Hello chaps, Humour me if youve had this question before but I would like to hear peoples thoughts. What is the duration between cambelt changes 3 or 5 years or does it go on mileage? My Testarossa has done 7200 miles and had the belts done when I bought it in March 2002. By the time 3 years comes I estimate I will have done approximately 10000 miles, it was 3600 when they were changed in 2002. So is it neccesary to change after 6000 miles or 3 years, what do you think? Cheers I am a UK owner>
No. I'd wait 5 years. I believe it's 5 years if you haven't put 30k miles on the car. But at 15k miles your car will need a valve adjustment. So you may have to get the valve adjusted before you change the belts again. Depending on how much you drive it.
I have been told that in other markets the suggested time limit was 3 years. In the US it was 5. Ferrari recently lowered the time to 3 for later cars in response to some failures. As far as mileage is concerned I (working from memory which is not perfect) I believe the books stated that in normal use 50k or in any but ideal conditions 30k. Mileage is almost never the determining factor so don't worry about it. I have a TR and feel that after boiling down all the factory recomendations and from personal experiences reguarding timing belt life 5 years is a good lifespan.
Cheers Brian and Jim, I kinda like 5 years cos a service and belt change costs a lot here and I cant really afford it every 3 years, by the way have you ever done them yourself?
I advise 5 years if the tensioners are replaced, and 3 if not. But that's just my advice as an independant. Ferrari dealers give official advice. On TR, the waterpump seal needs to be checked, but you can see the tell tale hole from underneath and if it's not weeping then don't worry about it. TR's have the added simplicity of crank driven belts, where BB's and all the other cars use intermediate shafts etc, which can give problems of their own.
Si, Let me know if you want them done soon-my guy is very sensibly priced (I had mine done this year-I bought belts and tensioner bearing from Egham and it came to around £120) and done a great job. He is a Lambo specialist, but Ferrari, Porsche's, Zonda's, etc no worries. Pete
