Operator

So I was driving home a little while ago and as I came to a stop sign I shifted out of 3rd, heard a metallic clunk, and shortly afterwards my engine died. I tried to restart the car and it made a pretty bad sound, mostly like nothing was engaged. I think my belt snapped, eh? I'll find out tomorrow morning when I get it towed over to a local shop but I'm thinking that I'm about to be faced with a huge bill and hard way to justify the cost. Maybe my waterpump seized or something?

I know I haven't checked in here in a while. Mainly because my car has been running fairly well the last year and I didn't feel it was necessary to create artificial paranoia with the "Rennlist-effect." You know, when you read posts about other peoples problems and start projecting them on to your car. Now I'm worried that my Porsche days are over. I mean, heck, I never even got around to doing my clutch. I'm praying that this is somehow clutch related but the fact that it wouldnt start up again sort-of takes that out of the equation, right?

BTW, what is the best way to tow the car? Can I hook it with another car in the front, underneath? Or should I get a flatbed? Yuck, this is gonna suck.

Yummybud924

easy to see if your belt snapped, like 4 ten mm bolt I think on the top plastic cover and you can see the belts. takes like 2 minutes.

or you can even look through that tiny hole on your camshaft gear cover you can see the belt on the gear through that hole but I'd remove the plastic cover and you'd see if the belt snapped.

if it snapped then yeah be preppared to spend lots of money and time getting it running again. you'll need to replace valves and do all the belts front seals and water pump to prevent it from happening.

if you can do it all yourself it might be worth doing but if you have a shop do it I'm guessing it will cost a few thousand so cheaper to get a new 944.

anyways sucks but preventative maintenance is the key to not having a disaster but even with the maintenance done I'm paranoid that my belt will suddently snap.

Tom R.

Simon,
If the motor is toast contact me. I know someone that knows someone that knows someone with a S motor.

yellowline

If your pump seized, it very likely took out the timing belt.

I have a low-mile S motor out and ready to go, only one buyer who wants me to freight it. (not a fan of doing) And I live in-state.

gregeast

If the belt snapped then you probably bent a valve or two. In my case, I got very, very lucky and didn't bend any. I already had the head off on the assumption that they were bent, so I had it rebuilt for ~$350. You'll need a new head gasket, new belts & rollers, say another $300 worth of stuff. If you can DIY you should be able to get it going for well under $999.99 (thought the KMart pricing would take the sting off a little).

Lots of help available here of course if you decide to go that route, so don't hang your head too low...

Operator

Thanks guys. Hopefully I'll find out what the damage is today.

Just wondering, what does one of those used S motors go for? Tom? yellowline?

Operator

Ok. So my shop is telling me that every valve bent (kind of hard to believe but I looked at it and it doesn't look pretty.) But the engine is fine, no cracked cylinders or anything else cracked. They're quoting me 1k for sending the head to a machine shop to get resurfaced and for new valves, etc, and then another 2k for the labor and whatever else needs to be done. So... does this sound reasonable?

I don't really know if I even want to fix it, I mean, I could just sell it now in its present condition and hope to get a few thousand for it - or fix it - and hope for no more self destructions - and deal with the myriad of other small problems that come along with owning any 19yr/o car.

BTW, do you think it would be cheaper to just buy a head? I haven't really seen any for sale, just those 2 engines, which arent a bad deal, but then I have to spend another 1.5K to get them installed so I end up with the same bill but a used engine instead of a refurb one (which is better?)

Any words of wisdom would be great (I used to be a member so dont boycott me because I dont have the red stamp of approval =p)

xsboost90

have your head rebuilt and put it on yourself.

michaelathome

944Online.com is your friend.

Check here for gasket set $150

Check here for rebuilt head w/warranty and your core $450

Check here for waterpump kit $552.00 or rebuilt for $450

$200 for misc nuts bolts and washers, vacume lines and belts and you are done.

All in all $1250 just in parts. That's how I would do it. You may be able to find stuff cheaper thru some of the other vendors but Ian has never done me wrong. Don't waste your time having them repair/rebuild your head, just ship it back to Ian for the core charge. Less than half of what you might pay to have yours rebuilt. A shop should be able to get this in and out in a day if they have all the parts, that being the case I would guess another $1200-1500 for labor book time, less if you have a trusted mechanic that won't take you for a ride.

Better way to spend that $1200-1500

rental car(2 weeks) $200
nice new propane grill $300
grill set $45
dogs and burgers $65
cervesa $100
a few new tools $100
Rennlist membership $18
Rennlist T/B and head R/R party at your place Free!!

See that saved you at least $400!


Good luck with the party and let us know how it goes!!

Michael

yellowline

Mine comes with a 951 clutch that was installed 3 years ago. Has 10,000 miles on it. If you refurb your existing engine, you'll probably want a new clutch=more $$$.

Operator

its funny i do want a new clutch

Operator

btw I have an S so that idea michaelathome has isnt quite as cheap as i would hope it to be. S heads cost more almost always. i wonder why my sig never pops up even though I have the box checked?

Hmm, I really don't know what to do. I'm gonna have to have another talk with my shop on Monday I suppose...

Mighty Shilling

your sig will show up when you pay for your membership...

that sucks man, I'm sorry to hear about the belt. that sucks a fat one.

Jay W

I was able to buy all 16 valves as a set new from a guy selling on ebay. I think it was $300 for the whole set. Then you need valve guides and machine shop labor after that. I found that buying all 16 as a set was the same cost as buying the 8 I had bent individually. I can look in my receipts for the guys name if you go that route.

gregeast

No difference between 8 valve S and non-S heads I don't believe.