Major Service – 30,000 miles or 5 years? Cost?

If it had timing chains, yeah probably. But Ferraris use belts. One breaks and you have
pistons making love to valves in the same small space, and NOW your major service is
a $21,000 engine rebuild.

Cost varies wildly - depends on how much 'while you're in there' stuff, and who does it. $2,000? MAYBE,
if you did it all yourself. $4000 low end, $9000 high end for normal dealers and such. The last major done
on my 328 last summer (by the seller) was $4900 at RTGT in Portland (did not include new waterpump.
That was replaced in November in WA DC for another $1800)

Jedi

 

5 years is a good period to do major. Your costs:

$40 for belts
$150 for tensioners
$50 for coolant
$50 for oil
$10 for oil filter
$60 for transmission fluid
$30 for air filter
$150 for water pump rebuild kit
$40 for spark plugs
$75 for 3 AC, water pump, and alternator belts

and if you adjust the valves
$30 for average 4 valve shims replacement
$100 for gaskets for the valve covers.

So, about $750 just for the materials at your cost. Add 50% for shop mark up. And $100/hr for a minimum of 30hours, more likely 40 hours, and you are looking at $5000 if you just hand your key to someone else.

Add much more if your seals leak, your bearing makes noise, your clutch needs to be replaced and flywheel resurfaced. Now we are knocking on $8000.

Bend over if you have funny idle problems that require extensive testing and or replacement of very expensive Bosch CIS electronics components. Can you say $10G?

 

Check this thread that I started after my belt change: 35,000 miles and 11+ years on belts!

 

On the 308/328s the water pump is readily accessible not like the 348/355s on......so I don't do that.

As noted it depends on Dealership vs. independent really. My next majors I am going in to remove sodium valves (early 2V cars only) so it's gonna be expensive!

I'm gonna take them into Colorado for snow skiing and leave them there for the job.

There's a Tech Bulletin now that says 3 years regardless of use......so after that you are a gambler!

 

The original service interval in 1976 was close to that, 16K miles or 7 years (from memory), catalytic heat changed all that, IMO....beginning in 1978.

 

Hi Doug,

I am in the final stages of my first major, because i have my first track day coming up. To your point, It Depends:

How long have you had the car, maintained it - if you are about to do your first major and you just bought the car, be ready for a lot of "while you are in there's". It depends on how well your PPI went. If you have good records from the previous owner, you kind of know when things were done and how they went.

I am flying blind here, and encountering a few little problems:

30 year old coolant hoses, a stripped nut on the back side of the front cam cover that required tedious drilling out, a missing part or two while opening up the carbs for overhaul, massively stuck water pump/ thermostat housing, requiring lots of liquid wrench over a couple of days, Horrendous crud/corrosion between the intake manifold and the head that mostly filled the coolant passages in the head, a stripped ac belt tensioner hole in the front belt cover that i didn't discover untill i had the coolant hoses in place......

If you try to do the work yourself, you wil find that 3/4 coolant or oil hose is not the same as what Ferrari used and you will have to use a lot of heat and sweat to get the hoses on - or pay the horrific price for the F car part. I know you are going to pay for the work to be done and so, you need to realize that this one of the costs that is associated with the F car.

If you are paying someone to do the work, they will most likely know the common pitfalls associated with poor maintenance, but if you have no records and they don't know, you can have a left cheek wrenching shop visit.

So, what i am really saying is, do a really good PPI and add value if there are good records. It is worth taking the records to the guy who you will have maintain the car, if you can look that far forward and ask what you are getting yourself into.

Sketchy records probably means owner or "infrequent" maintenance. This should be a big red flag and you need to figure that you could have a lot of surprises, even if the car looks good. If you are going to do the maintenance yourself, this could be a mechanical adventure, or it might go smoothly with a few hiccoughs. I had a few minor whoopsies and i didn't drop any washers or screws down the pipes.

I used to be a service writer and occasionally a service manager, untill i gave them back the job, (GM products, Fiat, Isuzu and Subaru - not Ferrari). I think the best way to get a realistic estimate is to take your ppi results and all service records, along with your gripe list, to a trusted F car guy, and talk it over with him. Paying for mechanical work is a major act of faith, There are many good technicians out there, find a good one and work with him.

I hope this minor diatribe helps you with your quest,
chris

 

They really are not, IMO...it's just that folks get under there that are cutting corners or using stuff from the hardware store...

Actually I buy stuff at NAPA and the hardware store, if equal!!

But it's really the deferred maintenance as well as lack of Ferrari specific expertise that gets these cars a bad name...

I use great Technicians (Rest in Peace JRV) and drive the cr@p out of them, they thrive with that!
You don't lap around LeMans cruising, after all.......

Good Luck with it all....

 

Major is 5 years regardless of mileage. Costs $5600 w/ an authorized Ferrari service center. Yelcab is right on...$8k when you add a new clutch.

Ron

 

I have always subscribed to five years regardless of miles...of course I let it go 2 years and only 600 miles between oil changes (my mechanic was NOT happy).

My 30k service was about $2200 from an AWESOME independant.

 

SERVICE INTERVAL:
3 Years is the Ferrari North America recommendation, & the professional shops will tell you the same. 5 years should be the maximum you are likely to escape with. Most modern car mfgs have a 5 year/60K miles WHICHEVER COMES FIRST belt replacement interval. Some (IIRC certain Audi & Saab engines) have had to go to a shorter interval such as 3 years/45K miles after the cars were in the field & they started loosing engines.

SHOP HOURS:
yelcab is correct, lowest hours for a thorough std 30K service is around 30-32, and 40 hours is reasonable if the normal amount of issues are encountered(eg: I've had it take 2-3 hours just to get the dipstick tube out so you can get the alternator off to remove the front belt cover). IF it's a carb'd car w/o an A/C compressor, then it MIGHT be doable in as little as 24 hours (R&R the $@#% A/C compressor adds a tedious 3-5 hours). A 4V engine wil take longer, mostly due to the A/C compressor, the time to install & remove the fibreglass rear belt covers that require a contortionist to access the fasteners, & because the CIS plumbing blocks access to things & has to be moved out of the way. A 2V injected car is kind of in the middle.

IT MAY PAY TO SHOP AROUND:
Shop rates can vary a lot depending on location. Here in MA I know of reputable shops with $65 - $75/hr rates while other shops in the same state, but in a town with a much higher tax rate, or more expensive building, have to charge $125/hr.

30K Service PARTS COST:
The parts alone for a basic 308/Mondial 30K major service currently runs $1200 - $1275 depending on the engine. Ricambi, a respected fchat sponsor, has organized kits for the various models. Here's an example, a carb'd 308 kit from his web site:

A shop would get a modest discount, but shouldn't charge you more than this price.

However, prices currently vary a lot from one distributor for another. This seems to be because some distributors only update their prices when they get a new shipment, so they might have stock they bought 2-3 years ago when the Euro was around $0.90 instead of today 's $1.56.