Do you subscribe to the "3 year belt change" rule?

As for me,

I am changing the belts because I have no idea how old the belts are and more importantly how old the bearings are. Unfortunatly there is a possibulity the former owner did not change the bearings.

I have owned the car for 18 months, have driven it 1028 miles, I have receint annoying squeel above 4000RPM when the engine is cold. I have been trying to tell myself that its a cold V belt. But the subconscious is saying cam belt ideler bearing. I don't enjoy driving the car with a gernade in the trunk with a loose pin.

Either way, the car is grounded until all those expensive parts I have been collecting are in and the squeel has been eliminated.

From that day forward, since I hardly ever drive the car, I will probably change the belts (and bearings) every 4 or 5 years

 

Rik:
Say hi to Brian for me, I haven't called him in a while. Ask if I need to send him a "T" shirt before he sends me the owners manual cover? If so what kind of Harley shirt he wants

Doug

 

Ahem, as I said earlier in this fiasco, if you have no records you are pretty well forced to restart the clock.

And Hill Engineeering is a good group of guys, I'd investigate superior equipment and stick with Owner's Manual schedule on all inspections....

We call that "belt AND suspenders' in my line of work...

Man, Doug over here, FOX has three 2000kW stationary units and 60,000 gallons of deisel underground!

...and provision to add two more, for a total of five....

 

Three, are you near KRIV? I didn't think they had 3 at the station. I have a 750 Kw and a 800 Kw at my transmitters sites and a 350Kw and 500Kw at the station.

I ordered all my belts & parts from Mr Briak Keegan at his new home A&W auto parts in NJ.
I think they once sold root beer there too

Makes my 3.5 Kw generator at home look like a battery charger.

 

We are doing a clean sheet facility in the Woodlands, TX so they can abandon the old site......

I got an antenna farm that'll reach Mars!!!

I'll post some pics when it gets pretty........

 

+1. Ferrari have probably supplied us with the "99 percent" safe guideline. It costs money to adhere to it. But these cars aren't under factory warranty, so you can go as cheap/infrequent as you like with maintenance and it really isn't Ferrari's problem anymore. What irks me a bit is people posting here looking for an excuse to stretch the interval, as though a post from one moron who lucked out and got 15 years on his belts counterbalances the guy who got burnt when his 348 grenaded its engine at just over the three-year mark (TMobileguy).

I concur, 7 years on a 348 especially is playing with fire.

+1. It's a high-maintenance design, and we all knew (or should have known) this going into Ferrari ownership. I decided to stick to the three-year rule on the belts based on Brian's advice. Everyone else can do what they want.

 

I bet you not many would go past the replacement date stated by the manufacture either

 

New TSB concerning timing belt change intervals:

Why bother ever changing those belts?...

Just use Rislone "Engine Rebuild Formula" in a can. Be sure to get the special formula that "includes valves and pistons". For 8 cylinder applications, you can use a single can of the "8-cylinder" formula. However, for the 12 cylinder cars, you'll have to use two cans of the "6-cylinder" formula to get the old baby back hitting on all 12 cylinders. Possibly with a "group buy", we can get them to specially formulate a formula for the 12-cylinder cars...

Flame away!

Regards,
David

 

This is the whole point. Some discussion among owners. The problem with all these threads about Belts, Oil, Gear Oil, is that everyone adds their opinion based on the model of car they drive. Even people without a Ferrari and people that own airplanes chime in with some advise. I don't do anything just because Jesus tells us so, I want some facts.
Now a new Ferrari should be serviced and maintained by the book period. What about an older Ferrari. Are the intervals for a 308 the same as a 12 cylinder car? Is a car with two belts the same as a car with a single belt. What about time, how about a car that has 3 years on the belts and logged less that 1000 miles, but is started and driven at lest once a month? Is it time? Or in that case is five years more appropriate.
Gosh, I've never changed the timing chain on my 250, am I a negligent owner?

 

got this late: done

 

+1, and that includes fluids too. Restarting the clock leaves no issues on poorly documented machinery.

