Is it necessary to replace the tensioners on a 355 ?

A client of mine is doing a 355 major service and wants to save $1,000 CAD by NOT REPLACING the belt tensioner bearings on a 1999 model year 355 with 8k miles.

The car basically sits 9 months out of the year without being started.

Your comments please ?

I told him he should replace them as tensioner failure is more predominant than belt failure from what I have read here. And....after all....the engine is out and apart.....

 

Replacement of the tensioner bearings are more important that replacement of the cam belts themselves. A seized tensioner bearing is often the cause of a broken cam belt!

 

Let me get this straight...Your friend owns a 355..an expensive car. He is doing the cam belts. He wants to save $1000. I figure it this way. He bought a car that he really can't afford to service correctly..thus he is risking major damage to the engine to save $1000. The car as you say sits for 9 months out of the year..this is not a good thing. The bearings will start to rust and then they will fail.

I suggest to replace the bearings and anything else that needs replacing and have your friend sell the car to sombody who can afford to service it. This is the very reason why Ferrari's have such a bad rep for service problems. Look at what has happened to the Testarossa's. Many of these car are ticking time bombs due to the fact they have not been serviced propperly and people have cut corners trying to save a few dollars.

I'm not trying to tell your friend how to spend his money or how to service his car, but he should take the advice of this board and change the bearings. If he is worried about 1000 dollars and owns a Ferrari, then he has bought the wrong car.

 

Ask your friend about the re-sale.......would he buy a car that was serviced this way??

 

My understanding is that the tensioner bearings are a prime reason of timing belt related issues, more so than the belts themselves.
The problem is Ferrari's pricing of the tensioner bearings themselves, which is ridiculously high. Should be a 2 figure item, not 4.

An independent specialist here told me he has the bearings replaced by high strain bearings, at a 10th of Ferrari's official part cost.

 

The biggest problem with Ferrari customers: they think that owning a Ferrari legitimates the acceptance of any kind of commercial practice. I consider this at the boundary of snobism, very elitist. I think that this is the reason why Ferrari's commercial practices are sometimes so careless: the average customer accepts anything for prestige reasons.

As far as I am concerned, business or private matters alike, I always seek to pay the right price. Compromising on maintenance is not an option, finding solutions to get rigorous maintenance at the right price is the way to go.

 

Are you an accountant by any chance ? I agree with you 100%. My first choice for spares is to always start with independant suppliers of the original material, i.e. NGK spark plugs, but not from Ferrari, original Bosch fuel filters, HEGO sensors, MAF sensor etc. again, NOT from Ferrari, It is the original material fitted from new without the 250% mark-up. The only difference is that the stuff does not come in a yellow box with Cavallini printed on it. However, I can imagine that specific stuff like tensioners are impossible to source except from Ferrari.

 

Change the tensioners without a doubt, he would be stupid not to.

When I had my belts done one tensioner was cracked so I had them both changed.

Was he planning on not changing the belts if they looked ok?

 

Thank you for your replies. I will pass them on with the strongest recommendation.