Glad I did the major

Looks like my original black plastic cam belt covers. One of the black plastic shards from my broken cover jammed into one of my cam pulleys and I blew my motor when I started the car.


...so...I replaced all of my plastic cam belt covers with the older metal cambelt covers (bought used through Eurospares).


Gotta go with Hill tensioner bearings. I'm 2 years into mine. I'll do another major service at 3, 4 or 5 years, based on how I feel about my useage...and then the question will be: do I replace Hill tensioners or are they good for life?!



Now, as for your corrosion-colored coolant. There are 3 main causes for that color in 348's:
1. corrosion (I crack myself up)!
2. use by a prior owner of Stop-Leak products to hide a leak during a PPI inspection
3. sand leaching from the engine block (we have blocks that are poured in sand molds, and this sand slowly leaches out over time)...so simply going too long between routine coolant changes/flushes will leave you with a brown discoloration.

 

Good post. True, it's not all about 'how long the belt lasts' -- it's about all the other stuff that needs proper servicing after 5 years (or sooner).

Now you can enjoy the car. I did the same when I bought my 328.

Well, for $15/year, what did I want...

 

Laugh now, BullyBoy...next year I'll be getting a raise!

 

Sand precipitaion most likely, a friend of mine had the same issue with his car when he did the Major on a 348, something about sand from casting? Looked like milshake in the coolant.

 

Good post Lane, glad to hear it's going well - you'll be on the road way before I am!!! Any pics of the timing belts? How did they look?

As for sand in the casting...I'd be surprised if that much sand is in the casting after assembly. Even if there were a few particles, after 30k miles I think those would mostly be flushed out already.

 

Saint B,

Will you be using the upgrade Hill Engineering tensioner bearings?

 

Milkshake? Oil in coolant or coolant in oil? Sand, unlikely if you got a milkshake. Better compare the sparkplugs to one another, also check engine oil the best you can for coolant in the oil. And it would'nt hurt to cut the old oil filter in half (the long way) and pull the element apart and inspect for debris. And since the engine oil drain plug is out, rough up the flat side and epoxy 2 small round magnets to it. So at your next oil change you will find if your engine is shedding any of its metal.

Also, when I did my major I never expected the small coolant expansion tank hose to be just about ruptured at the connection under the intake maifold. Check it! Go with the Hill bearings.

 

Yup. The metal covers and caps fit fine. Better still, they don't grow more brittle over time due to normal engine heat.

That's one of the areas where the early 348's have an edge over the later 348's with our original black plastic cam belt covers (another area being the dual clutch, and still another being the non-mouse seat belts).

 

On the 355 the cam belt covers are wide open on the back surface at the cam cover. It looks like they were designed to have something else bolt to them to fully enclose the belts but there is nothing there.

Considering this, it seems doubtful that the small area of the plastic cover shown missing had anything to do with the status of the tensioner seal.

Anyone ever see the timing belts completely enclosed on either the 348 or 355?

ken

 

They are fully enclosed on early cars - photo attached from my engine out service last month.
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Ken - You might have been missing #23 and #29, eh? Not uncommon, from what I've discussed with many customers.

http://www.ricambiamerica.com/article_info.php?articles_id=1351

 

The 355 covers are very different in design than those on the 348. But at least we have a brotherhood, eh?

 

Wait, so with 23 and 29 installed on a 355 you shouldn't be able to see the cam gears / belts until the case is removed? If so I'm missing them, I was able to peer in and see the cam gears while the motor was installed and covers were on.

 

Not exactly between pulley and belt.

Just for clarity, the black plastic shard from the broken plastic cam cover cap jammed inside a cam pulley itself by managing to fit inside one of the cam pulley holes (see red screwdriver in cam pulley hole in the picture below to get an idea).
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Hmmmm! I must be missing them also. If I remember correctly I can see my belt as well..

 

IIRK, you CAN see the belt/cam pullies even with these covers in place. It's not like it's a gaping visible hole, but I think you can actually see them. The plastic plate mostly just covers the bearing (lower section). I might be all wet, but that's my recollection of them...

 

You are right, I was missing those. I have seen several 355's and none of them had the covers on the rear part of the timing belts. They were still missing after I had my major done at Ferrari of Atlanta.

I'll bet that every FCA event you go to you look around and see something missing on every car.

ken

 

Here's a pic of mine, seems like 23 and 29 are missing.
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