R.Pires

Hi all,

I hope you can help me with my belt tensioner problem.
My car is at the shop to change timing belt, water pump, tensioner, the complete job.
I’ve ordered all the material from the official dealer Porsche Madrid (here in Portugal we have an official dealer, but he doesn’t stock 928 parts, when needed they order from Madrid…).
Everything looks ok, except when the time to mount then arrived, the belt tensioner is different, it’s a little thicker.
When I ordered the material I didn’t mention any reference number exactly to avoid any mistake, but I mention very clearly my car’s chassis and engine numbers.
So the dealer sends me the tensioner ref. 928 105 036 00, and after I tell him my mechanic says it’s impossible to mount, he keeps saying that it’s the right one.
I’m not an expert but I can see that they are different, what my mechanic says is that as the new one is thicker the piston won’t work in the right angle, it won’t stay straight and also the protective cover won’t fix on the new tensioner.
I’m posting the pictures I’ve taken to send to the dealer to show the diference, but I would like very much to know your opinions.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards

Ricardo Pires

1983 928S 5sp
Engine number: 82D0438

Jim bailey - 928 International

The 036 00 tensioner is the late model S-4 style , you need the earlier tensioner.

R.Pires

Thanks Jim,

The 036 00 tensioner is refered in the PET downloaded from Porsche site to be used in engines M28.43/44 and M28.45/46, which in the same PET corresponds to years 85 and 86.
My car is an 83 and is a M28.11 engine! I told the dealer all this but he keeps saying it's the right one!
Can you please confirm me that the right tensioner is reference 928 105 046 06? Or I'm also wrong with this reference?
By the way, as I'm sure you allready have noticed, my car is an euro version.

Thanks very much for your help

Best regards

Ricardo Pires

Jim bailey - 928 International

The 046 06 should be the right one for the 84 Euro with M 28/11.

PorKen

What's wrong with the old one? Is the shop unwilling to rebuild it?

R.Pires

Thanks Jim, that's what I tought! Thanks for your help!


Porken,
I guess the old one can be rebuilt, but as my mechanic told me by phone he nedeed a new belt tensioner, I ask the dealer for a new tensioner and he send the complete "product"! Now that I've already pay for it, it's easier to change for the correct one than ask only for the necessary to rebuild the old one, and I give my 928 a complete new tensioner, that I'm sure she will like

Best regards

Ricardo Pires

Giovanni

Out of curiosity, how much did you pay Ricardo?

Jim bailey - 928 International

The new late tensioner lists for about $1,100 as I recall.

UKKid35

That is unlucky.

You have a mechanic telling you that you need new tensioner when you don't.

And a dealer determined to sell you the wrong one anyway. Not only that but I hate to think what the Porsche dealer price is for a tensioner.

It's like being told that you need new wheels when you need a tyre change...

R.Pires

Well, fortunately that guy is not “my” mechanic....
I bought the car 1 month ago (just for the record it cost me 8.000 euros) I tough it was in excellent condition, but when I collect the car and drove about 200 km, park it in my garage and the next day there where litres of cooling fluid on the floor, and it was still running from the water pump!
I immediately call the seller, he came to my house and he assumes responsibility for the fix, said he paid half of the material needed and all the work. Well, it’s better than saying, I don’t care, you bought the car, yesterday when I sold it to you it was ok!
We drove the car to what I earlier call my mechanic but it’s in fact his mechanic….
I let him do the job and after that, the first drive will be to my real mechanic, to check what as been done on the car and I assure you that the re-tensioning will be done by “my real mechanic”….


Giovanni, here’s the bill….

Belt tensioner – 700 euros
Timing belt – 97 euros
Belt tensioner gasket – 8 euros
Water pump gasket – 2 euros
Water pump – 455 euros

Plus 16% taxes over this prices, and almost 40 euros for transportation from Madrid to Lisbon, the total was around 1500 euros.

Best regards

Ricardo Pires

Garth S

You can quickly ( ~ 15 min) refurbish the original tensioner for < 40 euros in parts - a boot and clamp plus an internal O-ring .... you already have the back gasket.
You must also install new teflon bushings on the tensioner carrier arm ( ~25 euros), and main tensioner roller (~60 euros). Have the expensive new tensioner credited to you when exchanging for the less costly parts above.

The remaining idler rollers can have new standard bearings pressed into the shells locally far cheaper than dealer parts.

R.Pires

Hi Garth,

In this moment what I really want is that the dealer admits that as sold me the wrong part! I've send them an email yesterday with the pics I've posted here and the answer today is that they are analising my problem with a 928 expert! That's a progress, better than keep saying it´s the right one when we all can see they are different!
I'm tempted to tell them to read this Forum...
If they admit the mistake I'm ready to travel 650km (infortunatly not in my shark...) to personnaly exchange the part!
Maybe they give me a free new tensioner with an apologie lool!!

Best regards

Ricardo Pires

sharknoob

Did you think about porken's tensioner?
Do a search on it ....Im going with it when i get around to doing the belt

Hilton

Perhaps you could send them this link? It confirms what you already know yourself, which is the correct part for the '83 model with M28/11.

https://techinfo.porsche.com/techinf...86_KATALOG.pdf

Their "928 expert" is probably a junior parts technician struggling to make sense of which engine your car actually has Anyone actually trained to work on 16V 928S' by the factory would have long gone by now.

marton

I was surprised when I bought the WP gasket from the OPC about how cheap it is.

Marton