My 348 stopped running on the highway

Typically the belt doesn't actually break so much as the teeth underneath get sheered off. On mine, the belt and the teeth were intact, but the belt jumped two teeth on the exhaust side and 1 tooth on the intake side (wierd, I realize).

But this means that your pistons interfere with your valves, which is the bad news.

Now, you should absolutely pull the engine...but...trust me when I tell you that it is cheaper to buy a running engine for $7,500 than to rebuild the top end...much less the bottom end. A competent machine shop will charge you $500 per cylinder head for machining (or $1,000 each for new ones aftermarket). Valves are $100 each aftermarket, and you've got 32 of them.

Valve guides are another $22 each (times 32). Head gaskets are $125 each. Intake valve gaskets are $60 each. Exhaust valve gaskets are $50. You'll need 32 valve stem gaskets and a wide variety of O-ring seals/gaskets. You've got front cam gaskets and rear cam gaskets that have to be replaced.

And then there is the problem itself (e.g. a seized tensioner bearing or a seized water pump).

I'm just trying to save you from making my mistake. I thought that the rebuild would be cheaper than buying a running engine. I was wrong, especially when you get to sell your blown engine whole or in parts for $4k+.

 

If you remember the last thread of a belt failure the band of the belt was intact. The failure was limited to the teeth being stripped off. I said at that time that was the poster child for belt failure. The belt itself almost never breaks and when it does is almost always as a result of a large piece of foreign material getting between the belt and one of the pulleys overstressing the fiber reinforcement of the belt and actually breaking it.
As I said , rare.

Yours is far more common and because of the design of the 348 drive system I would hazard a guess that when you get the covers off you will find the teeth stripped off at the drive pulley. The crank is spinning and all cams are stationary.

Get a look at the waterpump. From your description of the failure event the sound may well have been the waterpump siezing and overloading the belt.

Get the heads off and have a look. A good chance that only a few valves got dinged and if so may not be a huge price to fix. Th 4 valve motors have such small thin valve stems that often they get bent doing little damage to the pistons. Sometimes the heads break off, then it's a real mess.

Sorry it happened. Ferrari is not stupid about the life of timing belts. Many come off after many years looking great, some break much sooner. I've said here before, only once have I seen a failure inside the recommended life window, I've seen a hole bunch outside it. Sometimes it costs somebody a Ferrari because they can't afford to fix it and thats a shame. Often all because someone says you don't need to pay any attention to Ferrari.

I make more fixing one car like yours than I do doing a whole bunch of timing belts prophylactically. I got a 348 coming in in 2 weeks just like yours. It is very avoidable.

 

I thought the 348 has a (1) single serpentine timing belt for both banks?

 

t-mobile I gotta ask did they replace the water pump at your last 30k when the belts were changed? It seems to me that when ever your see these things its always because the previous 30k didn't replace the water pump or the tensioners.

I personally (and I stress personally) have never heard of or seen a failure of the belt or tensioners when being replaced at a reasonable interval of once every 4-5 years. I think longer than that and you are pushing it unless you get some upgrade bearings in both the WP and the tensioners.

 

John, I just put two and two together. This is the 348 that ran down to Daytona with Janakowski-the Kicker for Oakland in the 720HP Rentech! Really sorry to hear it, a beautiful car. On another note, How's your clutch? Anyone going to Amelia this weekend? A guy from Brumus is detailing my car-I should pick it up on Saturday, then Sebring in a Few weeks.

 

To answer my own question the 348 has one timing belt for both banks that runs the water pump as well, one side moving or turning makes no sense, not to be the bearer of bad news but both banks could have damage with this design. Probably as stated the water pump froze creating a chain reaction.

 

this is a diagram of the 348 timing belt setup.

its a single belt driving all 4 cams and the water pump :-
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oh man, good to hear your car is back & you've got some great help along.

Now, I'm starting to worry. When they did my 30K major few months ago, they said the water pumps are working fine & doesn't need rebuild, didn't know they can cause a belt seizure as well.

 

You have to remember,that if a competent mechanic looks at the water pump and deems the water pump bearings ok,then 9 times outta 10,it wont be replaced by him. On the other hand,everyone here swears that is should be replaced and the tensioner bearings because they can seize and cause major drama. Its a little price to pay for the water pump and the tensioner bearings compared to a engine as in this case? If need be?? Id still trust my own judgement in this area when i do my major/belt change around mid year. You would be a god if you could predict when parts/bearing failures happen,but thats impossible unfortunatley

 

Tmobileguy, I am very sorry to read all this.

You helped me out a lot when I got my 348 and had some minor issues going on, and I cannot believe that this actually happened to you now !

I hope you will get your car running again soon.

 

I have to give credit where credit is due. The trailer was a loan from a good friend of mine (DerekFSU) on here. Other than that, I know Greg was there in a heartbeat to help, he has been for me. I am sure that we will get into it more soon and get pictues and then we all can make a more educated decision. All I know is that I am getting my major done early!
JDAVID - Same guy! Clutch is good. Seats and interior leather is out for a full restore!

 

totally off topic , but :-

there was this old trick of putting one tablespoon worth of brake fluid
into the coolant to act as a lubricant for the waterpump oilseal.

don't know whether anyone still does this though.

Hey , JON :- how is yer car treating you ?

cheers.
.

 

Again, I'll be the voice of hope (not reason). Maybe the belt shredded and bound up against the engine block stopping the motor from running. Then the starter broke its engagement gear and is just spinning, but not engaging the flywheel. Maybe??? Probably not I know, but maybe???
BT

 

After looking at it last night, this was my voice of hope as well. One of the things that led me to this same thought is the drivers side has zero slop on the belts. The passenger side has a slight amount of slop. Also, when you try to start the car, the drivers side belt and cam pulleys don't move. The passenger-side exhaust cam pulley tries to move (e.g. tugs at the belt), the passenger-side intake came pulley doesn't move.

Maybe my thought process is all wrong...I'm a 308 engine guy.

 

My only second thought is you can tell by the sound that the starter motor engagement gear is not broken and not just spinning. It sounds as if it is definitely trying to turn the motor over.

 

Drop that engine and tear it down. The suspense is killing me!
BT

 

You'll need a special wrench to get at the head bolts. You can fab one with a 15mm offset boxend and a 1/2" drive extension if you're a good welder or get one from Baum tools. If you don't have one, you might as well go ahead and order it.

 

Does anyone have a picture of this tool? I have access to a welder...

 

I don't have it formatted for the forum, but I can email it to you hi-res. Send me your email address

 

You have to evacuate the a/c before removing the engine

 

Hell with the tree huggers... just cut the lines with a hacksaw.







.




(Just kidding. DO NOT DO THAT!)

 

Right, Daniel. All you really need is a tubing cutter.