Testarossa timing belt service

The interval is 15,000 miles or 5 years. You can go a little over without much worry, but better to do the bests that destroy the engine - the engine rebuild would cost what the car is worth.
I feel your pain, bc mine needs em too and I'm 5k miles over.
David

 

It really depends on how deep your pocket is and how agressive you push the car.

I don't think you need to replace the belt yet because it was previously done. A friend of mine just did a major service on his 87 tr at 5600 miles and isn't planning on doing another service until the 15k sevice is due.

But again, if the belt snapped do consider that you got a parts car.


Lamarossa <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ not a TR owner yet

 

Well, in that case, plan on doing the belts in the next 12 months.

 

If you last replaced belts in 1997 then they are about 6 or 7 years old now. I have always head that you need to replace them every 5 years. You may want to consider replacing them over the Winter just before Spring and while you have the engine out you should have the valves adjusted and the water pump rebuilt and replace old rubber hoses (fuel and oil). You are probably looking at $6,000 to $8,000 depening on who does the work for you and what all else you run into when you get in there. But, it will help the resale value should you decide to sell later. And, most importantly, it will give you peace of mind. My 86 TR has had the engine out service and the belts replaced 4 times and it has less than 30,000 miles on it. Previous owners did three of these and I had one done myself.

Last week my 2002 Mercedes was in the shop having the A/C worked on and the serpentine belt frayed while it was on the lift at the dealership. These things are supposed to last more than a couple of years but sometimes they don't. Better safe than sorry. It only cost me about $200 to replace it before it snapped.

 

Hi
I bought my car March 2003 and it had only done 3600 miles and was last serviced in 98 when the belts were changed.
Terry Keys of Silverstone Independant Ferrari Specialist told me to trailer the car to him and no way was I to drive it.
I did what I was told, I didnt want to fork out £16 grand for a replacement engine.
However I'm not sure on the replacement interval, I'd heard it was 3 years and like you i'll have to see if I can afford it when it comes round.
By the way the belts he took off looked fine and just like new, no wear at all.
They tell you the rubber degenerates but they could just be after our money eh!!!!
Well good luck mate and remember "BETTER BE SAFE THAN SORRY"
cHEERS

 

Ricsam - There are two sides to this story - If the car is running well, leave it alone.

This issue has been beaten to death, and you can search the archives for more opinion. However, there is substantial experience in leaving belts alone for 15 + years and many miles greater than 30,000. I have two 12 cylinders cars with belts, and replaced both after 30+ thousand smiles (pun intended) and 15 years of use. Both belts came off looking as new. Sorry I spent the money.

When one does a simple business assessment of your situation the answer emerges from the fog. Your car is worth $45,000-$55,000. You will spend approximately 20% or more of the car's value on the service. If you own the car for another 5 years and replace the belts as suggested, you will have spent close to half the value of the car on two services.

While many will suggest that belt failure, while not common, does occur, it is very uncommon to speak with someone who has actually had it happen to THEIR CAR. It always seems to be a friend's cousin, who's sister-in-law's brother knows a Ferrari mechanic .... and so on and so on.

Furthermore, if you drive the car in a reasonable fashion, not pushing redline frequently, you should not experience catastrophic failure. I recently spoke to a well-know, very experienced Ferrari mechanic (Factory trained) who offered that they had seen belt failure in northern climates during cold starting because the viscosity of the cold oil feeding the cam bearings created sufficient drag that the belts snapped. Hard to believe, but I trust this man's experience. Do you live in a northern climate? If so, let the engine warm a bit before raising the RPM.

In summary, if the car needs work for another reason (leaking significant oil, water pump leak, leaking hoses, etc.), then this other reason is an excuse to pull the engine and do the belts. However, in the absence of another reason, my choice has been to follow the neurosurgeon's admonition - "If it ain't broken, don't fix it." Stated in the alternative, "That's why G-d made the skull so hard... to keep the neurosurgeons out." That's why major service is so expensive... so you think twice before doing it. Oh, and if you think you can have a major service done for $5,000, I would like to know the color of the sky on the planet where you live. Many on this chat board will suggest that it can be done for that. Trust me... it can't. When you get in there and start doing all the things that you should do if you have the engine out, it adds up quickly to twice that or more.

Jim S.

 

Expensive engine service is why there is this site, so that you can get the knowledge of how to do it yourself. More than one person on this chatboard has tackled the Testarossa belt change.

As for what happens when a belt breaks, well, here is a thousand words.
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Do yourself a big favor and change the belts. This will not only give you peice of mind it will also allow to to drive the car without that fear in your mind of one breaking.

You are obviously consered enough about the issue to have made a post regarding changing the belts. This indicates to me that you have been have thoughts of the "what if" kind. Not a good way to enjoy a wonderful car. You bought your Ferrari to drive and enjoy, not to be afraid of it.

Think of it this way...You go to the dentist once or twice a year for a check up right? Why? To prevent a cavity from turning into a root canal and saving you money and pain. Also to keep everythingin top shape.

Well take your car or even do it yourself if your able, and get it done. Becuase if they go, you will have a really nice flower pot for the wife!!

