348 owners: belts question: (4000 mls, but 3 years)

I've just got my 348GTS back from a dealer service where the timing belt was changed due to the calendar elapsed time. The last change was at 25000km in March 1998. Now the car has 40000km and it was March 2005 when the service was performed.

The dealer gave me back the old timing belt and I inspected it visually. It was certainly well worn and 'polished' about the same as a 'normal' 4-cylinder Ford etc. looks at about 80000km so I was quite happy about it being changed.

However, the point is that it went 7 years without a change including static garaged periods (all before I bought the car) and there were certainly no cuts, fraying, or tears in it. Of course, it's difficult to tell whether it's stretched or has internal damage.

However N°2: If your dealer is offering a full major with cambelt change for about €2000 ($2700) I'd consider that a damned good price and well worth the peace of mind!

 

If you change the belt on your 348 every three years you're nuts. Yeah, Ferrari says do it, but they're nuts, too. More important than that, they're greedy. Frequent belt changes means big $$$ for their shops. And they know when they "get in there", they'll talk you into another $5,000 in stuff that you "might as well do while you're in there."

If these frequent belt changes are so necessary, how come there are so many early 348's (15 years old or more) running around out there with the ORIGINAL BELT? I won't go so far as to say wait 15 years, but 3 years? For a cam belt change-out? That's nuts.

 

I went 14 years without a belt change. Five years is reasonable no matter the milege.

 

My car went 10 Years and 7,000 miles without a belt change. No problem. Would I wait another ten years for the next time no. Based on what I have heard and researched 5 years is a safe and conservative time period.

 

You can do it at the five year mark. In my opinion the dealers tell you to change the belt every three years just to make money. That and in kind of sounds better "3yrs/30K". But the reality is that you should do it every five years reguardless of milage. If you get the car and are really worried about it, you can do the timing belt yourself. If the ONLY thing you change is the BELT, it can be done in about 10-11 hrs, and that is with out the use of a shop lift.

 

My grandad always said "Leave a good running engine ALONE." There's some truth to that. You really don't want to change out your cam belt until you really feel uncomfortable about it. BECAUSE...you run a very decent risk of them SCREWING SOMETHING UP while taking everything apart. AND...you risk them replacing one of your GOOD parts with a FAULTY part.

Instances of a 348 belt snapping are very, very few and far between. They are out there, but the odds are in your favor, even if you abuse the belt (drive it 15 years). If I keep my car 15 years, and change the belt every 3 years @ $6000 per change, I spend $30K over the 15 years. If I change the belt after 15 years, I might spend $8-$10,000 on a big kahoona belt change. Of course, I risk breaking the belt/seized bearing, etc., but worst case, I'm out $15K for a rebuild.

 

i thought a rebuild was much more than 15 k, i have 38 k miles on my 348 and am worried about the belt snapping, although i dont know when the belts were replaced last, you really only do your every 15 k ??

 

agreed!

Agreed, BUT.......they might find something which was just about to fail, so that sort of balances that one out.

Agreed, BUT.......... the probability of an OLD belt snapping is perhaps far higher than for a NEW belt?

My main F-Dealer in the city with an hourly rate of €80+tax (=$120) has just done the full engine out and cambelt replacement and that cost a total with tax of $2485.

What are the chances of going 15 years in a 348 (it's gonna be 26 years old at the end of that period) without any troubles from the engine front like water pump or camshaft seals or tensioners, which will, in any case, be an engine out? That means you'll only be saving maybe 3 scheduled cambelt changes @ $7500 over 15 years. That works out at $1.30 a day. Is that saving worth a blown engine? Plus - for $1.30 a day you get a fully stamped up maintenance book with all prescribed inspections done - must be worth a couple of bucks on the resale day? If I were offered a 26 year old 348 which had never had a cambelt/tensioner/seal changed I know I would immediately have a $5000 bill coming towards me and would want the selling price to be correspondingly lower.

All of the above is for a 3 year frequency. If you go to 5 years, then doing the scheduled change becomes even more attractive.

 

I'm in the "ounce of prevention" camp on this issue.

A fellow fchatter, resnow, did his belt out service this winter by himself (exhaustive pictures will come in the few weeks). His t-belt had a fray about 1-inch long, with visible white cord.

Ask yourself this... do you ever get in your Ferrari and simply drive it at 2K rpm to the local ice cream shop? NO ! We all rev the crap out of the engines, drive 'em hard, and have fun. That kind of wear and tear just isn't experienced in our daily drivers, so you simply can't equate a Honda's service schedule with a Ferrari.

Am I nervous about a $6000 major service? Yes. Am I MORE nervous about a $15,000 rebuild and a "tainted" pedigree? Yes.


-Daniel

 

Just changed my belt at 62k miles and nearly 15 years. It didn't look too bad, but there were definitely some frayed edges in a couple spots. There was no oil whatsoever in the belt housing. I would not recommend going this long, but the belt is extremely tough (as long as it doesn't get any oil on it). As hard as I drive this car, I would feel much better about a 30k interval, but anything less is wasteful, in my opinion. I feel certain a belt of this quality could go 200k+ miles in grandma's Civic, but Ferraris ain't Hondas!

I spent a few hours a week over the past 2 months doing the belt change, cam oil seals, water pump, etc, myself and will have it on the road again Tuesday. I took a couple hundred photos, particularly of the power train removal, and will put them and a write-up on a CD soon.

res

 

15 years? Nahhhh. But 6 or 7? Probably. Every 3 years is nuts.

 

Your original question was "I've not got enough money for maintenance, can I delay the timing belt change?"

I wonder what the response would have been if you'd posted "I've got $2000 soon. Should I spend it on a service on my 348 as the last one was several years ago, or should I buy some different wheels?"

I'd probably do the maintenance first and the goodies later, but at any rate, best of luck with the car. After all, it's your car, your money and your decision.

Maybe a last tip: I bought mine used with 40000km and had a service done. The clutch friction plate had literally about 0,1mm lining left before the rivets appeared. That's something which doesn't cost $2000 to have checked and could save really big bucks.

Bye for now

 

Dasadrew, So very true. 308ROB