RedCarr710

Hey all, I'm new to the forum but I've been lurking for the past month and reading up on all the collective wisdom.

I bought a 91 C2 Tip at the beginning of July and have been having a blast getting to know the car over the past two months. I will post the required pics soon - it is in excellent shape, a true classic Guards Red 964.

My question is regarding the distributor belt. Adrian's book says the maint interval is replace at 80,000 miles (which I just passed). I don't want to overreact so here are the facts:

The car has the dist vent kit installed. From '97 -'07 it was maintained at a P dealership by a PO but I don't have the records. I assume the vent was installed during this period - anyone know when the vents started being installed?

In '09 it had the engine "Resealed and Tuned" by another PO at an indi P shop. "R&R Distributor" was performed and the parts list on the invoice says "2 Dist Caps" and "2 Dist Rotors" .

So here's my question - is there a good chance that the dist belt is still the original after these two services? (crap) I don't think the indi shop replaced the belt since it would have been on the materials list, did P replace the belts when they did the vent kit?

I'm just getting comfortable with minor DIY (oil changes) and learning about the car so I'm definitely not equiped to handle a DIY distributor job. If you were me, would you go get this belt checked (and if it is the orginal - replaced I would guess) sooner rather than later? Anyone have any what kind of $ I'm looking at for this job? ($300, $500, more?..ulp)

This forum is awesome - thanks for the help.

91 Carrera 2, Tip
80,300 miles (1,400 since July - mine!)

jimq

Welcome Nice choice of year and model !
The belt is about $10 or so. There was a guy on Ebay in Atlanta that was rebuilding them for about $125-150 or so I seem to remember. Do a search on here for how to do it your self.

Rocket Rob

While the distributor belt life is not infinite, I wouldn't be too worried. The next time you have your distributor caps off, you can peek into the distributor to see a portion of the belt. My cab is on its second belt. The original failed on me around 95. My mechanic installed a rebuilt distributor and the vent kit. Total cost at the time was $1000 ($750 for the dist itself). My thinking is that the belt life is improved significantly with the vent kit installed. I've gone approx 160K miles on the rebuilt dist.

Earlydays

My '90 C2 belt failed at 75,500 in 2004. It was the original belt and the car has had the vent kit since 1992.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

FWIW,....Based on experience, I recommend belt replacement at 60K.

One cannot always tell when it will fail since you just cannot see it well enough to make a thorough inspection and the consequences of a broken belt can be severe (expensive).

To me, its simply good proactive maintenance.

breale01

'90 C2 here as well. Belt failed at around 74,200 in 2009 (luckily, no obvious damage or negative consequences, but I have heard horror stories). Original belt from what I could tell. Paid about $300 to replace it, parts included. Have the vent kit but I'd have to check when it was installed. I'll edit this post when I find out.

Lesson learned: If in doubt about how old it is, just change it. I'll be having it changed again in 50 to 60,000 miles.

Indycam

If you do the job yourself the cost is under $20 for the parts .
Belt $8.99
Pin is maybe a buck or two
Oring is maybe $3
the labor is free if you do it yourself .
Its an easy repair , imho .

psiegel

Be careful, its not just the millage but the age of the belt as well. The belts can dry out and become very brittle. A brittle belt can mean that the belt can slip and without actually breaking meaning the sync is off between the two distributors. Visually checking to see if both distributors are operating will tell you if the belt is broken but not if it has slipped.
As Steve says it good insurance to get a new belt out on. I believe he actually can do this for you. I ts fairly easy to remove the distributor and then if you don't want to do the work your self, send it to him and as i remember he can turn it around for you in a few days. if you remove, remember to number the wires so you know the proper sequence when you reinstall.
Just my thoughts.
good luck
Peter

Indycam

Its a gilmer type cogged belt , getting it to slip without stripping off the cogs is near impossible .

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Well Sir,.................I've seen that happen,....

Indycam

You have seen what happen ?
The cogs come off or the belt slip ?

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Yes. The cogs come off and the belt slips. We find the rubber parts down inside the distributor body when its disassembled and all cleaned out.

psiegel

I unfortunately had the personal experience as this happened to my car. I kept the belt just for fun. Looking at it now, some of the cogs on mine are badly worn down, while others on the belt look fine. My guess is that once this starts to happen, the slip itself causes more ware and the destructive viscous circle process begins little by little essentially eroding the belts cogs.

Indycam

So we are in agreement that the belt slipping without the belt being damaged first is not the norm ?

psiegel

Could be, but my point is that its not just mileage that can cause a problem with the belts as with any belt or gasket, or bushing, they will get brittle over time and then not perform is they were designed and in the case of the distributor, it can cause problems. If a belt has never been changed out and it been 20 years, even if the belt is still intact it may not be operating properly. It may but it may not.