 

I was going to push for 40K miles and 7~8 years, but a leaking cam seal made the decision for me at 30K miles and ~6 years. The bummer is that the miles are so low, but you've already streched the time envelope at bit (i.e., at 10 years I think it becomes an easy "do it" decision) -- would you please go slap the previous Owner a few times for us .

 

I kind of take an approach that is in between...

With Each new F-car (12 or 8) that I have bought - I give it a complete service... (unless I know who did the service and if it was very recent). here is my logic. The car may run perfect - but I don't know how it was treated - with the past owner (or maybe even a few before). If I have the complete workup done - and all the little things that is always found while everything is out and inspected (as mentioned - the first complete service you do will be more inline with 5 - 10K if only a few of "while it is out" needs to be done. I have them look, work and fix everything, Shocks, all lines, breaks, etc. etc.

Once this is done - my confidence in the car is very high - and most likely everything you have done - will save you in the long run... Do your oil changes on a regular basis, treat her right - and most likely you can go - 4 - 7 years maybe more before you feel you need another major service. I also know people who do not do services for 10+ years...

I typically lean more toward the 5 year side - I drive my cars spiritedly - an push them the way Enzo wanted us to... So I lean more toward the 5 - 7 years for the engine out... (I don't come close to 30K miles in that time). Some people will say 3 years regardless of miles - that might be a little short - unless a lot of track time or hard driving beyond spirited.

Either way - you must do what you feel makes you comfortable... If you have a thought in your mind - when you get in the car - "being afraid" or "worried" that something will go wrong - then do the service - and make sure you get past that feeling. Once you do - you will have the time of your life!

Good luck!

 

Put it this way.....if you don't do it, will you use it less?, and if you use it less, you may as well sell it, and if you tried to sell it needing its belts done, its unserviced price would probably be lower than the cost of the belt change that would make it worth full retail money....full circle!

 

With my 86TR I will have to agree with others on the board on the 6/7 yr rule of thumb. I had my done in 2000 and have only put 6,000kms since. I most probably will do them again in the fall of 2006/ start of winter for 2007, ready for the summer of 2007. You are now hitting that 7yr factor, I think you should get them done just to be safe.

 

Have bought five Ferraris in the last four years, still have two of them. Did the belts on two of them 1986 TR with 4,200 miles, 1986 328 with 19,000 miles. The original belts were on both cars and when removed looked to be as new. I am of the opinion that unless there is an oil leak or other external factors that the short interval between belt services is not as urgent as we have been told. The service manual for my TR and F-40 do not indicate a 3-5 year interval, but if you talk to the dealer they will warn you otherwise. I and many others have discussed this topic over and over but as stated before I have only talked to one person who said he experienced a belt failure. If I remember correctly the car was on the original belts and was past the 30,000 mile interval.

 

I had a 87 tr and I now have a 92 512tr and I have never had first hand knowledge of anyone having a belt failure. If you check with most people that have had the service done they will tell you the belts looked perfect. I am sure belts can fail and when they do it will be very expensive but you will see the people that sell the replacement service seem to be the ones that worry about it the most.

 

I had an 87 TR for 11 years. I did 2 engine out majors during that time. The first one I did myself, the second one I had the dealer do. (I personally think I did a better job!) Anyway, both services were at about 5 year intervals for the belt....and you know what when I got the cover off the belt looked new and was nice and tight with tension being within specs. The second service was the same. If I remember correctly the manual says to 'check' the belts until the 52500 service where it says to replace. It is probably a judgement call, but I still think the service 'gooroos' get us paranoid to separate us from our $$. Speaking of $$...The first service cost me about $2K in parts...and I replaced the clutch as well. The second was $5300 at the dealer.

Have fun.....Dino

 

Ricsam,
I gotta tell ya, I'm at the need-a-belt-change-right-now point. The car has 5+ years and 21k miles since the last full service. The cost to rebuild a TR engine is outrageously close to the car's worth - do the belts!

I offer one option to save some $$. Pull the engine yourself. If you have a way to pull the body off the engine/suspension rack, its a fairly straight forward operation. Send or take the engine/suspension assembly to the dealer/mechanic and they'll do the rest. Once you reinstall everything take it back again for a check. This trouble will save you about $4000 in man hours.

Best of luck.
David

 

Good morning all -

I am planning on doing the belt service myself (with the help of my long time local mechanic). And always looked forward to reviewing past threads of others who have taken a crack at it - including some wonderful photo series.

Unfortunately - I can find the threads in the archives - but the photos are gone.

Anyone know of a source for wisdom on this topic.

Ernest Riggen
'88 Testarossa

 

I would PM the guys who are on those threads. I remember one in particular where someone did their own major on a beautiful black TR.


Good luck, keeps us posted and show us lots of pics!!

 

I did the 30K myself on my 1994 512Tr last spring - belts, bearings, all hoses, valves, cam seals, water pump, rear seal, clutch, yadda, yadda. Almost 3200 miles later - no leaks. Not one drop. I can E-mail yoou the photos of you want (I have hundreds).

 

Here are some photos (I hope):
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Jim,

that's awesome. How long did it take you? Any unexpected problems?


I would love to see more pics, it's one of my favorite engines.

thanks,