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Bought a 87 S4, last autumn.
Timing belt was changed in 2017, and the car has only gone 3000km/1865miles since the change.
Total milage is 216000km/135000miles.
My 928 will not be used as a daily driver, just to local meetings, roadtrips and evening rides when i feel for it.
Should i consider changing the timing belt? what do you think?
The belt is only one part of the equation, and often times a timing belt breaking has nothing to with the age or miles on the belt. The tensioner, rollers, water pump, and camshaft gears are also factors to be aware of. If any of these fail, the belt will fail soon after, without much if any warning.
The majority of timing belt failures are from one of these items failing, not the belt.
Do you have a copy of that repair bill from 2017? If yes, look to see if those above items were replaced. If not, time to do the job again properly. The camshaft gears don't have to be replaced, but inspected for wear.
It is very common for shops to simply install a new belt without touching anything else.
I would look to check;
- belt tension
- cam gear condition (is the anodising worn through)
- tensioner oil level, (if empty then tensioner probably needs to come off for new gasket etc.)
- water pump spec (plastic impellor or not, some folk prwfer plastic as cant damage block if it comes loose)
- which belt (some folk seem to prefer gates/Porsche over Conti)
Before dissembling the front of the engine to check the belt, I'd check two things if it was mine.
1. tale off the long plastic tubes feeding the Air-filter and look into the vent holes on the top of the cam covers and see where the belt is tracking, it should be about 5mm from the front of the cam gears, if it's at the edge, the belt system needs to be serviced.
Once the static check is done, start the engine and observe the tracking of the belt should not see any excessive wobble, else it needs to be serviced.
2. disconnect the wire under the dipstick bracket you will need a 10mm socket to remove the bracket bolt. Start the engine and wait at least 3 minuets, the Belt system warning light should come on "!". This will insure that the system was not circumvented. Note: if the Audi (PKen) tensioner was installed then step 1 is all you need to do at this time.
As Hacker stated it's the other parts in the system that fail and take out the T-belt in the process. Great looking shark by the way, enjoy!
The OP's question was whether he should change the timing belt based on his knowledge of the history- no suggestion of any issues or concerns, no suggestion of doubt about who last worked on the car - a simple, straight forward logical question.
Here is my personal opinion. Unless you have a good personal relationship with the shop that did the work and trust them implicitly, I would change the timing belt and water pump. It's not hard, the parts aren't very expensive, and it will give you a good look at many of the components in the engine compartment to see if they require attention. It's a nice way to get more comfortable with the condition of the car and it's current or future needs.
For those same reasons, I would recommend changing the timing belt every ten years on a car that doesn't see a lot of miles. It's not so much about the belt, which by all accounts lasts a very long time, but about all of the ancillary pieces that you must remove or manipulate in order to do a timing belt job. It provides a good opportunity for a deeper inspection and replacing or addressing components that need attention.
These are my personal preferences, but you could probably go 20 years and be just fine.
The OP's question was whether he should change the timing belt based on his knowledge of the history- no suggestion of any issues or concerns, no suggestion of doubt about who last worked on the car - a simple, straight forward logical question.
The whole equation must be taken into account when answering such a question. Most folks who ask such a question are not familiar enough with the 928 engine to know what all questions to ask. Most folks know timing belts need to be changed, and that's about it.
Saying the belt is fine without knowing anything else about the car or work history other than the age of the belt is irresponsible. Just the brand name of the belt comes into play. If everything else was done correctly but some no-name generic belt was used, I'd change it, even if it was a week old.
I've seen hundreds of invoices from cars (not just 928's) that were "fully serviced" only to see the jobs were improperly done and need to be done over.
Originally Posted by Bulvot
Here is my personal opinion. Unless you have a good personal relationship with the shop that did the work and trust them implicitly, I would change the timing belt and water pump. It's not hard, the parts aren't very expensive, and it will give you a good look at many of the components in the engine compartment to see if they require attention. It's a nice way to get more comfortable with the condition of the car and it's current or future needs.
+1
If I don't know the shop or the mechanic who previously worked on the car, I consider any regular maintenance item as not being completed and take that into account when buying a car.
Was it re-tensioned after 2000 mi? If not, that needs to be done anyway. Go in there, have a look around, and you'll find out what needs to be done, whether re-tensioning is enough or whether you need to do more. A coolant change after 4 years is not a bad idea anyway.
A coolant change after 4 years is not a bad idea anyway.
Not bad at all. In fact, the owner's manual: Coolant every 2 years Brake fluid every 2 years ATF 30,000 miles Oil 15,000 miles Rear differential 60,000 miles
I recently replaced a conti timing belt from a 928 that sat outside for 12 years. It looked brand new. The only thing wrong was it was installed with the lettering upside down! As others have said, its usually something else in the equation that goes wrong. It does also allow you to see where you may have some potential leaks. YMMV.
I recently replaced a conti timing belt from a 928 that sat outside for 12 years. It looked brand new. The only thing wrong was it was installed with the lettering upside down! As others have said, its usually something else in the equation that goes wrong. It does also allow you to see where you may have some potential leaks. YMMV.
The belt has no idea what direction the lettering is....makes absolutely no difference.
However, replacing a Conti belt is always a good idea.
Bought a 87 S4, last autumn.
Timing belt was changed in 2017, and the car has only gone 3000km/1865miles since the change.
Total milage is 216000km/135000miles.
My 928 will not be used as a daily driver, just to local meetings, roadtrips and evening rides when i feel for it.
Should i consider changing the timing belt? what do you think?
Best regards
Tops
Like the saying in real estate: "Location, location, location,"
timing belts are always: "Condition, condition, condition."
With a proper factory belt, properly installed, with the proper parts, you should be able to simply adjust this belt and forget about it for another 15,000 miles.
Unfortunately, the above is a very rare situation, because of inferior aftermarket parts and idiots working on these cars.
In our shop, we end up "redoing" low mileage timing belt jobs in a 5 to 1 ratio over the timing belt jobs we do from old age or mileage.
Can I hop onto this thread for a quick question? I have a 1985 928 and my son has the 1984. It was always my understanding that the 1985 with its 32 valve motor is the interference style engine and the 1984 with its 16 valve engine is safe. My son's timing belt went out and I got a quote from a shop in St. Louis, MO for $8,000! It included pulling the heads (but not new valves) and when I saw $1,000 for a new water pump I knew it was a joke.
When I told the shop owner my buddy and I did the timing belt replacement on my 1985 and I know the 1984 was NOT an interference engine he tried to claim it WAS an interference engine.
I found another (reputable) shop that wants $1,300 for the timing belt job and then $1,000 for the water pump job IF NEEDED. The $1,300 wasn't out of line with my expectations but the $1,000 for the water pump add-on seemed high. Have these pumps gotten very expensive?
IF the timing belt broke, most likely you have a lot of other items that require maintenance. A good front end refresh, water pump, timing belt, accessory belts, seals, tensioner is probably called for and probably run around 2500-3000. A New laso pump is around $350 I believe...
02-09-2022 | 09:50 AM
Timing Belt Year or miles
