packrat

I have an '88 in which the timing belt was replaced by the dealer 4 years ago. The previous owner had this done and only put 1000 miles on it before he sold the car to me. He never took the car back for retensioning. So now it has 4000 miles on the belt (and 4 years). Is it necessary on an '88 to retension it, do I go back to the dealer and pay the price, or...?

Vjgtrybno1

I have heard retension after 1500-2000 miles and also that you can wait until 4-5000 miles. I did mine after one year and 2000 miles. It cost $160 - I plan to learn to do it myself and save the bucks. Bent valves cost lots more than that.

aribop

Yours has the spring tensioner on it. All you have to do is loosen the two tensioner nuts and let the spring do the work. Then re-tighten. Go here: http://www.clarks-garage.com/ and find the section under 'camshaft' that deals with belt tensioning.

streckfu's

I take it you have the spring tensioner.

Remove the upper belt cover and loosen the two bolts on the tensioner, retighten the bolts. Make sure the balance belt isn't loose It is not worth spending the $300+ to retension at the dealer.

Kenne944

how much does it usually cost to fix a slip tooth on the balance shaft belt?

streckfu's

$0. Yourself.


Dealer: ?

Kenne944

i havent really messed with any belts before thats the only problem, i dont want to **** them up because its time for a belt job but im just holding off because a new problem arose last week when i wanted to get the belts done.

Chris_924s

Always check belt condition. It's a cheap proposition.

streckfu's

kenne,
PM sent.

packrat

Thanks for the info and link.
I knew it had the spring tensioner after doing a search here and reading quite a few threads. But like usual (for me) when I read enough threads on a topic something like this comes up and confuses the heck out of me ... "never trust the spring tensioner for proper tension, use the timing belt tensioning gage".

So I will retension the belt without the tool , I have done enough rice burner timing belts over the years and have a pretty good idea when the belt is too loose.

streckfu's

The Kricket tool won't work with the tensioner and the World will not end if you don't use the 9201.

apierce918

it wont!?

Dave in Chicago

Belts should be changed at mileage or age... 4 years or 30k miles was my interval on the '88 NA and will be about the same on the 968 (MUCH bigger and tougher belt by the way).

Retension, even with later models, at 2000 miles. This get's pretty tough if you don't drive that many miles in a few months. That said, in my experience, the balance shaft belts needed the retensioning more than the cam belt.

Now, all that said... this is the one of two catastrophic failure points on these motors (rod bearings being the other, but they at least give a little warning if you really watch the oil drain plug).

If it were me, I'd do the belts and drive the next 2000 miles over the winter, retension in Spring. Just my 2 cents, YMMV.

Swagger93

I know some unnamed folks who think it's amusing to tighten the belts until they are loudly whining and just let the belt stretch to the proper tension. Obviously not advised, but I also have never personally seen a broken 944 timing belt.