360 service question. Advice please.

[Ingenere]

I have had a number of Ferraris, ranging from 308s and Mondials to Testarossas, 348s, a CS and an F40, and have done most of my own service work. I have done 'annual' fluid changes and other than engine oil, the factory recommends 2 years or more on most of the other fluids.

As for the timing belt fiasco, the factory is just drumming up service work for paranoid owners who can't turn a spanner. If they could, when they removed those 3 year-old belts they would see belts that were pretty much 'as-new'.

I just did a belt service on my CS at just under 4 years with plenty of track days and visits to red line and once again the belts were perfect, as were the tensioner bearings. I replaced them, and the bearings and auxiliary belts....... just because I was there.

These timing belts are not made of paper. They are made of the same stuff that in most cars last 100K miles. I'm not saying leave them in for that long (even though they would probably be fine), just leave the neurosis on the shelf and spend some time with your car, and you will see that Ferrari are crooks and taking advantage of their customers. If you don't think that is true, just look at the option price list on the Speciale (I have an order in and am disgusted at the price gauging to the point I might not get one).

[Garvin]

I would certainly get an oil and filter change after 3.5k miles, especially in a 360. As for the rest, these are highly stressed motors and should have a thorough check over once a year by someone who knows what they are doing. In short, yes get the service done.

As for cam belts, the mileage/time duration between changes given by Ferrari is conservative to say the least - I believe Ferrari did increase these durations for the US market when criticised!

[Superbock]

Ingenere said:

I have had a number of Ferraris, ranging from 308s and Mondials to Testarossas, 348s, a CS and an F40, and have done most of my own service work. I have done 'annual' fluid changes and other than engine oil, the factory recommends 2 years or more on most of the other fluids.

As for the timing belt fiasco, the factory is just drumming up service work for paranoid owners who can't turn a spanner. If they could, when they removed those 3 year-old belts they would see belts that were pretty much 'as-new'.

I just did a belt service on my CS at just under 4 years with plenty of track days and visits to red line and once again the belts were perfect, as were the tensioner bearings. I replaced them, and the bearings and auxiliary belts....... just because I was there.

These timing belts are not made of paper. They are made of the same stuff that in most cars last 100K miles. I'm not saying leave them in for that long (even though they would probably be fine), just leave the neurosis on the shelf and spend some time with your car, and you will see that Ferrari are crooks and taking advantage of their customers. If you don't think that is true, just look at the option price list on the Speciale (I have an order in and am disgusted at the price gauging to the point I might not get one).

You would have thought by now (Over fifteen years for a 355.) that technology had come up with a better solution to this problem maybe Kevlar or other such material that could last longer than 3 years !

[Garvin]

Superbock said:

You would have thought by now (Over fifteen years for a 355.) that technology had come up with a better solution to this problem maybe Kevlar or other such material that could last longer than 3 years !

Not really necessary though. Ferrari state that the cam belts on my F355 should be changed every 4 years which, at 10k miles pa, is 40k miles (it recommends changing the other belts - air con, alternator and water pump every 3 years)!! Most never see this annual mileage and so I would think for low annual mileage cars they can all be left for at least 5 years with little risk. They will undoubtedly go longer than this but one would want to check the tensioner bearings etc., so, IMHO, probably changing every five years including changing the bearings would be a sensible preventative maintenance strategy.