355 alternator tensioner failure.

Its not the metal tensoners that fail, its the centre bearing. Oh that would be the same bearing thats in the plastic one then.
And yes the Scuderia would go to the bother of creaming more money from the owners. After all they have access to many of the Fiat parts bins. I know of a stack of stuff put on Ferraris that are found on Fiats and Saabs. They don't build every thing from scratch you know
Durability you say, lol! have you seen a metal tensoiner? No moving parts and built like a tank wheel The plastic ones only advantage is its lighter.
Also you suggest that Ferrari would not go so far to get $90 out of owners every 10-20 years. Well what about the cambelts that they tax us on every 3 years at $90 (cost of the naked belts)??? When a chain would have worked as well.
Oh yes IMO Ferrari is up there in the conspiracy ratings along with Global warming and the shooter on the grassy knoll

 

Thanks ND, gage ordered!

 

I got everything appart with engine in. It actually was fairly easy (snap ring removal was worst part). I moved alternator so top nut was easy to get to and there was enough room for puley to drop right out, the housing came out. I removed broken part of bolt and cleaned up threads. I call Ricambi and they are overnighting the part (they are an outstanding company).

Thanks, again for all the help

 

Good work..... !!

 

Glad to here you got it out.

 

Good work!! Things are always easier when one has step by step instruction, through discussion and pictures Thats the power of Fchat Good work guys.

 

The bolt arrived Ricambi at 11:18am, a little late - putting back together was easy - done at noon. I went for a real drive - what a sound.

THANKS TO ALL!!!!

 

Jim3 (Jay) look slike we have more in common than just name. I bought my F355 from a dealer that I have done business with for many years (Porsche) they sent car to FNA autorized dealer for 30k and some other work before I took car. I trailered car to SC, alternator quite in 52 miles (cover in NEW oil areo panel was floating & ground stap was poorly connected), alternator belt was off one slot on water pump pully, belt was off in other direction on crank pully, idler pully bolt was bent from over tightning (hence reason for my request on this thread), bolt for a/c compressor was almost off, rear areo panes had lock washer on wrong side (left side had no washers. Now I will look for good independent in SC/NC.

 

Wanted to add another data point to this old, but useful thread.

I was able to remove the alternator tensioner pulley the way that Goth did, without removing the alternator and without removing the tensioner assembly from the motor.

Also, the reason the tensioner bends is that the large nut on the pulley locks the tensioner into a particular adjustment. In order to change belt tension, you must loosen the big nut at the center of the pulley or the tensioner is going to have a very very hard time moving. Once you loosen the big nut on the pulley, it adjusts easily. Don't forget to tighten the big nut at the center of the pulley, to lock it into place, when you're done with the final adjustment.

I loosened the large nut on the pulley, pushed the pulley bolt toward the engine, and the adjuster moved toward the engine along with it (adjuster nut that faces the floor sits in a horizontal slot that allows it to get out of the way). The last millimeter involves some light prying and flexing, but I was able to get the pulley out in about 15 minutes.

 

Another bump for this old, but very useful thread. I've had a loud, intermittent noise coming from the front of the engine. It is actually much louder from the cockpit side when the windows are up. If I have the decklid up and try to pinpoint the noise from the engine side, the noise is much more faint. The engine noise almost drowns it out. From the cockpit, it is clearly coming from the passenger side of the firewall.

This squealing noise was loud, but infrequent at first. Now, several hundred miles later, it is occurring almost constantly. Based on various old threads including this one, it appears that my alternator tensioner pulley bearing may have bitten the dust. My car is a 1997 with 40K miles, so that does not surprise me.

I'm going to call Craig at Fastcars in the morning and see if he has time to confirm my suspicion and swap out the pulley if it is faulty. I'll post the final result here, but at this point my symptoms match 100% to what others have reported.

 

On mine I removed the metal pulley, pressed out the bearing and then pressed in a new one. Turns out that I mis-diagnosed the sound. My old bearing was fine.

The original bearing from my 1995 Spider is made by SKF
The part number is 62302-2rs1/c3

 

Hi Roadracer,

Can you tell me what the ultimate cause and solution of the noise in your car turned out to be? I was moving towards the alternator tensioner based on previous posts in this thread. It is definitely not belt noise. (I just swapped out all my accessory belts on one of my other cars and distinctly remember the sound of a loose belt.)

Thanks in advance!

 

Geez you guys make things difficult for yourselves. You can remove the entire thing with the engine in the car WITHOUT headach. Lossen the engine and transmission mounts, move the assmebly back about a 1/4 inch, and out it comes. You guys over analyze everything don't ya??

 

Let me know if you need a new alternator pulley. I have a brand new one for sale.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/vbclassified.php?do=ad&id=5357

 

Got the car back from Fastcars/Tillack today. Just to be clear, they did not do the original 30K major service. Cavallo in Carlsbad took care of that and they were very helpful in providing possible sources of the squealing noise. The alternator tensioner pulley bearing was ruled out because they had replaced it during the 30K service. Cavallo suspected it was the power steering hard line rubbing on the firewall or somewhere else. They had briefly encountered this noise just before I picked up my car from the 30K service.

Armed with that initial suspicion, Tillack found that the PS hard line was rubbing on the PS pump bracket causing a high pitch noise at various RPMs. The ultimate solution was to shorten the PS hose slightly & adjust its position which changed the preloading on the PS hard line. Squealing noise solved! Drove home from Los Angeles this evening listening only to the sweet sound of the 5-valve V8 purring behind my shoulders. Joy!

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed. If there is one thing I have learned with car repair, is anyone can swap parts, even I am getting pretty decent at that! The trick, and why we pay for good technicians, is DIAGNOSTICS. This is why guys like Rifledriver, Dave Helms and Windsock are so invaluable here.

Sounds like you found some good guys, make sure they are well supplied with pastries next time you drop by there.