A distributor belt in time saves, well, $$$$$
07-28-2004, 12:57 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 298
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A distributor belt in time saves, well, $$$$$
So a couple months ago I was in one of the two main Porsche shops in town, asking about the cost of a distributor belt replacement. I recall being told $170, which wasn't cheap, but overall didn't seem too bad, but enough for me to at least consider replacing the belt by myself. Well, I got distracted by a bunch of fun stuff and then on Sunday, driving home, the car was not always accelerating uniformly and when I came to my driveway (it's rather steep), the car could barely make it up! I was 99% sure my belt broke, and I confirmed it by removing the main spark plug lead for the main distributor (the car stopped).
Well, I figured $170 overall wasn't that much of a hassle, although I suspected the bigger pain would be waiting until the shop could find time for me, and I was right: a week and a half at the earliest. Just as I was about to book it, I reconfirmed the price. Well, guess what? It's now $370.
. The service manager told me whoever quoted me $170 was really out to lunch. Problem is, it was him. I demurred, and started checking how much of a hassle it would be to do it myself. What the heck, I thought, why not? So I called them up again to order the belt and pin(s). The belt was $69.00! That seemed a little steep for a rubber belt, and guess what, it's U$9 elsewhere. I asked the parts guy if ththere was any difference (well, it was a polite way of pointing out that their belt was overpriced). He suggested that with shipping and customs broker fees the difference would be small. While commercial couriers like UPS and FedEx charge a minimum $40 for processing anything over the border, what he didn't know (but I did) was that anything by USPS only costs $5, and shipping will be U$2.75 by air.
Part of me is quixotically pissed at them, but welcome to the world of monoplies. The owner of the shop was bought out recently by the guys now running the show, and if they can jack up the prices substantially and still have a week and a half queue of work, well, I guess there's no incentive for them to charge prices actually related to the cost of the parts and the amount of labour taken to complete the job. I don't mind paying premium hourly wages since they're well trained and their premises cost a bit to maintain, but I friggin' hate "value" pricing. Ideally all the rich dudes who overpay should essentially be subsidising me, but instead they're setting the bar
So, I've pulled the lead plug on the secondary distributor (just in case the rotor happens to be in the precise position where it's plugs would be firing 100% of the time) and will be minimising the use of the car.
I presume that since I've heard of cars being driven for months with a broken belt that I can get away with this approach with no ill effects--anyone have any experiences to the contrary?
Well, I figured $170 overall wasn't that much of a hassle, although I suspected the bigger pain would be waiting until the shop could find time for me, and I was right: a week and a half at the earliest. Just as I was about to book it, I reconfirmed the price. Well, guess what? It's now $370.
. The service manager told me whoever quoted me $170 was really out to lunch. Problem is, it was him. I demurred, and started checking how much of a hassle it would be to do it myself. What the heck, I thought, why not? So I called them up again to order the belt and pin(s). The belt was $69.00! That seemed a little steep for a rubber belt, and guess what, it's U$9 elsewhere. I asked the parts guy if ththere was any difference (well, it was a polite way of pointing out that their belt was overpriced). He suggested that with shipping and customs broker fees the difference would be small. While commercial couriers like UPS and FedEx charge a minimum $40 for processing anything over the border, what he didn't know (but I did) was that anything by USPS only costs $5, and shipping will be U$2.75 by air.Part of me is quixotically pissed at them, but welcome to the world of monoplies. The owner of the shop was bought out recently by the guys now running the show, and if they can jack up the prices substantially and still have a week and a half queue of work, well, I guess there's no incentive for them to charge prices actually related to the cost of the parts and the amount of labour taken to complete the job. I don't mind paying premium hourly wages since they're well trained and their premises cost a bit to maintain, but I friggin' hate "value" pricing. Ideally all the rich dudes who overpay should essentially be subsidising me, but instead they're setting the bar
So, I've pulled the lead plug on the secondary distributor (just in case the rotor happens to be in the precise position where it's plugs would be firing 100% of the time) and will be minimising the use of the car.
I presume that since I've heard of cars being driven for months with a broken belt that I can get away with this approach with no ill effects--anyone have any experiences to the contrary?
Last edited by Ragin' Bajan; 07-28-2004 at 02:34 AM.
07-28-2004, 01:05 AM
#2
RL Community Team
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
It should take you an hour, maybe two if you go slow, to take everything apart and replace that belt. The longest part is plugging in all those spark plug wires!
I'd replace the belt before thinking of driving it - with one spark, you're risking hurting things - unburned fuel can kill your catalytic converter, which is an expensive item...
I'd replace the belt before thinking of driving it - with one spark, you're risking hurting things - unburned fuel can kill your catalytic converter, which is an expensive item...
