Cam Belt failures?

It costs about UK£250 a year (over 4 years) to get the belt changed and valve clearances checked (in addition to the usual annual service cost).

250 quid. A year.

I'm not exactly a 'high-roller', but come on, is £250 a year too much for peace of mind, keeping leaks and other issues in check, timing the cams etc.. as well as having lots of history to impress a potential future owner?

 

I ran a servicing garage in the UK in the early 1990s. In about '93 the government added a new element to the annual safety test for diesel vehicles. The engine had to be held at maximum revs for a few seconds while a visual check was made for smoke at the exhaust. I can recall at least three cam belts letting go during this abuse and in the end we used to get customers to sign a form saying that we were not responsible for the carnage that might result.

Giles Amos

 

Hondas and other belt driven junk do loose their belts, at 100k or more miles. I've repaired many. It is funny how the worlds "best" car is always compared to a Honda. Anyway, if a daily driver can last 100k miles on a belt, (because you know consumers never follow the 50k rule, they drive their daily cars until they won't move then ask, why). I ask, why are Ferrari guys so paranoid about breaking a belt at 10k miles or less? I pick the 10k number because that seems to be the average miles around this site that guys put on in 3-5 years. I can see if you just purchased your F-car and want peace of mind, fine. Do it then go drive it like it was meant to be driven, hard.

 

Daily driver implies driving daily which means running up miles. I have no doubt that a ferrari belt will do as well as any belt from the same period (the new belt designs are better than the old), but it’s odd for a daily driver to get to 10 years old and not have over 100k miles on it. That means the belt gets changed or it breaks, all belts fail with time regardless of milage.

In an old Honda when the belt breaks you go to the salvage yards and hand them $500 and bring home a new engine. In a Ferrari you go to the salvage yard and hand them $10,000 to bring home your new engine. The paranoia about belts failing is the $9500 difference in engine prices……

 

I may be missing something, but can’t envision how 32 valves could bend with a complete belt failure. Seems like at the most 16 valves could be bent (one bank) and my guess is that the cam would quit rotating almost instantly when the belt failed and therefore only a few may get bent.
What was the failure...Did both of your belts slip at one time?

 

348 only has one belt.

 

I think people are just afraid and are wondering if they're driving a bomb around if they go past the 3yr point on the belts. I would say It depends on how you drive, and how often you drive. At 3 years the belts will not all of a sudden snap. My personal opinion is 5 years on belts and tensioners. You could probably do more, but it's not really worth it, and I wouldn't trust the bearings. I mean if you're going to store the car for a long periond of time, then there's no point in doing the belts.

Jim

 

I was at 4.5 years on my 348. When we changed the belt there was a large split in it, so I dodged a big bill on that one.

 

Parker, I believe I recall that you have a Boxer?

Would you care to disclose how long it has been since a belt service, and how long you intend to wait?

Not starting a pool or anything, just curious...

 

i replaced the belts for the first time in my 2001 360 at 10,814 on 3/6/07. the belts that came off looked fine. as far as other cars, the biggest failure in a broken belt at my shop was a 99 volkswagon passat 1.8 turbo. one piston had a hole the size of a quarter. any other interference engines were bent valves.

 

My Testarossa had it done last at 16K miles in 2000 - I am at 22K miles now and am plannning to do it later this year. I guess that my tolerance for a couple of oil leaks will eventually seal the deal - ... the technician told me it probably would come down to the need for an engine out for some reason or another eventually, and to just have it over with then.

 

So far, 2K of the miles are mine and I have had it just about a year. Turns out HVAC was not working when I got it (2K job, I factored it into the deal) and I assume it was none too pleasant to put up with this either winter or summer.

 

I just changed the belts on my 308. Only got the car last week. One belt was so loose it was making a noise at idle. But it did not jump any teeth.I have seen other engines that would have jumped teeth or let go with a belt that loose. Replaced with Gates Belts T040 that come with a warranty which includes repair to engine if belt fails.

 

Really...?

Somehow getting them to pay for a 308 rebuild sounds easier than it really will be. That insurance company will do more to NOT pay than to actually do what they want you to think they will do. I deal with insurance companies 40hrs a week and THEY ALL LIE.

Was I clear? I only have about 387,976,564,813,966,836,867,453 examples I could give...

 

512 TR falure on a friend's car roughly 1000 miles and a couple of months after the major was done. My TR had the original belts from 1984 to 2000 or 16 years. They looked like new when we took them out.

Edit: I kept them and will sell those belts if anyone wants to buy them for their upcoming major on a TR ; )

 

That's just it, Frank. You may well have hit on something here that may or may not have been intentional;

It APPEARS that when a belt, tensioner, whatever fails, the majority do so "just" after they have been replaced...It seems that it's the odd case to have one fail at 60,000 miles and 10 years after the last change. I suppose, statistically speaking, the odds of a failure increase when you change them...

interesting

 

I experienced cam belt failure on the left bank when the 365 BB was about four years old and 10k miles. I strongly suspect that an agressive downshift helped the belt to break. I continued for a short while after the breakage and parked as normal before shutdown.

I believe in a five year belt change interval.

Ken

 

Maybe if the belt is defective or if the bolts aren't tight.

Otherwise to suggest that preventative maintenance will INCREASE the chance of trouble is madness.

 

Here in UK I know of no-one with a belt failure, though I get mine done every 3 years it states in the service manual every 2 years?? I wish it were longer as it's bloody expensive!