355 Luck and Cambelts

Well lets be honest these two word seldom go together (if I listen enough I can hear Rifledriver commenting "a another cambelt thread).

I thought some may find this interesting, took a 355 spider for a belt service, the belts were changed by an independent (albeit 5 years ago) when the prior owner owned the car. This time I took it to the Ferrari main dealer for this job t be carried out.

In the last 2 or so years the car has done around 300 miles, yes I know not nearly enough.

Engine gets dropped and I get a call to come and look....the right hand cambelt was pretty much half torn, the tech reckons the this belt was about to fail.

At this point I am feeling quite lucky. Of course being a 355 there is "well we might as well do this while the engine is out" but preventative maintenance I reckon is best.



Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That looks a lot like a "something got in there".

 

Great timing (no pun intended) on dropping it off for service.

 

What makes you think that belt was changed 5 years ago? A piece of paper???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

And what makes you think it wasn't? The tear in the belt has nothing to do with age. There is a production date on the belt so it is very easy to know how old it is and I suspect I am not the only person who knows that.

 

Probably but I have seen similar but less extensive damage done installing them.

I have seen holes clear through from debris getting between the belt and sprocket punching a hole. A friend took off a belt that had a piece of debris pinch a hole in the middle and it continued to tear full circumference. It had in essence two narrow belts.

That type of damage requires a belt new enough it still has the resiliency to survive. Old hard belts do not survive that. Hence the suggested age limit.

 

Great! Now let’s wait for the OP to post up that date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Lost a belt on my 308 back in 2010 due to what we believed are something getting in there. I was driver over a patch of road being repaved. 5, 10 MPH.

 

Why do we care? Damage was unrelated to age.

Have you always been ******?

 

Why we care?
Im quoting you from above: “damage requires a belt new enough it still has the resiliency to survive. Old hard belts do not survive that. Hence the suggested age limit”

It’s ok, relax… drink a cold cup of water. And YES is the answer to your question [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

Looking at it, the tech does think some sort of debris caused this but he also noted white marks on the pulleys which he thinks could indicate someone tried to change the belts with the engine in the car,

In your experience what is the age limit, the very experienced techs here say 5 years as the absolute max.

 

Experience with 355 is why the factory went to 3 years.
Doing the belt in the car....that makes sense. Access is so poor I can see someone forcing or prying to get it done. Especially since getting the crank pulley off is so hard in the car. They may have damaged it trying to force the belt through the small space.

 

I didn't think it was possible to remove the crank bolt pulley while the engine is in? Isn't there interference with a cross bar of some sort? Edit, I 'm referring to the 348, the 355 likely is different.

 

But the butchers who have been doing it that way have been unbolting the motor mounts and jacking the motor high enough to get it out.

 

Ughhhh.....and I wish we had access to the VINs of said vehicles, so that we may stay clear of them if ever in the market for one.

I personally never did understand the "reinvention of the wheel" when it comes to engine out service. The vehicle was built and designed to have the motor removed to do the cambelt service; why anyone would even attempt to vary from this practice is something I will never understand.

My motto has always been "do it properly or don't do it at all"....but I got flamed in a different thread for something equal to or more logical than that. This place not only attracts the good ones, but the weird ones as well

 

I can't imagine, with the sheer volumes of good and bad info out there that anyone could possibly think engine in is a good idea...it's really not that big of a deal to take an engine out.

 

I agree....half a dozen of one, 6 of the other....the time that one "thinks" they are saving, they end up wasting on those other butcher (as Rifledriver calls them) methods.

 

There is no shortcut some will not take. I do understand and take labor saving shortcuts that do not compromise the car or quality of the job. Doing belts in the car on a 355 does both.
Many years ago in my first dealer job it was Alfa Ferrari. We did a lot of valve/piston and liner jobs of Alfas. We came up with a method that allowed it to be done 100% from the top. Saved a lot of time and resulted in a quality repair. There is no quality repair possible doing in the car belts on 355.

 

I changed the belts after 15 yrs/ 15000kms after buying it and redlining it on the track
They looked just fine
Its all about the risk you are willing to take and the money you are willing to spend
As long as it does not break there is no problem
I am going for 10 yrs now

sorry to all:it is the 'absolute max' that triggered me

 

Yip this is the theory the tech working on the car has, how on earth one would work in such a small space, well I suppose butcher job is possible. Interestingly there is apparently no date on the belt either.

At least its going to be done properly this time around!

I will say as someone who cant swing a spanner its seems like a monumental amount of work to lower the engine!

 

Yes definitely I agree if there is away to save time/money WITHOUT compromising the car or quality of the job.

But as you stated, I just don't see how that's possible on a cambelt job for at least the 348 and 355.

 

I did my own engine out this past winter.

The engine is designed to come out. It's not necessarily easy, but with the right tools and lift it is not as hard as I expected. The trick is to take your time and do it correctly.

Now that I have experienced this first hand, I can not imagine trying to do a belt swap with the engine in the car. It's not just crazy, it's bloody stupid.

Some say to pull the gas tank which I find equally crazy. After looking at the tank and crank pulley location, it seems just as much work as just pulling the engine.

Once the engine is out you can see the 100 other things you need to address that you can't see when it is in the car.

To each his own I guess.

Glad they caught that belt damage when they did. Go buy a Lottery ticket.

 

When we did mine (348), I found that it wasn't difficult, it just time consuming. There is a difference. If you have the patience and the time, then it is not difficult at all. My respect goes to all the professionals who do this regularly, they truly deserve all the credit in the world.

And, you're right about your other point - once the engine is out, you can address more than just the cambelt. Afterall, isn't that the whole purpose of removing the engine, to take care of everything else while you have access to it all?

 

Of course... early 348, do your TSB bearing...(they're still out there), make sure the oil drain on the passenger exhaust is drilled/updated (they're still out there).

If you don't know, read.
If you don't know, take nothing for granted.

sjd

 

They all have date codes. He just doesn't know what to look for.