View Poll Results: What was the status of the belt?
Official Tool used within last 30k miles
11
19.30%
Kricket tool used within last 30k miles
6
10.53%
Other technique used within last 30k miles
10
17.54%
Belt not tensioned within last 30k miles
2
3.51%
Belt history unknown
18
31.58%
Mechanical failure (stud, etc.) caused failure
10
17.54%
Voters: 57. You may not vote on this poll
T-Belt Failure Poll
08-07-2013, 01:47 AM
#31
Burning Brakes
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,151
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've had zero timing belt failures on 5 944s, the oldest of which I still own, bought in 1985. However, I have had one timing belt roller failure, possibly due to an error in the belt installation - it was the newer kind of tensioner, on an 87, where there is the plastic over the bearing and the plastic cracked off about 50 miles after changing the belt and roller - bent valves, so we rebuilt the head. And, the first belt change on my 85.5, I removed the belts and then turned the crank - bent one valve, felt like an idiot.
On my car I let the balance shaft belt fail, then change both, on other cars I follow the manual's recommendation. If the belt whines, it's too tight (both timing and balance) or the tensioning roller is defective. If the roller is good, loosen the tension (with the car at idle) until it stops whining, then slowly tighten it until it just starts, then lock it down. If the roller is bad, change it.
On my car I let the balance shaft belt fail, then change both, on other cars I follow the manual's recommendation. If the belt whines, it's too tight (both timing and balance) or the tensioning roller is defective. If the roller is good, loosen the tension (with the car at idle) until it stops whining, then slowly tighten it until it just starts, then lock it down. If the roller is bad, change it.
