Belt change fact or fiction

I would side with your mechanic. When Ferrari puts out these "recommendations", you have to consider the source, and their own motivations.

Case in point:

I bought a Mercedes in the early 90's, and the dealer said "you need to bring that car back to us every 3,000 miles for an oil change. It's a Mercedes, you don't want to take any chances."

So I faithfully took it 4 times a year down to the dealership for a $100 oil change. The place was always full of customers doing the same.


Fast forward to 2000, when we bought another new Mercedes. This time, Mercedes was throwing in ALL SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE with their new cars. But wouldn't you know it that now, thanks to "new technology", better filters, etc. (b.s.), the new "Flexible Service Plan" now only requires an oil change EVERY 10-15,000 MILES!

Draw your own conclusions. Never forget that Ferrari's primary purpose is to MAKE MONEY. They do that by SUPPORTING THEIR DEALERSHIPS. What better way than to "recommend" ridiculously expensive, intensive, and FREQUENT maintenance on their cars!

 

I respectfully disagree with Husker.

In the words of Brian Crall, "I make more on valve jobs than belt changes... do whatever you want"


Be smart, change the belts.

 

There will always be stories of belts that broke and ruined an engine. There are also stories of cars that have gone excessively long without problem and belts look new at change. I had an '83 QV with 13 years and 15,000 miles on it before I changed the belts and they looked new. I bought it and serviced it at the dealer and no one said anything about major service until it hit 15,000 miles.

Ferrari now says every 3 years regardless of age. My '94 owners manual says 52,500 miles with no mention of time. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

I wish someone could compile a data base to see what the average is for all owners as regards to miles and time for belt change. For now it's a crap shoot, and you have to have your own comfort zone.

 

I would say to stick with the 5 year interval. The new recommendation for 3 year belt changes seems excessive to me.
BT

 

Frankly, I'm not crazy about someone removing my engine every 3 to 5 years to replace parts, for a variety of reasons.

First, it's needless - the parts are manufactured to last years longer than this.

Second, I'm replacing parts that I know are working properly with "new" parts that, who knows, may well be defective.

Third, just the act of having someone remove the entire engine and start jicking with stuff has plenty of its own hazards.

Unless the car is driven hard, I think 10 years is plenty sufficient.

The 348 I just bought is 16 years old and still has its original belt, rollers, bearings, etc. and runs like a champ. Of course, it's in the shop for a long-overdue 30K service, so I won't have to worry about this for another 10 years!!!

 

I might be mistaken but aren't there already a few thousand threads trying to answer this question ?

So

"What are your opinions ?"

Mine is "use the search function" - surely one of the roles of a site like this is to gather experiences

And enjoy the car !

 

Relax.... it was his 4th post here.

 

That's the problem. Everyone has there opinion on this. There are anecdotal experiences on belt failures. They make tremendous threads and stir quite abit of emotions on the subjuct. But what percentage of cars actually experience belt failures?

There are no statistics on the average life of a belt or the average time of belt service. There is still no concensus on time or miles other than Ferrari's every 3 years.

Someone needs to start a thread to post belt change miles and # of years. Then see what the average intervals are.

 

It really depends on how much you drive it. In a nut shell, the more it gets driven the longer I would wait to change the belt, and vice versa.

My daily driver has a bit over 4 years on the current belt, it also has about 110,000 miles on it, the belt that is. So it gets driven ALOT. However I just bought stuff to do the timing belt.

Now if my daily driver bites the dust I'm not gonna cry. But a rebuild on a Ferrari engine is NOT gonna be cheap, even if you are the one turning the wrench.

I say don't push it past the 5 year mark.

 

My 91 348 has 15k, with the last belt done in October of 2000, 4k miles ago. I was planning on doing the belts soon, but after pulling the inspection cover, I was convinced that "even sooner" was a better idea, and have ceased driving until they are done.

Although the belt hasn't broken, the visual condition alone is enough to convince me belts that sit are abolutely prone to severe degredation- even in a climate controlled garage.

Just another opinion.

 

I have had my 348 for 16 years and have done 3 majors (2 DIY), and the belts always looked in perfect shape. The manual says 52,500 miles. If the car sits, they will deteriorate, just as everything that isn't used.

Just another reason to go driving!!