Belt service after 13 years and 4,500 miles

I dropped the car off late last last night for a belt/tensioner service and told them to give her the 'blank checkbook special'.

Nothing is leaking that I can see and everything seems in ok condition.

We will see what it ends up being but at the least belts, tensioners, coolant flush, oil/filter, brake fluid, and ???

Also curious how the belts look after this long.

None the less, I can't wait to get it back as my Nouvalari Supersport exhaust arrives Friday
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sweet!! I have the Nouvalari ... you won't be disappointed!

 

Did you order the Sport or Super Sport?

 

onefastman ordered the Supersport.

Hey Paul ........... which one do you have?

Cheers,

Hank

 

The belts will look perfect.

 

The car is a 1985 European QV (Italian market)

 

+1

Don't forget to tell them to change the gearbox oil too.

 

Nice shot... love the reflection.

 

Can't wait to see what gets added to the list. Good luck!

 

I'm actually passing on that. The transmission shifts smoother than any f-car I've ever driven, even when cold.

I'm always of the opinion for transmissions that if it's working well leave it alone. I can't tell you how many times someone has changed fluid on an older transmission that was working perfectly fine and then afterwords has issues. However, I very rarely hear of transmissions going out or failing, let alone due to old fluid.

 

Wow! Never heard of that before. I have replaced many gearboxes from bearing failure/pitting because of oil that was never replaced.

Here is my latest example on the importance of changing all oils and fluids in cars.

I just did a full service on a friends 2007 Holden Colorado work ute. Car had only 12,000 km on the clock from new, one owner.

I drove the car for a few days sorting out new tyres and wheel alignment for it while I waited for all the filters to arrive.

The gearbox wasn't smooth by any means, but it was still ok to drive.

I dropped that gearbox oil and it came out slightly milky. I would say from all the condensation build up over the years.

Flushed it out as best I could. Put new oil and test drove after the service was done.

BIG improvement while going through the gears. I never told him I did a full service on it, he just said do whatever you need to do.

After he drove it, he said it's a lot nicer to drive. "What did you do to it" he asked.

I did it all, but after I told him what the gearbox oil was like, he interrupted me and told me the gearbox feels "great" now.

All the oils and filters were 8 years old so they had to be done. Brake fluid and coolant also.

The brake fluid looked like new in the reservoir, but came out like maple syrup at all 4 brake calipers. I flushed the system properly.

The coolant looked like new, but it had a very off/foul smell to it. That was flushed also.

So it's your call man, but don't forget oil breaks down over time regardless of mileage.

I wouldn't dare have 13 year old gearbox oil in any of my cars, but if you're happy to leave it then it's all good.

Looking forward to seeing more pics of this operation. Threads like this are my most favourite on Ferrari Chat.

 

Personally this has happened to me twice on 911's.

1st time was on an 85 911 cab that was shifting perfectly with no issues. Within a month (daily driven) of having the trans oil changed my third gear synchro went out and was popping out of gear.

2nd time was on a 997 that had zero issues and after switching to redline as preventative maintenance I was getting grinding in third gear as well.

On classic cars with automatic transmissions this has been my experience many times as well but that is because debris got knocked loose and caused issues.

Regardless, this is the smoothest ferrari transmission I've ever felt, by a lot, so I'm going to leave it even if the fluid is 13 years old and has 4,500 miles on it.

 

It is all done!

Belts, tensioners, accessory belts, brake fluid flush, oil/filter change, and coolant flush.

It is pretty exciting to get it back and the total service (parts, labor, and tax) was only $1,742.94!



and the old belts look like new too

 

Fair enough mate, I can understand why you would be reluctant with having that happen twice.

Awesome!! Cheap too!

 

The gear oil in my 1965 Corvair might not have been changed since the 1980's. It has a dip stick and over the years I have added some. Might have had it changed sometime in the last thirty years but not sure.

Ancient belts are a different matter. Not so much because they are old, but because they have not been exercised and may have taken a set. Like tires parked for a long time. Either I would change them or break them in VERY SLOW!

Water hoses are similar in my opinion. They do get harder over time and if they are not subjected to pressure cycles for many years might start cracking. My solution to this has simply been to depressurize my system with 60/40 glycol. Its not ENTIRELY depressurized since I keep the reservoir cap just fitted enough to avoid splash out. In such a case a rubber hose can be damn near carbonized like clay and not blow out. Two years and going on eleven thousand miles not added one ounce.

I probably should use a turkey baster to start removing a pint or two every week and freshening it up.

 

That is the often heard and frequently argued advice for automatic transmissions, but I have never heard it applied to a manual tranny unit where fluid changes seem much more important to remove water and metal particles.

As far as I know, there is no filter in a manual like there is in an automatic to remove these contaminates.

It is your car so do as you like and I hope it continues to work well for you.
Alden

 

I have also heard this about automatic transmissions but not about trans-axles. On the other hand I have never much heard of a trans-axle that ever wore out either! Every few years my Corvair gets lazy synchros at which point I know to add a pint or so. That has been going on for decades and I apply full throttle and high rpm to just about every shift. [ It supposedly has 110 hp but that seems optimistic to me!]