1995 355 Timing belt snapped

Hi ,

The mechanic who fix my friend’s car was from San Francisco USA . His been fixing Ferrari for a long time . His married to a Filipina and he visits our country yearly . The Ferrari owner’s club here in our country is still young and almost all the cars in the club are the current models and are serviced in the local Ferrari dealership. Thanks for suggesting the Hong Kong option .

Best regard,

Luigi

 

What's the belt change interval on this?

 

It is recommended at 5 years 60.000 miles but the car normally blows up before it ever gets there.

 

Funny, my BIL had a Pinto in that exact color.....

 

I still have my cosworth vega I bought in 1978

 

Let the debate begin...

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Hi guys the promised update w/ regards to my friend’s 355 timing belt that snapped .
The mechanic brought down engine and this is what the owner & mechanic found . It was a fruit seed probably brought by a rodent that cause the belt to snap. The owner decided to get a used engine from the USA . The used engine was selected/ inspected by the Ferrari specialist from the USA who did the major service last year .

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Here is a photo of the 2 engines .

 

Very unlucky. Would this kind of damage be covered by insurance?

 

That is seriously unlucky!

Glad to hear that there is a solution, and hopefully the owner can get some money by parting out the old engine.

Thanks for the update!

 

Wow, how unlucky

 

Where was that thread about somebody finding a motorway token lodged into their timing belt? That one (maybe about 10-12 years ago?) was absolutely epic.

 

I remember that! Matter of fact, I believe the coin was found and matched up with the belt and the profile matched perfectly, no doubt it was the coin getting up there. What are the odds right.

 

No way to prevent this from happening.

 

I remember that one and a couple others where rocks pierced thorough the belt and a hole was found during belt change. I bet there are some failures where we will never know the cause but the mechanics are always suspected of doing a bad job. Nothing has caused more angst on the pages of Fchat than things surrounding the timing belt.

 

Strange things like this always have me wondering why these engines have a lack of a rear timing belt cover. Every other engine I've ever changed a belt on has had a cover behind the belt - but not Ferrari (at least the 348/355)... Anyone know why?

 

They are actually shown on the parts diagram - not sure if they every came with the cars - I seem to recall only Challenge cars.

 

My early 348 had a stout aluminum cover. later cars had the plastic one that broke. My 550 one covers pretty well. My 308's were just plain open by comparison. I think the best reason for the aero undertray is protection from debris. But you are right. There is plenty of room in there for debris. I guess it is a low incident event and the beancounters do a cost benefit and this is what we get. They say the Ford Pinto would not have blown up and killed people for a $11 dollar cover plate. We know manufacturers have our best interests in mind.

 

I looked through a bunch of Ricambi's parts diagrams, and the 12-cylinder cars (especially the new ones with chain-driven cams ) have fairly stout rear timing covers, especially the TRs. The F40 (and maybe also the 288 GTO) seems to be the only V-8 car(s) that feature them.

The 308/328/348/355 simply don't have much of anything between the belt/cam sprocket and the head.

In the case of the OP and the unfortunate toll token victim, I wouldn't doubt that a rear cover might have been of quite some benefit.

 

Well, there is one way....never drive the car

 

I did have something like this happen to me a few years ago to my daily driver ( 08 Volvo c80). Hit a large rock in the road (couldn't avoid it due to traffic). it hit the ac compressor pulley which in turn chewed up the ac belt....ac belt pieces climbed into the timing belt cover and threw off my timing. Needed an entire new engine. My insurance covered it all. not sure how insurance companies work overseas but if it can be proven that it was from road hazards then it should get covered under the policy.

 

Hey that is a cool angle...road hazard. I never noticed if that is on my standard coverage.

 

Timing Belt Failure After Only 150mi!! WTF!?!?

 

Anything with chains needs to be encased so it can be included in the oiling system, with belts not so much, just leave them flapping in the wind.

 

titus.. I had this exact same thing happen at my shop. Same model volvo.. lady backed out of her drive one morning and missed the approach to the drive. The nose of the car jumped off the kerb hitting the a.c compressor. Tore its belt off and it got tangled around the crank pulley, ate through the timing cover and ripped off the timing belt. Insurance paid for new engine! The lady was like.. my car just cut out and wouldn't start!!