Name:
    Mike Charness
    I'm at 9 years and around 25K miles since the last belt change. I'm due, and will likely have it done before I track the car in the Spring.
     
  5. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,143
    Houston, Texas
    Full Name:
    Bubba
    Well, in Speedy's defense he's only had the car for 5 months!!!! ;)

    But they are 12 years, 4,000 miles old, or young!!!!!! :)
     
  6. MS250

    MS250 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa

    Dec 10, 2003
    26,120
    Full Name:
    Avvocato
    My 86TR had them done in 199o when the last owner bought the car with 30,000km. I bought it in 99 from him at 42,000km and did them within weeks of owing the car in Nov 99.
     
  7. Mario Gonzalez

    Mario Gonzalez Formula 3

    Apr 13, 2004
    1,333
    Out of my mind
    Just as i figured. sounds like the Service Centers have made owners belive that if major service is not done when they say it should be done, your engine will go boom. sounds like a marketing ploy to rake in more cash. Of corse, major service should always be done, but that applies to all cars reguardless of make or model...

    knowing that 328 and 308's can be driven without fear of breaking it like a glass sculpture, is very reassuring. 25000 to 30000 miles between major service acceptable to any car in my oppinion...

    mario
     
  8. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 30, 2003
    17,564
    Savannah
    a friend of mine has a 79 308 gts with 40 something thousand original miles on it. the timing belts were at least 14 years old from the little service records the car had. the fuel pump IS ORIGINAL and the thing still runs and drives. i dont have that kind of luck. the belts were a dried up light gray, but there were no visible cracks. i think 5 years is safe on a car that is drven weekly. tensioners and bearings every other change.
     
  9. ctanner

    ctanner Rookie

    Nov 12, 2003
    17
    Silicon Valley, CA
    Full Name:
    Chris
    A friend of mine has an 89 TR, 25000 miles, with original belts. Unfortunately, I'm not much better as my 348 is a 91 with 19000 miles and also has original belts. Both cars run well, start when asked every time, but we both agree it's time for the service.
     
  10. PaulfromPA

    PaulfromPA Karting

    Mar 3, 2004
    166
    Lancaster, PA
    Full Name:
    Paul Grabowski
    I think the un-glasslike nature of the 308/328 attracts me the most to them as the first ferrari I will ever get someday down the road. It has always seemed rediculous that cars that cost several times more than import and domestic daily drivers have no-where near the realiability of the cheaper vehicles. Reliability seems to follow a bell-curve, pretty cruddy with the cheapest cars, rises to a peak in the 20-50k cars and then starts declining towards the lofty 150k+ supercars.

    Eh, I guess imperfect world, but I just wish one could take an exotic around the country without fear of break-downs. Granted there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. This doesn't squash my love for exotics, however I would love to be able to take a trip like vincent's without fear of breakdown.

    Paul
     
  11. thevirginiadude

    thevirginiadude Karting

    Apr 18, 2004
    63
    Fairfax County, VA

    An idiot I know went 26 years.......it still has not had the major service done, only timing belts and idler bearing. Of course it IS leaking oil now due to being 8 quarts overfilled by him and the fact the seals are 26 years old.

    this is on a 1978 308GTS.
     
  12. ferrarioldman

    ferrarioldman Formula 3
    Professional Ferrari Technician

    Jun 19, 2002
    1,029
    Summerfield, NC
    Full Name:
    Tom Jones
    I just did a major on a 1986 328 with 45,000 miles on it that had gone 20,000 miles in a 10 - 12 year period. I did the previous belt change on it also along with removing a cylinder head and installing some new valves. Let's see, that would have been 1993 or 1994. The teeth on that belt stripped right off. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes not.
     
  13. Husker

    Husker F1 World Champ

    Dec 31, 2003
    11,788
    western hemisphere
    My previous car, a 1982 308 GTSi, went about 19 to 20 years and 27,000 miles before the belt service. The FIRST major on the car occurred in Feb. 01 if I remember correctly. I didn't own it until after the service. While I wouldn't dare go 20 years, this "change the belts every 3 to 5 years" is total and complete BUNK.
     
  14. patpong

    patpong Formula 3

    Jul 6, 2004
    2,274
    Bangkok, Thailand
    Full Name:
    Patpong Thanavisuth
    Above responds should not in anyway encourage owners to stretch their major service especially with the timing belt. But nice to know about all these responds.
    Another good questions is Who gone the least of time and ripped the timing belt....
     
