488 Spider engine pulled to replace head gasket - concerns?

Personally, I pay for the extended warranty and e hot driving mine. It’s a hell of a car!

 

This is a common problem and an expensive repair. It is obviously a design flaw with the TTV8. Ferrari should take ownership of this design flaw and do something to help customers. If Ferrari does nothing the brand will suffer from a stain on their reputation. Ferrari has a lot of capital in their goodwill which they should protect. Ferrari's goodwill translates to increased revenues.

For so many head gasket leaks the problem is definitely a design flaw or assembly problem and not from the car setting without being driven. Ferrari needs to issue a repair bulletin.

 

It's great experience to have the opportunity to drive these cars; however, there are other performance car manufacturers which offer a similar experience. One has to weigh the costs against the benefits. The benefits we understand, but the costs can be substantial because of design flaws like the head gaskets in the TTV8 engine which is in alot of models. This is very unfortunate and increases the risk of ownership. Ferrari needs to accept responsibility.

I love my 488 Spider driving experience; I wish I loved Ferrari the same. I would feel more comfortable in buying my next Ferrari or maybe it will be a Mclaren... I have no loyalty to brands that don't treat their customers well.

 

You know, Ferrari does accept responsibility right? They offer a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty on their new cars. They also offer in excess of 15 years of warranty options, to partner with owners.

TTV8 oil leaks show up before the warranty expires, assuming its being driven at all, so in essence , Ferrari IS taking care of it.
If you ignore the leak for 3 years, THEN come online and complain that Ferrari won't cover it out of warranty, then that would be on the owner, right?

No where that I am aware of is there ANY car company that covers oil leaks for the life of the car, if I am missing something, please share.

If an owner is worried, and there have been no signs of leaks yet, get the warranty extension ( available through the 7th year ) and drive worry free.

All car companies have there opportunities, even Mc L ...

IMO only,

S

 

Not so sure take a look @ the 3#8 engine range and 3.4 L 348 motor .
Just regular maintenance.

I am not talking cam seals weepage as these are serviceable items say every other belt change or sooner at the belt change if weeping . Same with gen oil seals all serviceable .

Engine is designed to come out on 348 in single figure hrs anyhow .

Pretty analogue too compared to todays modern F cars .

If you get a 70 carb 3#8 then as simple as garden strimer .

 

What would happen if the owner just left it ?
Obviously regular oil top ups to put back the seep age .

Guessing it would take out a critical ancillary?

Different mind set with old British classics of the BMC era ……whereby they all dripped oil …….so much so the topping up circumvented lub changes as so much was added over a yr . Ancillaries mounted high and remote . Additionally a natural chassis corrosion protection for free !

 

Just get a bottle of stop leak and save yourself 100 hrs of labor.

 

With my MGB I used to joke that I pulled into the gas station and asked them to fill the oil and check the gas.

 

The leak drips onto the exhaust. At first it's just a minor drip with the smell of burnt oil getting into the cabin. It does eventually get a bit overwhelming when the leak increases, from one drip an hour to 5 a minute. Never mind being a fire hazard.

 

The 348 was a good engine, but the single timing belt, along with it driving the water pump, was a one time only design. Why Ferrari deviated from the 2 belt system is something I will ever understand.

 

Ask Daniel of Ricambi for his opinion on the single timing belt driving the water pump... The 348 is a good car, but it does have its issues.

 

And I am not going to worry about the Ferrari brand. When they make 10,000 cars a year, and customers have to fill out applications to buy a brand new car, I would say they have a strong brand!

 

PTSD trigger.

 

It took my race team 2 days to remove the engine in my 488 eco and replace the fuel cell. I cant believe that any competent tech couldn't do your project in less than half the time quoted. Being under warranty, I guess it doesn't matter and that must be book time.

 

Is the 458 prone to these leaks as well? Or is it just the 488 and Cali T and addressed on the F8/Portofino/Roma?

 

…you are 100% correct, I’m not sure where the 100 hours got thrown into the mix, was that an actual invoiced amount, or just an assumption that has gathered traction in this thread?

“ Race Team “ = multiple technicians working on the car at one time.

2 Techs equals double hourly rate.

The quickest I’ve ever seen it done by a team of two, was four business days. One was a master technician, the other was his apprentice. Last time I checked, Warranty pays approximately 34.6 hours. I believe there’s a variable between a Cali T and a 488 GTB

1.5 days out 1.5 days in and a full day performing the actual repairs.

…some owners want the car back quicker and are willing to pay the premium to have multiple people working on it at the same time. And then there’s those with a race team…. LoL

i’ve only seen these leaks surface on the TwinTurbo V8 variants. Cali T & 488’s for example.

Steve

 

458 is now showing timing cover leaks. Not an engine out job, but labor intensive. I've done a couple now. For us older techs, it's defiantly hard on the back. If you have a spider, the labor increases.

 

Race cars leak. Embrace it.

 

I believe this leak/Issue/labor cost mentioned by the OP is covered under the power 15 warranty as well?

 

i am pleased to see that the modern cars have as many long-labor problems as my vintage cars

 

Headgasket leaks are a covered repair, yes.

S

 

Thank you for your wealth of knowledge !

 

I mean... Many cars do. It's not just Ferrari.

The twin turbo Mercedes v8s have a carbon build up problem on the heads that's about 18k to fix.

Porsches had the IMS... Even on the vaunted mezger now... And the motors after the mezgers suffer from bore scoring just like stupid cars from the 90s. It's not an if they have a problem it when. The bore scoring results in a complete engine replacement or rebuild. You had the finger followers on the gt3 that explode.

Best cars out there are probably a huracan.

Even an older land cruiser or Lexus LX has an alternator that's like 3500 bucks.

Cars are expensive to run and maintain.

I did two sets of fuel pumps on my barchetta in 3 or 4 years and it went like 400 miles. Maybe less. Friggin Scottsdale Ferrari wanted 8k to do the pumps. Lol.

But all these cars suck. Land rover had the timing chain issues that grenaded motors...

GM has the 6.2 exploding.

No one builds anything to last anymore. It's not in their best interest.

 

Huracan pretty bulletproof. So glad I sold mine. Sigh.

 

So true. Engine out takes it to another level, but that's the price for living the Ferrari life.