Riccardo

Hey Adrian,

apw964 is actually called Andy

I would think he is quite real judging by his concern?

John Miles

Couple of experiences of broken belts.

1. Mine went and I just experienced hesitant performance. Did not know abut belts at that time so just continued driving for for three weeks as had an annual service coming up where my specialist immediately spotted problem.

2. Track day friend Nick in UK suffers engine failure on track at Castle Coombe. Left him very unhappy on mobile phone calling main dealer thinking his enging had blown-up. Turns out his belt had broken and burnt holes through 2 or 3 cylinders (£5000+ fix).

Check that belt regularly!

John

apw964

Folks,

Thanks for all the useful comments on this one.

Adrian - no I am not making up stories - I am a real owner of a 1990 C4, with a real problem and not simply a made up one. I am sorry you feel that I might be making things up here for for fun......

For the record ... My name is Andy Williams, I am a recent resident of the NY area having moved from Portsmouth UK (my home town). So - I guess back to the car.....

I purchased the car from PAR with 64,000 miles on the clock, the test drives I took seemed to indicate the car was in good shape, the car ran smoothly, and seemed to perform well, my previous couple of cars had been a lotus elan, a toyota celica GT4, and a 16v Golf, so using these cars as a point of reference to the performance all felt good.

I guess I began to realise I had a problem after a good few 1000 miles had passed, a few entanglements with Golf VR6's and integras etc on the road proofed that all was not exactly as it should be in the performance department. I during the next 2 oil changes asked my garage to check the performance. During that time they indicated nothing was wrong, however they did reset the DME.

It wasn't until I found this notice board that I started to read up on the dist belt issue - after testing the possibility that this may be the problem by removing the HT lead from the secondary and primary dist in order that the problem was discovered. Unfortunately I had been driving the car, sometimes hard for 10,000 miles. I do a lot of travelling and that 10,000 miles was covered in 4 months (a lot of mileage which was completed at 65 miles / hr on the highway). From the recent posts it seems that I have in deed covered sufficient mileage to do damage.

My garage has now completed a leak down test, which confirms the state of the cylinder, so unfortunatley it looks like I am stuck with a large repair bill.

Adrian - I am sorry you thought I was making things up - it's unfortunate to be accused of 'story telling' when your are simply asking for advice and help - everyone else on this message board seems to be able to give it without making such accusations.

Thanks to everyone else for you words of wisdom.

Bill Wagner

Andy:

Sorry to hear the bad news. This might be a good time to consider updating to the newer cylinders using the gaskets.

How much have they quoted you on a repair (if they have yet)?

Best Wishes,

Bill Wagner

Adrian

Dear Andy,
The fact that you identified yourself in such a way is terrific. Thankyou. I am sorry you took offence but well, I have to ask these things. There have been many story tellers in the past.
Now back to your 964 C4. Where is it now and is there any help that you feel anyone can give you with this problem. If such damage is confirmed I agree with Bill that a full top end is required, have the Techincal Service Bulletin to have the heads refaced and a head gasket installed. This has a kit which includes new pistons. I can send you the full data if you wish. You could give this to your mechanic to carry out,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

Riccardo

Andy,

I am sorry to hear about your problem, it is possibly one of the last things we Porsche owners want to hear. I for one know it would definitely mean the end of ownership for me!

Not much I can add apart from good luck and keep the morale up!

JBH

Andy:

This is a good point to go out and buy Bruce Anderson's 911 Performance Handbook. For $25 it provides a great deal of information about the engine rebuilds and upgrades. As part of the discussion on rebuilds, he includes a fairly exhaustive list of things that should be done (and not done) as part of the service.

I believe there is also a checklist that lists the different steps and an estimate of cost for each - this can help you in talking about the job with various shops.

In your region, you have many choices for engine rebuilders - maybe you can find one that will let you watch the different parts of the process.

Good luck - if we can be of any help just ask

apw964

Gents,

Thanks for the words of wisdom - apologies for not being in touch - things have been a little strange the last couple of days as I'm sure you are all aware.

Adrian you said ->"have the Techincal Service Bulletin to have the heads refaced and a head gasket installed. This has a kit which includes new pistons. I can send you the full data if you wish. You could give this to your mechanic to carry out"

Could you send on the details please - it would be much appreciated

vilhelm

Can anyone tell me how I can tell if the distributor vent mod has been installed in my car? I have a record the the distributor belt was changed 5k miles ago but no indication if the vent mod was installed.

Bill Gregory

Vilhelm,

If the distributor vent mod is installed, you will see a white tube coming from below the distributor caps to the larger black air tube connecting the air blower and the heat exchangers. The white tube likely goes into the black air duct near where a second white tube feeds air to the rear turn signal plastics.

Jay H

Vent Kit Photo:

ploglet

Where can you buy a vent kit for the distributor? Is it somewhat easy to install or should it be left to a mechanic?

Kevin

Any Porsche dealer can get it for you. It is very easy to install.