elf89

So when I got my timing belt replaced a couple weeks ago, the owner of the shop (high-end Euro cars with prices to match) told me he used the new style timing belt which was kevlar reinforced. He said he was confident in it up to 60000 miles or 5 years. He reminded me to have it retensioned in 1000-1500 miles, but told me they usually don't find too much stretch in these new belts.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? He charged me 3 times Pelican's price for the belt, but that might just be his parts markup. It seems odd he'd tell me to wait 60000 miles if I was willing to change it a 45 or 30.

TomH

So he's "confident" is he? Ask him to gaurantee it for that long, and to pay for the new rebuild if it fails before then. That'll shut his hole real quick <img src="graemlins/icon501.gif" border="0" alt="[icon501]" />

I wouldn't chance more than 50K on any P-car belt.

Perry 951

I have never heard of it before..

However, I would get that in writing so when it fails, you won't be spending the 3K on a new head and pistions.

PorscheG96

I haven't heard of that belt either. Sure would be nice though.

Tom Pultz

[quote]Originally posted by elf89:
<strong>He reminded me to have it retensioned in 1000-1500 miles, but told me they usually don't find too much stretch in these new belts.</strong><hr></blockquote>The correct mileage for retensioning is 2000-2500. If you do it too soon the belt will not have stretched as much as it's going to... which may be why the shop says they don't stretch very much.

[EDIT] One reason the shop might say to retension them at 1000-1500 miles is they are not using genuine Porsche parts and they don't have any idea when they should be retensioned so they just quote some numbers. Every genuine Porsche timing belt you buy comes with a little instruction card that details when it should be retensioned. It's pretty hard to make a mistake.

Unless things have changed drastically since I did my last belt job four years ago these belts stretch a lot. At 2500 miles the tension dropped down to 1.65 and 1.8 for the balance and timing belts respectively. I'm doing them again this month so we'll see how they behave this time around.

MadMax

I would like to second TomH and Tom P. Belt maintnance on these cars is not something you want to scrimp or save money on. It is simply the cost of ownership (at least I keep telling my wife that). Either you misquoted the mechanic or they have questionable knowledge regarding adjustment intervals for the belts. That would make me nervous. I would stick the either the 30K or 45K belt replacement interval.

Max

elf89

Thanks for the opinions. With the damage a failure causes, I would not push it over 45K.

I'm just wondering if anyone ever heard of a "new" belt design or if they've always or never had kevlar. Aside from that, I was impressed with this shop's knowledge and service.

jim968

FWIW, we used to have a Dayco plant about 25 miles away. They made v-belts & hoses for the auto industry. After they shut down, I had a couple of their people for students. According to them, Ford's OE belts & hoses used Kevlar for the reinforcing fabric. This was at least five or six years ago. I dunno about timing belts. I _still_ would want to do mine at no more than 45K; the belt-maker & mechanic aren't the ones who have to buy a new 16V head....:-(...

Jim, "The floggings will continue until morale improves."

Type_LT

Why don't they pre-tension the belts? You know make a jig that spins the belt while putting tension on it and just queue up a few so they are ready? Most shops retention for free right?

Keith924S

2001 Acura 1.7 EL timing belt good for 10 years, 176,000 km or roughly 109,000 miles and those engines redline @ 6700 rpm all day long. I think they are very wide and thick.

brh986

[quote]Originally posted by elf89:
<strong> He reminded me to have it retensioned in 1000-1500 miles, but told me they usually don't find too much stretch in these new belts.
</strong><hr></blockquote>


EEK, I had my belt replaced with a regular one about 3k ago but I never had it retensioned. Do I need this? The shop didn't mention it.

How much does this cost?

billybones

Hmm, this whole belt thing with the interference engine.. My crapy escort runs a 1.9L engine that has an interference engine..Its timming belt runs the water pump also. has a tennsioner. the tenser is locked down so it is not constantly keeping the tension... there is no call for a re tense later on.. I understand that the belt will stretch. so why does ford not say to retension it 1500 miles later? I also understand that to err on the side of caution is best. but I am begining to think that these rules that we go by for this is maybe way over stated for the average daily driver. OR to many previous failures.. OR maybe ford has the reinforcements all ready and now you have a belt designed to last.. I am curious to what tom will find this time around.. did they actually stretch more? or is it just better to replace them.. just cause we have all been told to.. For a normaly driven car. I can see a car that is raced will obviously get more stress in the belt. (A lot of high RPMS) thus more chance to be streched to the point of breaking... Some of race on a pretty consistant basis. but some of us do not..Like many parts the ave driver may not stress out the belt as often.... thus a longer real time life...

jim968

brh, a few of the later models don't require re-tensioning of the timing belt, but AFAIK, _all_ (even the 968's) require retensioning of the balance shaft belt, which was presumably done at the same time. 3K miles is at pretty much the outer limit for retensioning... so reading this board probably just saved you a couple of thousand $$$... or a lawsuit against your shop.

Should run 1 to 2 hours of labor; you need a shop that has the 'magic' Porsche tensioning gage. I'd seriously consider finding some shop _other_ than the one that did the initial work, if they're sloppy / ignorant enough not to mention the retension.

If money is _real_ tight, you might go by & casually ask if the retension cost was included in the original bill... the answer (or facial expressions, or protestations of innocence) might be ...uh, "priceless"...

Jim, lunch break from playing wood butcher...

brh986

My car is an 1988 na 944. Why do these cars require so much bull**** maintenance? An na 944 doesn't exactly ahve outrageous performance either ~160 hp out of a 2.5L engine is nothing special, it's not like it's a ferrari. I'm starting to get kind of pissed off here. Where is Porsche with their superior quality on the 944, what kind of crap is this where you have to change the timing belt every 30k miles and maybe even the water pump and then on top of that pay ~60-120 more jus tto get it retensioned a few miles down the road? I had a dodge neon that was a total peice of crap car that never required any of this stuff.

I'm not sure if they replaced the balance shaft belt or not - is that something that's always done with the timing belt?

Tom

The reason for the tension problems is that 944/968's are aluminium castings. They have a greater thermak expansion range than iron (Ford, my VW, etc) so they stretch the belt more in heat cycles. This is also what torments 911 owners with head stud problems. (Case expands more than stud, stud works loose.)