Bill Ball

Today was timing belt day for my trusty 89. Here is what I removed today after 62K miles - a Gates-made Porsche branded belt that looked almost new. You could still read the lettering on the backside and the teeth were as fresh as the replacement belt. I rather like these Gates belts. I will mention that I had a Continental belt that lost tension at 34K miles. I retensioned it and within a few weeks it lost tension again. Out it came! Nothing was obviously wrong with it. The nasty toothed belt warning on the digital dash is rather scary. The previous belts had been Gates-Porsche as well as this one, and the new one is the same.

Also, I replaced the water pump. It had been on for almost 95K miles, as had been the original pump (the odd mileages are due to off-schedule timing belt changes). It appeared to be in good shape but the bearing was freer spinning than new (no radial or axial play at all however) and I could hear it when I spun it, although it was not what I would call noisy. The plastic impeller was like new and firmly in place. That's not corrosion at the gasket edge - that's some excess Yamabond. A metal-impeller rebuilt pump marked "APC" is going in. Hope it stays put as well as the previous one.

RyanPerrella

cant go wrong with the OE belt

glad i have that on my car

G Man

Gates makes good products. When I was in the wrenching business we only stocked Gates belts and hoses for our shop.

Mrmerlin

I like to add a few drops of green press fit loctite to the impeller shaft, just adds a bit of grip. The belt looks good how do the pulleys look?, are you inspecting the crank drive gear i would bet it could be showing some wear

zekgb

I saw that belt in person and if you had told me it was 10k miles / 1 year old I'd have believed you. The fact that Bill drives like the proverbial little old lady is probably the key

Bill Ball

The crank gear is original and still good. Oil pump gear was replaced at 95K miles with the updated steel version. Still looks new. The passenger side cam gear was replaced at 95K miles and is just now developing a few tiny wear spots. I will leave that until next time. The driver side cam gear was replaced at 95K miles and had significant wear through today and was replaced. As you know, that is quite common. So, I get to use my Porken 32vr tool to check the cam timing.

Oh, and the tensioner was still holding oil! I rebuilt it but reused the boot as it was in perfect condition, previously replaced at 129K miles. The upper idler bearing was noisy. I replaced it. I cleaned the lower idlers but left them alone. The tensioner arm plastic bushings were in perfect shape. Still, I pulled them out and compared them to new bushings. Oddly enough, the old ones were tighter, so I put them back in.

For some strange reason I had trouble removing the harmonic balancer. I've always managed to wiggle it off in the past with patience and persistence. In fact, I've never had trouble getting the balancer off any 928. This time it would not move more than a mm and stop. Despite whacking it and penetrant, it would not move beyond that point. I ended up using a puller which is not easy with the cover around it. There's just enough room for a 2-arm puller, slightly off-center. That got it off in short order. Nothing apparent to account for the difficulty.

marton

Belt looks very good

Marton

Nicole

1. I think Bill has a miracle white shark. Nobody has so few problems with his 928!

2. As the guy with the bald tire told me: "It was good for four years, it'll be good for another four"...

AO

I'd reuse everything...

ew928

And turn the belt inside-out like with prophylactics???



BB,
Take the tranny out of 'D' and rev her past 2,500 once in a while, will you.

AO

Ern-
You know what those are? I was considering having "THE TALK" with you at SITM, but I guess you're more advanced than we thought. Good fer you!


Now who do I owe that $5????

ew928

Yes I know.
They're the pack of things you buy at the drug store to rebuild leaking vacuum actuators. (Tho it was reported that the rebuild only lasts for about 1 year)
They even come in colors so you can match the vacuum lines to the actuators.

Bill Ball

IcemanG17

Bill
That belt doesn't look anywhere near 62K...more like 6k...... So your 928 should be solid until at least 250k now!!

Bill Ball

Yes, next belt at 250K. Got the cams set with the Porken tool, although I made a boo boo and mooched the tool! Need to order a new one from Roger. Anyway, it started right up and purred nicely. It is quieter now, so I'm guessing the water pump bearing was making some audible noise.