360 Timing Belt

So far belts have not been a problem on 360s, they are new and most people have been sticking to the three year recomendation. On 355s there were failures and the 360 has considerably higher underhood temps than the 355 which will degrade the belts faster. The change to a three year schedule was done in response to real world failures on the prior cars as well as long term durability testing on those. The good news is that the 360 is rather easy to change belts on so will be much less costly to do than a 355.

 

What is the cost comparison for belt service?

355 - $4k-7k
360 - ??????

 

I would be careful with that recommendation. I seriously believe Ferrari recommends replacing cam belts on 360s in 3 years only because the earlier 360s (99, 00, some 01) had defective cam variators. There are threads on this issue, which you may want to read... Ferrari conveniently issued a technical bulletin to replace cam variators (roughly about three years after their first variator update) in effected engines only if customers pay for cam belt replacement. Some who did not replace cam belts within three years and when their defective variator broke were blamed on customer neglect (conveniently). I ended up replacing my cam belts only because of the latter. It is not expensive (>$1500) if the job is done right. I would definitely dyno the car before and after cam belt replacement at a reputable place for your own protection.

If I were you I would have it inspected for wear every three years as the original owners manual suggests and replace it when most people recommend 30k or 5 years.

 

Matt I don't completly disagree with your position but I do with your reason. All Ferrari's now have a 3 year belt change period. First it was the 360s when they were introduced, a short period later they changed all 12s and retroactively included all 456+550s. A short time later they included 355s. I will agree it may be overkill and while I have not seen failures on 456/550s I have seen them on 355s within 5 yrs. I cannot believe 360s will be better than that so I cannot tell somebody to ignore the factory recomendation.

 

Thanks! So, it appears to be about 1/2 the price of the 'engine out' procedure.

 

What else was included? What would all of that cost on an 'engine out' car?

 

Since FoSF charges a bit under $1500 I'd think you could do better.

Gary

 

Sorry for being cryptic. Ferrari of San Francisco in Mill Valley, CA. I'm sure someone in the LA area would be similarly priced, and perfectly competent to do the work.

Gary

 

Gary,

FoOC qouted me about $1200+, I don't recall the exact number but it was below $1300. The $1495 at FoSF included all acc belts as well. Ferrari also does not recommend a 30K service unless the car has about 30K miles. If someone wants to do it...is a different story!
One would think that Ferrari dealers would be the most competent to do the job... Have you seen this thread:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43785
Ferrari of Central NJ did the major which included timing belts, you should read the rest.

Matt