Mashing down on the loud pedal, the transmission downshifts, the tach needle swings past 5,000 and the dogs of war howl out of your RMB while you experience that rush of being pushed into the glorious leather that envelopes you.

At that moment do you envision that long sinewy snake wrapped around cogs, gears and rollers? Do thoughts of seized water pumps, worn cam gears, frozen idler pulleys and loose tensioner assemblies rush in to harsh your reverie? Is your subconscious always prepared for the tortured sounds of gnashing valves and twisting metal?

if so, you may have timbephobia my friend - the fear of all tragedies caused by that evil timing belt.

There are things we can do to reduce this phobia, but alas there is no know cure to completely eliminate it. If you own a 928 long enough you will experience a bout of it at some point in your relationship with this beast.

Maybe it's just me.

 

A little. I'm more afraid of rod bearings.

 

Nah,
I just crank up David Gilmour - "Comfortably Numb" and carry on.
It's when I'm not driving the paranoia creeps in....

 

Just got back from a fairly good romp with the grey car. Belts, gears,wp, never entered my thoughts. My main concern was if the new ignition switch would make a difference in hot starts. So far it is good (2 days) Now on hot start the idle is terrible, time for a bit of blink'r work, or maybe will hook up the arm one for real time fuel situation.

 

Why would I? I have a non interference 16V :icon107.

I'm a little more afraid of the rear trans lines letting go and catching my car on fire....and the power steering pressure line too. I don't want a car-b-q.

I would also be more scared of fuel leaks, which is why I replaced all of those lines.

 

Very colorful writing piece you did there...

 

I am more effected by

flashinglightsinmirrorgetpulledoverandgetanexpensiveticketorthrowninjail ophobia.

 

Not afraid of the TB anymore now that I have a Porkensioner.

 

I know the guy that does the work on my engine and timing belt. He's pretty careful and quite meticulous. Detail oriented. Maybe to the point of obsession, but lets not go there just yet. He believes that the engineers who designed the cam drive system did it OK to begin with, and planned on it working on engines regularly driven at speed on the Autobahn as it was in the 1970's.. Improvements in belt technology and the drive gear design (HTD) have made it even more reliable. US speed limits help almost all of us keep the engine RPM's at less than flat-out numbers.

And... Although we don't get transcripts of every call to every 928 parts vendor, it would be interesting to hear about how many belt failures there are these days on cars that have been cared for at Porsche's recommended intervals. Putting a new belt on every 50k-60k, but sliding it on to gears that will be worn through within the new belt's scheduled life? Got idler rollers that are not quite yet noisy? Crud and debris in the housings, leaking and/or dry tensioner? Doesn't really qualify as 'cared for'. The RL community has decided that 40-50k and five years is a safer, more appropriate belt change interval. We've accepted that Ken's tensioner can extend the life of some components while replacing a few of the more critical wear pieces.

So yes, I do regularly think about all the precision moving parts that allow the car to safely spin up towards redline. Do I worry about them to the point of calling it a faux-bee-yaa, not a bit. It's all working as planned.

 

plus 928

 

I think Thrust Bearing Failure is my biggest fear and always will be.

 

Nope

 

I 'redo" more timing belt/gear jobs than I ever start for high mileage or age reasons.

The amount of things that I see done incorrectly staggers even me. There is literally no end to the "pitfalls" that people can create. If you could possibly dream it up....I've seen it and redone it....probably more than once.

I'm very afraid of belt jobs done by rookies/unknowing mechanics. Very Afraid.

 

I think I may fall into that category..

 

I'm an inherent worry wart of a major repair mostly because I've got to get 2 more to get through college and then 3 weddings to pay for. For instance, I was stuck at a railroad crossing today and every time a car from the opposite direction rolled over the tracks and made rattling noises I briefly thought that I just had TBF, WP failure, Flexplate crack, etc. If I hadn't recently completed TT replacement I would have thought was a problem too.