 

Time will tell

 

Thanks!
Doug

 

What is the life of timing chains in a F car?

 

The hard chains have a bolt to adjust the tensioner roller, IIRC they last the life of the car or the life of the owner, whichever comes first....

Also being internal to the V12 they are in an oil bath environment of operation, not out picking up dust and blown gravel.......

 

Or like my old Pontiacs, until you cannot move the distributor far enough to time it, indicating chain stretch! LOL!

 

What happens if they're not attorneys and just your average total moron? Would you waste your time arguing with them or just move on?

 

I love the part of the life of the car.... domestic engines have chains and they do streach, some a lot!. Gears also fail over time.

From the outside looking in, automotoive engineers have made the rings, bearings and valve last longer but havent found a better way to drive the cam/s

 

Honda used Gear Driven Cams on there VF1000R, this would appear to be a better way, what do you think.

 

looooooongggggggg.

would have like such in either the 348/355 engines.....Scott [smg2], want to retro engineer that?

 

There was a kit for the Pontiacs to delete chain and use gears, it was very noticable, noisewise.......

 

I would ignore them just as Brian could have done...not run away from the playground crying boo hoo...

 

If you want loooooong lassssting, look at what over the road trucks use (and my Studebakers)

....Gears! Last long time!

 

No way man. Long lasting would be a small Cummins diesel in a 308. Solid cast iron, massive flywheel, short of running it out of oil it would last through years of neglectful Ferrari owners.

I must say I am rather appalled to be quite honest. Ive been wrenching on cars my whole life, though not much the last 10 years or so. But everything I have ever owned has been used. And as such, I get stuck with whatever neglect the previous owners allowed to take place. As I matured and worked my way up through better and better cars, I fully expected people with better means to take better care of thier possessions. Yet it would appear for the most part the opposite is true. If these cars were airplanes, over 90 percent would be grounded on the basis of neglect and lack of maintenence. And I am not making that up.

While a Cadillac, Lincoln, or big Chrysler were the most expensive domestic cars, they were also among the first to see early death. When you found them parked not running in someones backyard, or in the junkyard, they were generally filthy rotten dirty and rusty piles of crap. Cigarettes overflowing and spilled all over the floor, burn holes in the seats and carpet, total filth. Engine was just as nasty.

Over my short life I have owned and professionally worked on Saabs, Volvos, Mercedes, Alfa, Audi, VW, MG, various Jap cars, and tons and tons of domestic cars and trucks. Almost across the board, the least valuable cars have generally been the most cared for and best maintained. I have seen lowly Chevy Novas, and VW's, that in terms of care, cleanliness and maintenence, would give the average Ferrari I see on here or anywhere else a run for the money. And I will post another observation. It appears that many of the 308 owners who are just scraping by financially, who do thier own work not out of pride so much as need, have among the nicest examples. Cars coming from a million dollar neighborhood does not guarantee a pristine example of car care, many times it appears the opposite is true. Wealthy people seem to only use things up and throw them away more often than not.

I have two 308's, and if I were honest would admit I recieved both of them in absolutely deplorable condition. Having worked around aircraft and racing cars, muscle cars, I know first hand that taking care of things preserves them. Both of these cars were headed for being cut up, simply for lack of care and maintenece, nothing more. No real rust, no accidents, just driven into the ground and used up. With a lot of work and elbow grease I have saved one, and down the road maybe the other. So listening to this constant whine one thread after another about these f'ing timing belts is like listening to a 12 year old trying to whine his way out of mowing the lawn. Its a Ferrari for Gods sakes, if you dont have the brains to fix it yourself, either pay someone else to do it, or sell it to someone who will. These cars should have engines and engine bays so clean and well maintained you can eat off them, below, as well as above. And the rest of the car should follow suit. Anything less is neglect IMHO. I have a long ways to go to bring mine back to that standard, but I'm working on it, one dollar at a time.

 

That, my friends is THAT!

*high five to Paul...*

I wish you lived next door, man.....we'd get 'em done!

We'd have to order a lot of blue paint, though.....LOL!