308 / 328 / 348 T-Belt change interval, what's the real deal?

This is discussed about once a month. You can read old threads till you turn green from radiation from your monitor with opinions on this, and they go both ways.
There are examples of belts that have gone far beyond the recommended intervals, including stories of cars with original belts 20+ years old.
Mechanics have reported tales of failure, but not many actual owners on here (probably because we're all more informed).
It is insurance. I hear $1000 at an independent shop, a couple hundred DIY.
Something like $8000 if it lets go.
You make the call.

 

good reply! I often refer to it as insurance when asked.

Brian

 

I will cost you a lot more than $1000 to have the T-belts changed at a shop. Closer to $3k at an independant and someone recently quoted FOH asking $8k for a 328 t-belt change.

Some shops/dealers are now saying 3-years/15,000 miles for the belts.

 

HI,

I HAVE BOUGHT MY 308 GTS (1978) ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO, I HAVE DRIVEN IT FOR ABOUT 25.000 KM'S (17.000 MILES) AND I HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS YET.

I HAVE ASKED A LOCAL ITALIAN CAR SHOP HOW MUCH IT WOULD BE. IF HE DID THE JOB IT WOULD BE AROUND 500-600 USD OR HE COULD SELL ME THE BELTS AT $100 EACH.

HOPE I HELPED OUT HERE

PIETER

 

I had the belts on my old 78 done for $1100 from a private shop. It would have been $1700 if I needed tensioners

 

After seeing a NOS 348 engine at TRutlands for only $14k, it may be cheaper to just drive a 348 until the timing belts break and then put in a NOS engine. At the price of a TB change for a 348, you could buy the NOS engine for the cost of two TB changes. And you never know, you may drive the thing for years and 100k miles with no problem and thus save yourself 10s of thousands of dollars! (;

 

Sean, $3k at an independent would be for belts and valve adjustment same for the dealer quote of $8k...$1k is about right for just the belts. The Belts are about $18 a piece...its the labour to get to them that is the issue. Best way to judge your belts is to give them a visual inspection...take a peek at the coggs to see if they are rounded...also, look for rubber residue inside the aluminum covers...any signs of rubber break down and it is time to replace. I think the issue is not that a belt will out right break...I think it is more likely to slip and cause a disaster rather than break. IMO, new belts or old aren't worth a thing if your cam-end seals are leaking.

 

I was just posting a number I hear. $1100 is really reasonable when you consider that that the gaskets alone cost $150. At $80/hr that's ~12hrs to do all that work. I would guess I could do it that fast now that I've done it myself, but it sure took a lot longer the first time. Getting that damn AC out out of the way was a *****!! (but not anymore - hehehehe http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32326&page=2 )

I'm guessing they did not do the seals for that $1100 as that would add another $150 in parts and several hours of labor to remove and replace all that stuff. I bought seals for mine but several said not to replace them since they weren't leaking. I put a little bit of orange RTV around them, buttoned it all up and they still don't leak.

All in all I will probably not replace them in 5-years unless I go to sell it as it will remove the "Well I have to deduct for the belt service" BS from a potential buyer. I will probably just inspect them as you suggested.

 

Sean,

The $1100 was for belts only. My cam seals were not leaking at that point.

 

I have a car with belts that are 4000 miles, but 12 years old.

They look pretty good, but I carry a four leaf clover and a rabbit's foot.
I am sorry about that three legged bunny, hopping around, somewhere out there...........

 

The often cited 3 yr/15K miles is for vehicles under warranty, to maintain the warranty.

Obviously, on a twenty year old car you can let them hang a little lower!!

....I mean 'longer'.

 

You need to change those belts Big Tex. Someone who has your air cleaners knows how to do this!

 

Its should be 3 years or 30,000 miles. So take it 5 years. No more....

ITS NOT WORTH IT.......

I usually work on the mileage side. Change usually at 20,000 miles.

 

As with everything in the world----there are at least two sides to consider. This is my side----and the official, published. Ferrari side. I refer the reader to his/ Owner's manual. In my case it's for the 1988 3.2 Mondial. Same engine as the 328, so it applies to a lot of cars out there. Page 55 states that the 'camshaft drive belts should be changed at 52,500 miles.

I had mine changed at 41,000 miles / 10 years. The car is driven daily.

I must believe (please, no one get offended) that the Ferrari engineers that chose that interval know a bit more about these engines than we do and probably erred on the conservative side.

I firmly believe that if you do something of a major nature to a car you run the risk of screwing something up. So, rather than changing belts at 10,000 miles being considered safe----you chance having something else "muddled-up" in the process.

At the rate some are changing belts, I would have been changing mine every 6 months, when I was running 20,000 miles per year.

I hope I succeeded in presenting "the other side" and effectively confused the issue even further.

 

Hi,I purchased my 308 QV 4 years ago it had 29K miles at the time.The belts had been changed before I bought the car at 26K.The car now has 36100 miles and the belt went (stripped off teeth).So I now think that time is as big a issue as miles or maybe more.The approx time from the change at 26K was 5/6 years.Its the sort of thing that people think it happens to others.I have really learned my lesson.Good luck.

 

I've driven my 76 308 for 26 years (it was 2 years old when I bought it). The car has 49,000 miles on it and I've had the belts changed three times.

The most recent change was two months ago when I realized that the last time the belts were changed was in 1988, 16 years ago. I got so freaked that I refused to drive the car and had it hauled on a flat bed to the mechanic.

He charged me $1,600 to change the belts and tensioners. Plus $40 dollars for the tow.

I have the old belts in the garage in the "Ferrari Parts" box, along with everything else that has ever been taken off the car. The belts look pretty tired, cracked and scarily decrepit. And the old tensioners don't look very good either.

 

Change mine every 2 years regardless of mileage.Cost of belts about £25 and around 4-6 hrs of my time.
Can't see where all these garages/shops get their prices from,it's a pretty straight forward job.

Steve

 

I was told 20k miles or 5 years whichever comes first.

 

Hm, does it make sense to discuss the belt change interval apart from all the other maintanance a car needs?

I think approx. 3 years is a good interval to pull the engine out to have a couple of things checked: Valve clearances, gaskets and seals, ... ... and while you are at it you might as well spend 50$ or so for a new cam belt.

 

Your mechanic must love you !!

seems excessive in my opinion.

 

You can spend the money on maintenance, or on reduced resale value.

I'm not a mechanic. I have, however, owned and driven Italian cars - Fiat, Alfa, and Ferrari - for the last 30+ years.

The Italian car need for attention and maintenance isn't merely a rumor or "scare tactics". Italian cars are tuned near their peak of performance. When maintenance lags, it falls off that peak rather quickly, and things start to go wrong. Contrast that to "appliance" cars, which are designed to run off peak, so require less care.

The reputation Italian cars have gotten for poor reliability comes from those who skimp on maintenance. In 25 years, my Alfa spider has only let me down four times -- three of which were due to the intolerance of the tank filter to contaminated fuel. For ten years, I drove nothing except Alfas, and had very few reliability issues, due to diligent regular maintenance.

You can buy a Ferrari and just drive it until it stops. But the cost of digging out of that hole will likely be more than you saved on maintenance. (If your t-belts fail, you're looking at $15K-$20K for repair.) And you'll have the frustration of having to fix one thing after another, as they go wrong. With regular maintenance, you get things fixed on your schedule, without them leaving you sit by the side of the road.

But then, you could always hope to find a sucker to take an ill-maintained wreck off your hands.

I think you'll find that a "one night stand" approach to Ferrari ownership would be nowhere near as fulfilling as developing a relationship. (Good gawd, I'm starting to sound like NNO . )