I have HAD IT!

+348 Ernie, get back in the garage and suck it up. Don't bail when you are almost at the end ........ (with a car that over the last 10 years has had almost every part replaced ) It's practically a new Ferrari!

 

Sell On eBay. Then you get to deal with every low ball door knob on earth....After that experience you'll be wanting to take it outside and set it on fire........

I'm gonna admit I don't miss either one of those POS cars!


Sorry guys, take notice from Ernie and myself. I've said it a thousand times these things are not reliable...How many header, valve guide, tranny, cylinder problems do you really need to read on here to understand it WILL happen to you.....If you own a 355 make sure you have 30k laying around to keep it running.....If you do then you'll be fine......

You guys know how much work Ernie has done. I'd say it would take quite a bit to make him "snap".....Smart guys cut off the bleeding during a bad financial transaction. Sounds like he is there.....

 

funny but true - it is quite interesting to see people spend huge amounts of money and they still have problems with these cars

 

You gotta love how a few instances gets grouped into EVERY single model.

 

You should post this question in the 360 section

 

Apparently Eli needs some parts (LoL)

 

problems with headers, valves, cats are not isolated to a few bad examples it's the norm with the 355's - the cars that don't have any of these issues are the rare ones

 

Ernie, you and I have known each other for a while. Well, as well as someone can know someone else through micro bits of carbon through ether space.

Here's my story: I brought a 1998 Maranello in the Spring of 2003. That fall, the plenium hose blew while on the track at the Ferrari French Quarter Classic. Oh crap. Put it on the flat bed and truck it back to the dealer.

Fast forward to the Summer of 2007. Hottest day of the hottest summer ever. BOOM! Car overheats. Steam pouring out. No water. No nuthin.

This time, the car gets flatbedded to an independent.

It turns out there are THREE mutherchuckingsonafemaledog plenium hoses. The slimly cocksuckingsob SM at the dealership only replaced one of the three hoses in 2003.

That did it. I was tired of paying and paying and paying. I sold da Shark.

Do I miss it? Hell yes.

Do I miss being cornholed? Hell no.

YMMV.

Dale
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Appreciate the heartfelt honesty on this thread. As Chatham aptly stated, the dream is easy but the challenge of ownership has to be considered before purchase.

I have been there with other cars who demanded time, money and belief the future would inevitably be better. The confrontation of endless maintenance seriously diffused my enjoyment of the car and as it turned out, I would have paid blood to unload my pride and joy if others (future owners) hadn't approached me first to unload the moneypit in question.

The natural fear one assumes after spending countless hours and cash on a car, is that the next owner now owns the perfect vehicle you've stupidly given up for a song.

I suppose that's a good thing... . Zero guilt.

 

I was talking more about 348 issues - does every single 348 have the same issues that Ernie's 348 has had?

 

Hell no!

Ya know.... there is this spare 348 radiator laying ontop of the hay stack. I pulled it out for another Fchatter who needed one, pressure checked it and the likes and then was told "Good, I will let you know if I need it".... still sitting there.

 

That is good news for Ernie . Are the rads interchangeable (left side or right side), or are they specific to each side?

 

It's all relative, having been a power boater for many years I have become used to being corn holed. Although I have not had any serious issues to date, knock wood, I cannot imagine it can be nearly as painful as boat service. It seems to me that there are no supply of either part or service providers. To date I have used Ferrari LI and have been treated fairly and professionally.

 

The rads are specific to each side.
Per Ricambi the left hand radiator is $2,140.00 but their is no price listed for the right hand radiator (just a note to call for the price).

 

I'm calling the WAAAAAAmbulance. The darn cars are 20 years old, ferchrissake. Stuff happens. Fix 'em, drive 'em til they break again. Sell 'em when you don't love 'em anymore, but quityer*****in and whinin'. Buy a freakin' Porsche if ya ain't willin' to maintain and fix it. Marry a mechanic. Ya ain't gettin' any sympathy from anybody for ownin' a Ferrari.

 

Maybe this was good for me to see. I have so many projects and interests that owning a Ferrari may not be for me - but if Ernie wants to get rid of this horrible burden of car so badly I will come haul it away for free of charge and take my chances. deal?

 

Brother Ernie,
I couldnt agree with you more & share the exact same sentiments of each & every post in this thread.Ive had mine for 5 yrs/30K of driving & was sick of fixing it many tens of thousands of dollars ago.Not to mention that Im sure your labor is worth quite a bit aswell.I feel your pain.Its a shame to talk about a car that I love so much so poorly.I must have close to 100 labor hrs in repairs.I spit an an axle out a few months ago with the wheel bearings on the right side........it blows.....whats really sad is that there are other 348 owners that have spent far more than my 40k in repairs.Stay strong )John

 

No one ever feels bad for the "poor " ferrrari owner that has to fix it all the time do they )
I like it too much & not a porsche fan so that means.......keep on fixin it

 

Its not so much about how much money one spends. Its more about getting the job done right and that means having a mechanic that knows these cars inside out with his eyes shut.

 

Its important with any car to have a good mechanic but on a 348 he will be very very very very busy which means lotsa money over & over & over & over & over & over )
BTW if you have a "cheap" job done on a 348 its waaaaaaaaaay MORE expensive the next time which will be very very soon)

 

What ever you do don't go test drive a Lotus or a Corvette. Just don't do it.....

 

You are very upset and rightly so but this thread makes the 348 sound like a ticking time bomb that is just not true. Look you know I have had my share of problems but they were all avoidable and 98% of the time the car ran great. I think that most of the other 348 drivers owners will agree with me.

Ernie I feel for you I really do, you have had some bad luck and maybe it is time to get out of this one cut your losses and find another.

It is not uncommon for some of the cars to be jinxed you know lemons, it happens all the time with every other manufacture, maybe you have one of those problematic 348 cars.

Or your last name is Shleprock then you`re on your own
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Ernie, there is no doubt that the design/build quality of Ferraris improved under Luca Montezemolo. For example, it is my understanding you that you have to go underneath the car to replace the battery on a F348! The litany of things that were poorly designed on this car goes on forever.

But if you move up to a sorted F550 or a stick F360, the world becomes a much better place. As an added bonus, the newer cars are more fun to drive.

As you know, that's the rub. The problem comes when you drive these cars. Guys who put less than a 1,000 miles a year on their Ferrari, don't drive 'em hard enough to break 'em. Then there are the crazy few who do, and we pay a price.

Me? I watching stick F430s. I know these cars are designed for paddles, but I like a stick on the street. Once these babies go under a ton, I might have to jump back in the race.

Good luck. But, remember, there's always a time to sell.

Dale

PS Porsche 996 Turbos are pretty sweet.

 

Ernie- I'm thinking you got a lemon. It can happen with any car.

Way back when, I had a beautiful 1979 Alfa Spider in British Racing Green. The car's PO did not take very good care of it, and as a result, I had problem after problem with the car. Fix one thing, something else would break.

I got to know my mechanic real well (a great guy, Peter Krause). But utimately, one day I just couldn't take it anymore, and sold it cheap to someone who said he would take the time to go through it and fix everything. I bought a new Nissan 240SX to replace it.

Six months later, I had to have another Alfa. Sold the Nissan, and bought a used Alfa 164 (I was having my first kid and needed something "practical"). This time, I did it right. Checked out service records, did the PPI, etc. Drove the Alfa for something like 8 years before I had to get rid of it to buy a pickup.

Anyway, I guess where I'm getting at is maybe your car is a unique situation. Sell it if you want, but don't let it stop you from getting another one at some point.

Good Luck,
Dom