belt change, how many years should it be changed?

3 but you could wait 5...i think Ferrari changed it to 3 to make more money

 

use the search function - this topic has been covered extensively on Ferrarichat

Ray

 

THAT my friend is an understatement!!!

Lock the thread.

Jedi

 

Honestly, driving 2500 miles in 4 years, i would worry about many things besides the belt... this is too little in my opinion... there are many threads about this subject... I am not here to open this philosophical subject again, but the following is my answer:
I bought my car 360 spider with 20,000 miles on it. the belt had been changed but i do not recall at what mileage, i think 18k. I drove the car happily and daily for 2 years .. I just changed the belt with other accompanying maintenance now at 43,000 miles! just to be on the safe side... so the belt performed for 25000 miles; this is normal , 15000 is too little unless associated with age! the Belt on any other car would last more than 15000 miles... even a kia!
Now for your case, it is different... you are rarely driving your car and i m not sure how fast would the belt deteriorate by just aging... it depends on how is the car sitting there: are you starting your car weekly without driving it? Do u warm it up for few mnutes and take it around the block once weekly (at least) ? or the car sits for month without starting and then you take on trips?
I recommend weekly driving, this will help lubricate things (engine parts, cylinders, pistons, gears, etc...) and by moving the belt it will maintain its elasticity and flexibility; in which case it would last years (probably 8 to 10).
however, to answer your question, I would not wait more than 5 years before changing it again ... This is true for the tires too! Tire rubber hardens with age and does not perform well anymore even if it still shows the deep threads...
cheers

 

Thumbs up !
I thought you got it in 2006... so since you do not know how it was driven before, i would change the belt within the coming year because driving it now cannot revive it.
take care

 

Has anyone heard of a timing belt actually breaking?

Years ago I had an NSX and the timing belt service based on age was 10 years and the dealer told me they always look like new when the old ones are removed.

 

I don't think the belts break, but the teeth on the belts can wear away in some areas and they slip causing lots of damage. I just had mine changed and saw the old belts, they look pretty good, but of course not as nice as new ones. Incidentally, my car is an 02 with 11k miles. I am the third owner and the belts were the original ones. 8 yr old belts. Still in pretty good condition. Wasn't about to fail or anything. I think Ferrari recommends 3 yrs, which seems to be very conservative. But then again, repairing an engine after belt failure is very expensive. I wonder how often belts fail?

 

it's not just the belts but also the tensioners (actually, the tensioner is probably more likely to fail- Hill Engineering has some highly recommended tensionsers). I'll probably do my belts when they are 4-5 years old with tensioners, and maybe even variators. I'd bet the belts would be fine after 10 years, but I'm not going to take any chances!!

 

Do a search. Quite a few failures reported here. I have been working on Ferraris since they still had carbs and chains. I have seen many belt failures. And anyone who feels they can judge timing belt condition by looking at one that came off is just wrong.

You dont want to pay for belts every 3 years? No problem, there are a lot of cars out there that you can afford. Buy one of those and leave Ferrari's to the big boys.

 

It's three years.

And these engines run in hot environments, and high RPMs....

As Rifledriver says theres LOTS of failures documented here and those guys were singing the blues after it broke.

Your cam variators can snap off and fail at any time, trashing the engine, I'd do the belts just to have one item off the "Worry" List!

 

I stand corrected. My old belts looked good to a novice, but of course it doesn't mean they won't fail. Not a good idea to take chances with this famous maintenance item.

 

i would agree with 3-4 years, so if it was done in 2006 your now up to bat.

 

Belts are made of kevlar (bullet proofing) and wont break. On a daily driver (toyota 4 runner) I drove 10 years/ 150 K before I changed the belt. Ferrari prescribes every three years but I've heard from a reliable source that every 5 years is safe. Having said that, if a belt breakes, it'll cost beacoup bucks. When you pay for a tri annual beltchange you are buying peace of mind.

-Peter Oh

 

split the snitzel
4 yrs is good for my piece of mind.

 

Search. This topic has been covered and covered... and covered a bit more for good measure.

 

I did all the searches, (well three) and the subject is never really addressed head on.

Perhaps you guys could show us what search terms you are using and what specific thread contains the answer, I cannot find it after doing the search.

Several people talk about the cost of a failure, and others discuss the cost of the service and the fact that it should be done.

I guess the 360 manual says 3 years and the 355 says 5 years.

Yet, if it does fail, its probably the single most costly event a 360 can be hit with so I am thinking that this topic should be discussed until an answer comes up. Despite that, no one has come up with a time period based on the facts. Maybe it cannot be determined. All I know is my Fiat failed at 50,000 miles and bent the valves.

Any scientific answers out there? I can't find them in the searches. I have an '03 that was changed in '06 and in 2010 it now has only 7k miles on it. When to do it next?

 

Thats odd. I just did a search in the 360/430 section and came up with 169 threads on the subject. I did a search in Tech Q&A and came up with 250 threads on the subject.

Now, which old ground, and which old arguments did you want us to go over again because you couldn't find any information?

 

At what mileage will the belts begin to fail?

At what age will the belts begin to fail?

If you could share the answer it would be kind of you, many threads come up, none answer the question, perhaps you could show me one that does?

 

After extensive research on this site and many other places, I believe your questions can be answered definitively and forever as follows

Belt failures have been reported at less than 100 miles and more than 75,000 miles.

Belt failures have been reported at less than 2 weeks and more than 10 years.

 

Failure rate becomes unacceptable over 3 years and 30,000 miles. That is why Ferrari has set the replacement intervals at those times. There are TSB's issued to that effect if you go to the trouble to look at prior threads for them. There is a more recent TSB issued for the 550/456 and newer 12's that allows 5 years for the current belt design.


A 30 second search effort on my part turned up pictures of the factory TSB for both the 12 and 8 cylinder cars. They were the first and third threads listed on the search page.


I hope your lack of willingness or research ability did not cause you a great deal of trouble in getting through school. Or have you done that yet?

 

We all know well what the factory recommends and it is widely accepted that the recommended service interval is excessively conservative and adds perhaps as much as $1 per mile to the cost of operating the typical 360.

The question remains, at what mileage and or at what age have these belts failed? I realize very few people have this answer as it also appears to be a relatively uncommon (but expensive failure.)

I do not expect many answers from repair shops as they have a financial incentive to keep us all in the dark and scare us into the 3 year recommendation. (why not change it every week or every day?)

I do not know the answer to this question, that is why I am asking and it seems no one is willing to post the link the thread where this answer can be found? Perhaps its because the answer has not yet been written. (I am not interested in a re-post of Ferrari's official view, perhaps that is what is confusing, I am looking for the real answer.)

(I suppose its possible, no one knows. I don't)