Yes, timing belts do fail.

He states he's owned it for 15 years and had the belts changed when he first got it. This just proves what we've always thought... you can go 14 years without changing timing belts.

 

I love this comment too:

"Paint is perfect. Only blemish are slight small bubbles on lower edge of driver and passenger doors."


So, is the paint perfect? Or are there slight small bubbles on both doors?

 

Nice to know that the belt won't snap if I go past the "3 year" BS quoated by the dealers. Lets see if he were to have changed the belt every three years, at $3,500 a pop x 4 times (in 14years) = $14,000. Now he got quoted $8,000 on the high end for a rebuild. Thats a minimum savings of $6,000!!!! Pretty good if you ask me.

So it's five years or 52,500 miles just like the book says.

 

My 360 book says 3 years (and 36K miles iirc, but that part is a joke in the Ferrari world...).

It's interesting how so much depends on just one component!

 

Well in the manual for my 348 say 52,500 miles. Non the less it is still the biggest load of crap. I was at an Acura dealership, and looked at a brand new NSX. The scheduled belt change was 100,000 MILES!!!!!!

 

The difference is that NSX owners actually drive their cars!

I think Ferrari's somewhat weird service schedule reflects the ridiculous reality that very few Ferraris are driven regularly. They are mostly garage queens. Infrequently used timing belts are probably more failure prone than belts which see regular use.

I agree though that, with regular use, the belt should easily last 5 years 50K miles as your book states.

It would be nice to have 2 timing belts. Then you could replace them both when the first one broke!

 

I agree 100%...excpet good luck getting away with "only" 3500 for a belt change!

 

Well on the early Modials you should be able to change it in stu. But I could be wrong. I do know that they have the engine on a removable subframe. But since the engine sits the same way that the 308 & 328 engines sit, I really don't see why the belt can't be changed while still in the engine bay. Thus you don't have to pay for the "extra" time need to remove the whole thing. Again, I could be wrong.

 

he tried to sell this car last year same condition.

 

Depends where you go! When I bought my 308 I had the belts & tensioners, tune up, just about every seal on the motor, and a bunch of minor stuff done for just over $2K.

 

And I tell a guy to change his timings belts before he starts his car, and get raked over the coals..I guess you guys know better...

 

Me too.

 

Well, first you have to believe the guy. $4-8K to fix a blown timing belt? If all it done was bend the valves, ......maybe. But this doesnt seem to be helping anyone here with the mis-guided notion they can forget thier belts for 14 years. To all of you who want to play russian rollette with Ferrari belts and compare your car to a Honda, I say go for it.

I personally knew someone who had a lot less than that amount of time or miles, and lost. So believe what you will. The facts are that the Ferrari has half the size belt sprockets, so belts wrap over cam in a tighter radius. Add that a Ferrari is constantly in the 4-6K rev band while the lesser cars with larger sprockets are turning s l o w e r in the 2-3.5K rev band. One fourth the circumference at twice the speed and you want them to last just as long?

Someone said if you cant afford the belt change you shouldnt own a Ferrari. I would add that if you cant do the job yourself, maybe you shouldnt own one either unless your handicapped. I feel this is simple maintainance, and can generally be done on a saturday afternoon for $40 for belts. Extending the time between changes is rediculous in my opinion. I've taught my son how to do this, he can already figure out valve timing and a degree wheel, at 18 years old. If he can learn this crap, so can anyone bright enough to own one of these cars.

 

I don't know about the NSX, but on my wife's Lexus the time reccomendation was still 5 years, just like Ferrari. We just had it done.

 

LOL!! This is very true. My '91 NSX has about 117,000 miles and my '94 NSX has just under 91,000 miles and runs great. I just cannot let them sit.

 

I heartily agree: use it or lose it!

 

What's encouraging is that this thing is fetching some pretty hefty bidding considering it needs a rebuild!

 

Dude, what kidn of Ferrari are you referring to? If any weekend mechanic can change the belts on my TR for $40 parts in an "afternoon" time period, I'd be highly impressed.

 

We're talking about the 3x8 series, whose belts can indeed be changed that way without removing the engine, unlike the TR.

 

all the p cars currently are belt driven, as are the lambos and finally, ferrari joins the club with the 430..its about time..esp with belts that need to changed, according to ferrari, every 3 years, even if if the car sits in a airconditioned garage and driven 2000 pampered miles a year...nothing pissed me off more during my ownership of my 355 and 360 than the belt issue....

 

my bad, i meant that p cars and lambos and the 430 are chain driven, no more belts that need replacement....