divil

Thinking of buying an 89 944 Turbo S...the timing belt was changed 15K and 5 years ago. I phoned an independent specialist in the area and they told me it should be changed within 3 years regardless of mileage. But the owner of the car told me that the local Porsche dealer (where he had the last belt put on) told him it only needed to be done every 6 years or 60K miles, whichever came first. I phoned them and they told me exactly the same thing.

I have googled this a lot and searched a few forums, and never found anything like that - everyone seems to say 2-3 years max. and 45K miles. Huge difference!

Has anyone heard anything like this before? Is this 6 years/60K business the normal recommendation from authorized Porsche dealers?

odurandina

time to change ALL the belts.

1. timing belt.
2. balance belt.
3. accessories belt optional. (wouldn't hurt to change it). store the old or new belt in your spare tire well.

i saved a considerable amount of money running Gates belts.

Arominus

The belts need to be done right away due to age. I wouldn't go over 3-4 years on it. 60k is insanity for mileage, 30 to 40k max.

Do it yourself, its really not all that hard so long as you buy the Flywheel lock and balance shaft tool.

divil

thanks for the advice...won't be doing it myself as I'd be buying the car 1300 miles from my home. So I'd have the local indie do it right after the purchase so that I could drive it home. I'm trying to get my head around why these guys gave such mental advice. The guy admitted they don't do a lot of older models so I suppose maybe they just don't know any better.

kenkawai993

Is conti a better brand then gates?

moorepower

Both are good brands. I use Gates because I can get it locally through NAPA.

Use anything but Flennor (or Fleener?) brand. Often times they don't even line up on the teeth of the cam sprocket. This has happened to me, and several other board members as well. Do a search and you'll see some pictures of what I'm talking about.

Darwantae951

I have used many Flennor belts without issues. I know about the teeth not lining up, but the contitech belts also had a bad batch, of which someone just recently posted their belt breaking after only a few thousand miles. Not saying that it's better, but not every belt is perfect.

Mike C.

I'd be afraid to leave a T-belt on for 60,000 miles regardless of age. I change mine at 30K intervals which takes about 3 years (no winter driving). I think you are doing the right thing by changing it before driving home. Good luck with the new car.

ernie9468

Agree with what been said up to date ,but for the last 27 years I personnaly when every four years or 35-40k miles between belts change & always use Conti without any problems (street use only).

Grandpa#3

Belt change every 30k or 3 years whichever comes first. Belts are cheap compared to a belt breaking and you end up having to have Head work done because of bent valves. The other problem is "S" model should have the Cam Chain Tensioner Pads checked. The Pad is made of plastic and will harden over time, turn a dark tobacco color, break and you end up replacing the Head. A few hundred for the Pads is better than over 1k to replace the Head. Also check as to when the Water Pump was last changed. Check out the link below.

http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/for...num=1294429355

Cheers,
Larry

Tom M'Guinn

Despite this question being asked on a regular basis, there is really no solid data available on which to reasonably deviate from the factory recommendation.

Time to change 'em....

carlege

Actually there was an article in Excellence a while ago that described the problem with the belts breaking at 30 or earler because of improper tension being set by mechanics. With the addition of the auto tensioner the belt life was increased to 45 k miles

So check your belt tension.

If you have a kevlar which is the only belt made with up to date material then 60k 6 years shouldnt be an issue for the belt

User 52121

To throw another set of #'s in the mix

Local (Chicago area) Porsche specialist Midwest Eurosport just hosted a big PCA tech session last weekend, and they touched on 944 problem areas. Their recommendation was to do the belts every 45k, with a retension every 15k. He did not mention age (or if he did, I didn't hear him.)

For my current set of belts, I'm at 4 years and ~25k. Doing them now, following the "3 or 30k" rule. I may take Midwest's advice next time around and stretch it to 45 with annual retensioning.

Darwantae951

The longest I have let a belt go was 36k miles, and when it came off, it looked in very good shape.

carlege

how many years on it?