Thom

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by jordanolder:
<strong>The whinning noise always goes away.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">I got my S2 back from the full "belts/water pump, etc." service last week and now it makes the "famous" whining noise.
(btw all 944/968 engines I have heard until now sound that way)

I now feel quite relieved because:

- The engine had never made it since I bought the car (I covered 20,000 miles in it between when I bought it and last week);

- The mechanic who did the job told me the previous timing belt's tension was too high although the belt didn't whine (!)

There's something quite illogical:
- How can a belt not whine although its tension is too high?
- Supposing the tension of my new belt is lower than the previous one, does it whine only because the tensioning belt is new? Am I to expect the noise disappearing in a few thousand miles?

Perry 951

I tensioned my belts by hand on the 1st rebuild, and all was cool once I got it up and going. On this rebuild, I did the tension 100% by hand, then checked it with the Opti Belt. I was off by a liitle on the balance belt (too tight) and spot on with the timing belt.

I did have a new tensioner assebly. Here is the catch, $300 for the assebly, or $100 for a Opti Belt (I think they might be less) and $50 for the new gear. Cheaper to buy a Kricket and be sure, than buy a new tensioner.

nh3

Art, I haven't forgotten about the hatch shocks. I broke the drivers side latch pin and didn't want to install new hatch shocks with no pin on that side. Will order a new pin this week and when it warms up I'll try it again.

nh3

Wachuko

I ended up buying the tool... I rather be on the safe side. I did the tensioning manually first to see how off my adjustment was. The timing belt was ok (tensioner pretty much took care of that) but the balance shaft was way too tight...

I would not take the risk...

993Maineiac

You pay your money and you take your chances. The PO of my car lost a belt at around 30K miles. That led to a major top overhaul of the engine. I am not anywhere near the mechanic that most of you are so I used the tool.

944Play

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by thom:
<strong>The mechanic who did the job told me the previous timing belt's tension was too high although the belt didn't whine (!)
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">AFAIK, it's only the balance shaft belt that whines audibly. I hear the same noise from balance-shaft equipped Mitsubishi four-cylinders.

Thom

Yes, sorry bit of a confusion.
Actually I meant the balance shaft belt.
The previous balance shaft belt did not whine although its tension was higher than that of the current balance shaft belt which actually whines.

Isn't this a bit illogical?

Tom R.

I had the whine too.

my mechanic didnt use the tool to retension. he was very concerned becasue he is confident in his feel. the whine went away.

bought the kricket tool, and he was spot on by hand. took the kricket to his workplace and was spot on there too.

now there is a barely used kricket on a shelf in his garage.

he did two belt jobs on my brother's NA and when he "retenisoned" it, he merely opened and closed the cover. so much for massive stretching.

art

I also tensioned my belt by feel, and noticed no stretch after a few thousand miles. One thing I did notice was how tight it gets when hot and the engine has expanded.

Art