Luis de Prat

Have an unpleasant situation at hand that I need some opinions on.

Since I joined this board back in 2001 I've progressively become more adept at doing repairs on my 944 cars and a few years ago I took on the timing and balance belt replacement on my 944S2 with guidance from several members. I used the Arnnworx belt kit and P920X tool to replace, check the tensioning and retension the belts afterwards with no problems to date.

Last year a good friend swapped his 944S for another car with a buyer from my city and gave him my contact info in case he needed any help with the car. We met and he was a nice guy so when he kept hounding me to help him replace the belts I finally gave in and scheduled a day in my crazy schedule, between work, moving house, family, etc. to do this back in March or so.

We did the job at one of those shops you rent by the hour and to be honest, I wasn't comfortable at all to be working against the clock, since the different stations had time slots scheduled behind us. Also, I was unaware of the fact that the early tensioner on the 87 944S is a different animal from the late tensioner on the S2.

I think the early belt tensioner takes a different tool from those in the standard belt job kits from Arnnworks, Rennbay, etc. so it was very uncomfortable to compress it. In spite of this, however, we managed to tension both belts using the P920X, taking several readings to work out the ideal measurement but I told him the car would need the belts retensioned after 1K miles or so just the same.

Anyway, after replacing both belts and 4 rollers/sprockets, we buttoned up the front end using a torque wrench on everything and the car ran perfectly until today when the owner says it gave up the ghost at speed on the highway after making a sudden whine accompanied by the stink of burnt plastic. He says he immediately stepped on the clutch and coasted to the side and didn't attempt to restart it. He did not, however, have the belts checked or retensioned.

It had just happened when he called today, and I told him to look at the belt through the inspection hole on the cam sprocket and the belt was still there but crooked. He had the car towed to a shop where they noticed the belt appeared to be slit lengthwise?

So I'm sitting here on my first vacation in 3 years feeling really bad for this guy, because it's looking like he has bent valves in the best case scenario, and may even have to replace the head in the worst case. I'm torn because I feel responsible for the damage to his car since he trusted my knowledge of how to do the belts, but don't know what could have gone wrong since I did essentially the same job I did on my own car beforehand with no issues whatsoever.

At any rate, what should I do to help him if the damage is major? What would you do in my situation? Thanks.

flagtie

Just like when negotiating, you don't want to lead with the first offer. I would say something like "Oh man, I'm really sorry that happened. Is there anything I can do for you?" Most likely he'll say "No, that's ok. It could have been caused by anything."

You'll feel ok because you offered and he feels ok because he was given the choice.

If he says "Like what?" Stay vague. Something like "I don't know,maybe help look for used parts?"
-Brian

Mangonesailor

Well, he did not retension the belts as you had told him. Did this happen before or after the additional 1kmi? If it happened before then I would feel obligated to help in any way possible (And possibly get my hands on the proper tool for him.). If it happened after the +1kmi mark then it's mainly his problem. Even still, I would probably help him take apart his head and such if he needed my assistance. Things like that suck, and I've been there. But it's nice to know the person that MAY have put you in the situation is trying help get you out of it.

Just my €.02

teamking

Did he pay you for your assistance? If not, I don't think you owe him anything. If he did pay you, perhaps a different story.

Luis de Prat

He did not retension within the first 1K mi and I didn't accept any money for doing this.

Thanks for the responses so far.

xsboost90

you owe him nothing, be supportive if you want. This is why shops charge so much to do the job.

Lightningmcnulty

There is no responsibility for this, free help plus ignoring your instructions = your on your own.

Having said that I would probably help him disassemble and reassemble just because.

What has his attitude been so far?

odurandina

i haven't posted the words V8 Chevy in almost 3 weeks.

Jrboulder

Not your problem plain and simple.

You weren't compensated, he didn't follow your recommendation of required maintenance, and you have not touched that car in several months.

Tom M'Guinn

Well I doubt many shops would offer more than sympathy in this situation really. It would be good to get to the root cause -- could have been a seized water pump or fauly roller, etc. Regardless, the car apparently ran fine for the last 4 or 5 months, so if it did fail due to belts or bolts working loose after initial install, those would have been found and corrected had be retensioned as you and Porsche suggested. It's a two part process for a reason. I say you're in the clear.

944Ross

When your vacation is over, you could help him open it up to see the root cause. Chances are it's from an unrelated problem like the WP. I've been in your position and it's hard to accept that it isn't your problem, but that is truly the case here.

Luis de Prat

Thanks to all for the replies.

They're well thought out and made me view the situation differently. I just have trouble getting over the fact that his engine may have damage, but it really was his business to get the belts retensioned, and the belts I've used even come with a warning slip to remind you about this.

Will see what the shop tells him.

morghen

+1

fbgh2o

Luis

You simply helped a fellow enthusiast. My personal take is that he was unwilling to get it done professionally and therefore was willing to accept a higher level of risk that something may go wrong by doing it with you. Furthermore, he did not set it up for success by using a by the hour garage on something that can be problematic and time consuming.

It's okay to feel the way that you do, but you owe him nothing. You are not a professional and were not compensated, nor did you present yourself as a mechanic.

theporscheguy

If I ask a friend to help and something goes wrong I live with the consequences, and I try hard to keep friends from being put in this situation. If I feel that there is a lot of exposure I leave it to the professionals, AND listen when I am asked to bring it back.