My 348 stopped running on the highway

I hate to diagnose over the Internet, but having experienced a catastrophic failure (on a BMW), the symptoms are identical. On my BMW, the camshaft snapped because the timing chain jumped off of the gear. Bent valves, etc. Sorry, but I think you have a major problem.

 

"High pitch sound like a turbo".

It probably seized a bearing in the water pump or belt tensioner, then lunched the belt. I'm afraid there isn't much possibility that you DON'T have a broken t-belt and bent valves. Sorry.

 

Holy cr@p... it hurts just reading this (especially since I just got off a fast highway run in the 328 five minutes ago).

 

I'm freaking out just reading this. I have no idea about the symptoms, so I will put a vote in for it being some other problem than a broken T belt, valves, etc... Like they said in the Shawshank... "They can't take away your hope." I HOPE all is easily fixed, keep us up to date.

BT

 

I've got a great guy up here in Birmingham who can rebuild your motor on the cheap (well, cheap isn't actually a Ferrari word).

Honestly, it's the valves, pistons, and various seals, gaskets that are the killer for costs.

Taking the engine out isn't actually that much of a big deal. Replacing the belt and tensioners and water pump isn't a big deal.

Consider purchasing an existing running engine. You can swap out the water pump for $200, go with the Hill tensioners for another $450, and put on a new timing belt for less than a $100...

...Which will be far, far cheaper than buying new pistons ($1,000+ each), valves ($100 each times 32 valves), valve guides, and $1,500 worth of seals/gaskets (and God help ya if you snapped a crankshaft) for your existing engine.

Sorry for your pain. I've just been through it myself.

 

sounds exactly like the time i blew a belt in my moms bmw .... damn

unfortunately you are the example that the 5 yr 30k major service whichever first rule applies.

 

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, at least you are OK. People are nuts on the highway, I would be scared just being on the shoulder.

So if I read your post right the belt was approx 5-6yrs old & 20K miles if thats what failed.

 

let all of us 348 brothers have a moment of silence...

 

Sorry to hear about---cross your fingers and hope for the best--you never know!!! I will say a prayer for your car tonight-that it is something simple and not a major deal...

 

I would guess you would need to make a quick check to see if you blew the timing belt. First if you can reach under the timing belt cover and see if the belt is there. You also might want to look under the car to see if there is a belt hanging. And if you can't do this then pull the distributor cap and have someone click the starter and see if the rotor turns. If you snapped the belt while you were running and you also turned over the motor after it went dead this proceedure won't damage the motor any more then it is now. So if the water pump bearing gave up and you heard squeeling and then the motor stopped you may have toasted the timing belt. Give it a try.

 

OUCH!!!!

Yeah I hate to say it but, I think your engine has had it. The "cards hitting a fan" sound is more than likely the valves and pistons beating the crap out of each other.

If you wanna buy a used engine that's ready to go get ahold of Fchatter Plugzit. Unless he already sold it, he has a spare engine ready to go. Here it is in the ads section. http://www.ferrarichat.com/ferrariads/showproduct.php?product=132&sort=1&cat=13&page=6 Just plug and play.

 

I feel your pain. Heard that noise in a Maserati Biturbo. $400 tow bill, many parts. Good luck-let's hope your motor just swallowed a squirrel. PM me if you need the complete motor-may be way cheaper than fixing it.

 

Well, I just rebuilt my top end (full valve job) on my 348 engine, and I can assure you that buying Plugzit's running motor for $7,500 is a bargain...because you can sell your blown 348 engine whole, or in parts, for $4,000.

And $3,500 ($7.5k for Plugzit's minus $4k for your engine) is *cheap* for taking care of a blown Ferrari motor.

Now Plugzit, what's your story? Why do you have an "extra" 348 engine?!

 

Wow.

I'm going to be taking care of that "whistling" sound I've been talking about as soon as possible.

Sorry to hear about this. I hope your 348 comes back to life soon. Don't be too discouraged!

 

The 348 doesnt have a distributor. It has coil packs. Although on a car with a dizzy,thats the quickest and easiest way to tell if you have a broken belt

 

I think so I will be raising the ferrari flag in my driveway at half mast today Hopefully not too much damage was done mobileguy

 

Sorry to hear about what happened man. As grim as most people are on here about what happened I would wait to jump to conclusions until you can actually get the engine out and look at it all.

It doesn't sound good as the turbo like noise I have no doubt was a bearing going crunch...HOWEVER I had my alternator make the same sound when the bearing in it seized up twice now. Each time that was followed by what I say could possibly sound like cards hitting the fan as the belt flops around. The car then stopped each time shortly there after due to the alternator not feeding voltage into the ignition system. To check it out just jack the car up and slide under the font of the car to the belts area and check it all out.

Easy way to tell if you crunched the pistons is to simply drain the oil out of the crank case and check the metal content. I have never seen a busted up engine not drop off something that you cant find in the oil. Next step then would be to pull off the oil pan and take a look to see what you can see.

Sorry to hear about it buddy...trust me I know your pain.

 

I would agree with you John but, the starter spinning really fast is making me think it's the cam belt. However I hope your right and its just the alternator belt.

 

Yep,you are correct ernie.Its spinning over quickly because it has no compression or no timing belt opening and closing the valves. Or bent valves,cracked pistons/bent rods ect...

 

Hope this option helps, http://www.ferrarichat.com/ferrariads/showproduct.php?product=132&sort=1&cat=13&page=6

But seriously, you are running on a 6yr old belt with almost 20K miles on it but I think mileage is not the issue, it's the age. Over here, we change it once every 3yrs even if we don't drive it. Please keep us updated, we feel your pain.

 

Oh lets not rub salt in the wounds guys!! Sorry to hear about this. If there is anyway i can help please let me know.

 

Sorry to hear about this. Keep us posted.
Maybe a ferrari-fund is in order - in cases of catastrophe, your brothers are there to help.

 

Ernie - I guess I should have read it a little better. You are right if the starter is spinning her real fast it probably is the t-belt but lets not give up hope and please tmobile check the alternator belt first.

I still would wait to get the engine out and at least take a look at the t-belt before you buy a new engine. Who knows it might just be you bent a few valves and can fix it pretty easy (well not easily but for less cash than buying a new engine).

 

Unlikely. A whole engine may sell at a discount to removing and completely disassembling an entire engine. In many cases, when valves hit pistons, pieces come off that score the cylinder wall. This necessitates re-sleeving the engine. The whole thing has to come apart.

Generally, when you do such a major overhaul, you do many things that aren't normally done. This is an opportunity to polish and bore things to improve performance. Since the cost of parts is already ridiculous, upgrading isn't that big a deal. The only positive angle on this is to make it an opportunity to upgrade performance. Otherwise, there's no way around the fact that this sucks.