i have no clue how odl mine is, probably very, but luckily my headgasket went first.

I had no idea about this when I bought the car (the timing belt problems) and then when i found out i stressed about it all the time, and was worried about driving the porsche long distances, then the range rover, which is always dependable, slips the timing chain. I think the porsche jinxed it.

 

Mine had 11 years on it, 150,000km's.
Been through -40C to +30C yearly, and driven year round.
I drove it about 6 months before I really thought about the timing belt.

It's funny, some will fail at 30,001 miles, and others will go forever....
I'm not taking any chances with mine anymore. I've seen too many stories about when they break!

 

mine has never been changed. i rarely ever drive the car. i usually keep it pickled except for the local car show every year. it has about 34,000 miles on it. everything is original except for tires. it still smells new. i do however give it a good visual inspection every year before i run it.

 

all i can say is that in an ideal world no one would have an old belt. it's just not worth it when you consider our cars and how much damage occurs because of it. if you can't change the belt yourself or you don't want to fork the money over for a shop to do it, are you really prepared to cover the costs of changing all the valves and possibly having piston damage??

 

"If you can't afford to maintain it..."

Seriously, there is no excuse for letting something like the timing belt go unattended. If you can't afford to take it to a shop, borrow or invest in the belt tension gauge, pin spanner, and flywheel lock. You can get away with a feeler gauge and a 27mm wrench for the other stuff. For a one-time investment of about $600, you will have all the special tools you need. That's what, half of the labor if you go to the dealer one time?

And don't take it to a monkey mechanic who offers to change it for $300 or something; they have a tendency to do stupid things like tighten those little 10mm bolt heads with a 1/2" drive ratchet.

Anyone who can't do so much for their 944 as change the timing belt on schedule is the kind of owner that all the buying guides warn about. With all the warnings about the belt, there is no excuse, other than "I'm a cheapskate who shouldn't own a Porsche"

I admire the owner who stays within his budget and takes proper care of a less-desirable model over the owner with a similar budget who cheaps out on the turbo or high performance model.

 

A lot of the early failures are probably attributable to sub-par belt mait. once the thing is on there. The re-tensions are more important than some people may let on and roller replacement seems to be an often neglected item as well. Likewise, the design lends itself to "chain-reaction" failures and this results in numerous weak points in the car that must all be addressed to prevent the same catastrophic result. It also tremendously increases the chances that something could happen. Neglect just one piece of the puzzle and you could end up in the same spot as if you had done nothing.

Pony up the money to get this stuff done and done right, or get out of the game before it ruins you financially.

Micah

 

Speaking of pin spanners - I developed a cheap alternative over the weekend. I bent up too many allen wrenches and drift pins - and didn't take the initiative to actually buy a pin spanner, so...

What I did was cut up my old balance shaft belt. Create a length of about 6 inches. Wrap the belt around the offending sprocket and hold it tight with a very larger set of channel lock pliers. This allows room to get the socket/torque wrench on the bolt. YMMV

 

I saw a belt off of an S at my mechanics once. 96K miles, lots of missing teeth, as many as four in a row. It still ran OK. Talking about flirting with danger!

Lou

 

Are there any heavy duty belts available? Made out of Kevlar or something? And would they have any longevity/durability benefits? Any drawbacks?

 

I love it how some people can drive the car for years ignorant of the timing belt and have no problems. I live in fear of the timing belt, bearings and clutch. My P.O. only changed the oil and seldom had a problem, in eight years.

 

Mine had 93 500 miles on it when I finally got around to changing it. No lie. It never went on me, but the water pump did! So I took advantage of the down time and had the belt replaced as well.

 

Often times ignorance is bliss, ask me how I know.

Lou

 

Ok....I'll bite. How'd you know? If it's another story about a block destruction, please.....no more. My heart can't take much more of that stuff!!

 

Dont know. PO didnt change it in the 3 years he had it. He checked it and said it looked fine... The PO before him owned it since 87 (IIRC) but I do not have any records from him. Maybe I should give him a call and find out some of the cars history... So atleast 4 years... Prolly not more than 18k - 20k as in the 3 years of ownership the PO prolly put 5k on her, I have put about 5k in a year, so just a guestimate.

 

Another dumb question...the belts do have to come off to replace the water pump right?