  15. Husker

    Husker F1 World Champ

    Dec 31, 2003
    11,788
    western hemisphere
    A timing belt won't "rip" unless it is severely defective in the first place or was installed improperly in some way. Improper installation is an infinitely greater risk than a faulty belt, which is one good reason why you shouldn't change the belt too often. Any time you start "taking things apart" you run the very real risk that those things won't get put back together properly.
     
  16. atheyg

    atheyg Guest

    Belts fail on regular cars all the time, a timing belt is no different and more prone to failure not from breaking but stripping teeth then you have the valve contact.

    Early Dinos had a rep for skipping timing with their chains and wrecking valves, the timing belt idea was not a good one IMO from Ferrari when it came out, they said t belts were quieter, less drive train wear and more reliable but I think its just the opposite concerning the latter, Ferrari should have designed a redundency in case of failure such as 2 smaller belts per side in case one fails in such a expensive engine or included a little plastic bag with a horsey on it with a set of new valves for each new car.
     
  17. thevirginiadude

    thevirginiadude Karting

    Apr 18, 2004
    63
    Fairfax County, VA
    The best failsafe would have been designing the engine as a non-interferance engine. There are engines out there that don't have valve-piston contact when a belt strips or breaks.

    True it wasn't a Ferrari.

    I have had a belt strip teeth without snapping and there was zero contact. Happened at 85mph car just abruptly shut down, cost $125 to fix and that included a tow bill. And a mechanic did it not me.
     
  18. tbakowsky

    tbakowsky F1 World Champ
    Consultant Professional Ferrari Technician

    Sep 18, 2002
    19,344
    The Cold North
    Full Name:
    Tom
    I've owned my 308 for 4 years now and have changed the belts twice. Once when I got the car and then during the rebuild last winter.

    IMHO it is not a good idea to tempt fate. I have seen LOTS of timing belt failures on Hondas, Chrylsers, Fords, Mazda's. Your Ferrari is know different. Just change the damn things every 5 years and you'll be just fine. Hell it's cost of ownership.
     
  19. bernardo66

    bernardo66 The Crazy Cat Man
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Dec 14, 2003
    26,281
    Montreal Canada
    Full Name:
    Bernie
    I had a (now retired) Ferrari technician state: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. He even confessed that much of the "major servicing" was insisted by the dealer in order to create work for himself during the winter months.

    However, concerning timing belts, I agree. This is one corner that no one should cut. Speaking of which...I'm going to be due in 2006.
     
  20. thevirginiadude

    thevirginiadude Karting

    Apr 18, 2004
    63
    Fairfax County, VA
    Well the guy I'm talking about treats his car worse than a farm truck.

    Leaves car sit with a full tank of gas without stabilzer in it year after year and he barely drives it enough for tanks a year. Never did ANY of the services it needs, yet thinks its soooooooo nice because he keeps it in a heated garage all year.

    Mechanically its a wreck even if its a basicly rust free wreck.
     
  21. 308GTS

    308GTS Formula 3

    Dec 27, 2001
    2,223
    TN
    That is true. The teeth shear right off. My Volvo shear the teeth right off its t-belt. It was 8 years old or so with 90K on it. It is a non-interference engine so it didn't matter but it happens. It would be nice if the 308s were non-interference but then the power would suffer too.
     
  22. thevirginiadude

    thevirginiadude Karting

    Apr 18, 2004
    63
    Fairfax County, VA
    You can have a lot of power and be non interferance. But its got to be designed that way.

    Car I had was a tiny one, with a 1.0 liter, 61 cubic inches, with 85 horsepower.

    Don't laugh, it was a quick little car, and got 48 mpg when you wasn't romping on it.
     
  23. Husker

    Husker F1 World Champ

    Dec 31, 2003
    11,788
    western hemisphere
    Typically, timing belts on most cars need to be changed at 80 to 100K miles. After that, you risk the belt snapping. Like on my wife's Lexus LX470. But not many Ferraris see more than 2 to 3K in miles a year. So what we are talking about here is the element of time more than miles. The rubber of these belts will go 10 years minimum. And more than likely it will still look pretty darn good after 10 years. If you have a faulty belt, it will likely snap soon after installation.

    I look at it this way: the more often I change my belt, the more likely it is that a) someone will put the new one on wrong and ruin my engine, or b) my "new" belt will be a faulty one and ruin the engine. Both of these are bad (and expensive).

    Of course, waiting too long to change the belt increases the risk of it snapping (again, expensive).

    So....a good compromise for my own risk gauge is every 10 years. My mechanic says this is well within reason regardless of what Luigi at the Ferrari factory says.

    That's my story and I'm stick'n to it!
     

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