now i know for a fact that you should drain your oil engine diff and gearbox for 24 hours before putting new stuff in. I also know that belts stretch and most mechanics over tighten them to compensate for it when in reality they should have 20mm of travel and then be re tightened after a week of driving! Understandable considering a business needs as much turnover as possible but do you take your car back after a week to have the belt re tightened? Do you leave it in the shop overnight so that all the fluids can drain properly? So does your mechanic do a proper job?
How much more oil actually comes out of a hot gearbox that has been drained for an hour? Not enough to make any difference IMO. More important that the car is at the correct angle to get the most out.
Agreed, an hour is more than enough given warm engine and level to slightly raised front angle. Generally i drain for 30 minutes.
I had a long discussion with an engineer at Dayco about belts on my 330 GT. It turns out that modern belts don't stretch. Instead, they wear on the sides and seat deeper into the pulleys and thus get looser. And yes, he suggested tightening to the 'new' tension and then checking after a while to make sure that the tension is no less than the 'used' tension. The 308 owner's manual specifies the tension for the various belts. Older cars have generic tension specifications depending on the belt width and whether a single or dual belt arrangement. The engineer looked up the specs for my 330. For a single 11mm belt (alternator), the initial tension should be 110 lbs and no less than 90 lbs after run-in. A dual 11 mm belt setup (A/C) is 105 lbs and 90 lbs respectively.
Yes, for the cam belts. I'm talking about the accessory (air pump, A/C, alternator, etc.) belts. In particular, the narrower the belt (7mm on 308s vs. 11/13mm on older models), the more critical the tension is.
Can you support either of those statements with a quotation from a Ferrari service manual? I can disprove both with quotations from their manuals. I am just wondering if there is something I missed in all those factory classes I have been attending all those decades and all those hours spent reading the factory manuals. Please, with such a bold statement you must have some fact based information to back up your assertions.
I have always heard it was preferable to not drain every last drop of oil, since you will have zero or low oil pressure longer during the initial start-up, than if you do a standard 3 to 5 minute drain and refill. In other words the longer zero or low oil pressure at start up is more damaging than leaving a few extra ounces of dirty oil in the car....
The pistons etc. will keep a film of oil on them for quite some time; that should be good enough. I let mine drain 10 minutes and figure that's plenty of time to get most of the old oil out. Besides, I change mine every 3 months regardless so whatever IS left is perfectly good anyway. I would think letting the oil drain a day would really increase wear at startup! Of course, those of us with the oil filter mounted upside down fill the filter before installing it; kind of a trick on a Ferrari as most I've seen have the filter rightside up. Ken
Ken, You seem to contradict yourself, first you say: "The pistons etc. will keep a film of oil on them for quite some time; that should be good enough. " Then: "I would think letting the oil drain a day would really increase wear at startup!"
Letting our cars sit for weeks at a time or even days at a time is very much like starting after an oil change no matter what method you persue and we do it time and again with out a second thought. Modern oils really are a miracle product in many ways. When I started in this business we rebuilt motors because lubricated parts were worn out. Crankshafts, bearings, cams, cam drive components etc. In modern motors we almost never crack open a motor for those reasons anymore. The parts you see worn out now are the unlubricated ones that will wear out oil or not. Lots of paranoia about oil and lubrication in modern motors. Put some in, change it once in a while and do not worry about it too much other than that.
this is what i was told by a Ferrari mechanic of 12 years! but not specifically about Ferrari's just in general
A motor is a motor is a motor. The only difference is the cost of parts. So if you drain your oil every 3K miles it doesn't matter how long you wait for it to drip out. I think some folks get paranoid here on servicing this engine. So all I do is pull the drain plug , then go stuff the paper towels around the filter and remove the filter. I put on the new filter and clean up the paper towels then go put the drain plug in and filler it up with oil. Done 20 minutes and when you pull the dip stick it is clean. Also the 3k oil that I drain looks almost fresh. This I use in my chain saw as chain oil. Done.
I have a couple of decades on him. Sorry to rain on your parade but your information is faulty. Be careful of making such bold statements as fact when your information is second hand especially when you are specifically calling into question the abilities or propriety of others whether they be professionals or serious, experienced hobbiests.
