What damage happens if you immediately turn off the engine and pull over after a belt failure? Thx ErikS
I assume you’re talking about timing belts, correct? If so, very bad things will happen in a few milliseconds after said timing belt snaps…because the F355 has an “interference engine” the pistons and the valves will collide, which typically results in bent valve stems at the very least. This will happen in the first few revolutions of the engine so there’s zero chance you can turn off the engine before $20,000+ of damage is caused. If you’re talking about an accessory belt snapping (water pump and the like) you’re going to be fine if you turn off the engine quickly since the engine won’t have a chance to overheat and warp the heads. Alan N.J.
Erik: You have everyone curious about exactly what happened to you and your car…would you please give us more details and information? What were the exact driving conditions when the timing belts let go? Engine RPM? How old were the belts? Any warning whatsoever? We can all learn something from your experience. You have our sympathy and condolences. Alan
How often has this actually happened? I’m sure a lot is going through his mind but this would be a horrible situation for any owner.
It will bend some valves. If it has iron guides, those will get broken. It will need a valve job. There is no such thing as turning it off quickly. Before you even realized something was wrong the damage was done. Seen it many times.
What happens....you have an excuse to do a complete engine refresh as financially painful as that will probably be. Not a great situation to be in.
Other will now better but I wonder if a 360 bottom end would work with a 355 intake (I might be talking absolute nonsense of course)
I promise I'm not trying to open this can of worms, but I am curious, what are your thoughts on belts and best practices/intervals? Obviously every driver and car is different, etc., but no doubt you have seen this a lot over the years.
What can be said that I have not already said 1000 times? Factory has a recommendation based on cold hard truth, not internet rumors. Every tire company in the world says tires need to be replaced between 5 and 6 years due to age and no one questions it. Ferrari give an age limit and everyone questions it and questions their motives. Fact of the matter is too many are too cheap to maintain the cars.
Well Ferrari states changing a belt every three years on my 360 but every Indy shop that has worked on my car states 5 years. These shops are also supporting vendors of this website.
No…Callaway Cars (the Corvette tuners) was formed by Reeves Callaway, who passed away this past July. Reeves was the son of the Callaway Golf founder. Alan N.J.
The "other" Callaway is famous for being the mechanic to the (youtube) stars and charging insane amounts of money while being extremely vague about the work he actually or supposedly performed. Took one of our former members for upwards of $130k while providing receipts that didn't even hold up to lemonade stand quality. And how nice of the OP to drop this bomb of a thread and then disappear. I'm assuming that he will just take the shop at their word and invest into a $40k engine rebuild.
I've heard that if you drive your car until the belt fails due to normal wear it's cheaper to fix than if you have a belt job every 4 or 5 years. Plus, you have the benefit of a complete top end rebuild. Can't say for sure. I had a belt fail on my 308 after 25 years, but it wasn't due to normal wear. But even then, the repair coast less than what 2 belt srvices would have cost in 2010, let alone 5.
