Yummybud924

I just replaced my belts/ rollers/ water pump 2 weeks ago. I had the belts tensioned by a shop last week.... they charged me 245 dollars because apparently my timing belt stud which I replaced was loose and they had to take the belt off and tension the stud.

i'm hoping they didn't damage my timing belt. they are a reputable shop but my belts are whining (most likely balance shaft belt is too tight). they work on a lot of 944s and 911 etc so they are a pretty trusted shop around here....

anyways I took my timing belt cover off today to just inspect teh belts and see how tight they are when teh engine is hot.

and I was shining a light in there and I can see 6 wires exposed the space between two teeth. the hard "cover" going over the bare rubber teeth doesn't look like it has worn through but over the hard covering in this area you can see and feel 6 thin fibres (wires) going across and when I move my finger over it I can feel the fibres and can move them...

I had a belt like this before also and freaked out and replaced it with another one.

this belt was also a porsche belt from the dealer and cost 50 bucks it is the gates powergrip made in UK belt.

my sprockets have also been replaced so I don't have any sharm or worn sprockets (cam and crank) to wear the belt. could be the timing belt was tenssioned too tight? but they are reputable shop and i've used them before and the belt feels tight when hot but not crazy tight.

I really don't have time to take it apart again right now to replace the belt again and need my car.

should I be worried? i'm thinking of just driving it and replacing the belt in a year. I doubt those 6 thin fibres are all that are strengthening the teeth on the belt....

SeaCay

Pics? Hard to decipher your description.

V2Rocket

do you mean the threads show through the top of the belt or when you view the belt from the side?

Yummybud924

it freaked me out so I took it out and I had another belt (new gates) so i'm installing that now.

it has fiber threads coming out between the space between two teeth not on the backside.

also I took readings with my kricket and the tension set by the shop was 40 pounds at tdc......... and when you roll back 1 tooth the tension drops to below 30 pounds won't even read on the kricket.... you can flop the belt around when you go back 1 tooth

the directions to use the kricket says to go back 1.5 teeth then set it to 40 pounds?

am I correct? not sure if i'm setting the belt too tight or the shop set it way too loose.

i've only driven it for a week now I doubt it has already stretched so much.

V2Rocket

line up all the top dead center marks, and tension the timing belt until you can twist it on the longest span 90* between your thumb and forefinger without too much effort.

Yummybud924

hmm I don't like to use the 90 degree method it could be way off...

I can get pretty accurate readings with the kricket and I just set it to how tight it was before (porsche shop tightened it)

but i'm worried as it's 30 pounds when turned 1 tooth back from tdc and 40 pounds when turned back to tdc........

the directions for the kricket say to set it to 40 pounds turned 1 tooth before tdc and this would make 50 pound turned to tdc.....

that's already pretty damn tight on a cold engine and when the engien gets hot it'd be crazy tight.

I think it's safer setting it to around how tight it was when the shop tensioned it for me. i'm not sure if they used the factory tool but they work on 944s all the time and other porsches.

bonus12

Well, there are a couple other methods. With your strong hand, attempt to turn the water pump pulley. If you can barely turn it with one hand, that's a good indication of proper tension. Another one is if your car has the belt separator bar (roughly above the water pump if installed), try flexing the belt down to touch the bar. If you can touch the near-side of the bar with the belt, but cannot touch the belt to the far-side of the bar, this also indicates proper tension. Hope this helps.