CSK 911 C4S

I bet you will get nowhere with a claim but it never hurts to ask.

Drive belts like other wear and tear items are not covered.

captainz

thanks. Just a lesson learned. No matter what enthusiasts, club members or friends say about how great an Indy mech is: stay away until CPO expires, even if its an oil change! I should have taken to dealer and then after cpo expired taken to Indy.

Good lesson! Also started relationship with my future mechanic. Luckily he found the cracked belt and the cost is ok.

Nashvegas

Yep, I'm sticking with dealer for service until CPO expires for similar reasons... easier to argue coverage if it's there, and they've done the work.

One note though -- usually the drive belt is not going to be covered by CPO. Drive belts are like brake pads, air filters, oil filters. Consumables.

However, it would be likely have covered by CPO would be if you just purchased the car - they should have checked it and replaced it then. Inspect drive belt is on the CPO list I believe.

Also - somewhat surprising that at 14.3k miles it has cracks. Yowsa !

Foosh

As others have said, the drive belt is not just mileage, it's also time-based, which is every 6 years. The OP's car was 6-years old. Rubber dries out and is prone to cracking over time.

It's analogous to tires, which should also probably be replaced every 5-6 years, even though they have plenty of tread life left.

Nashvegas

Yes, I'm aware of time based service (all of my cars are on time based as all get sub 2K miles per year...), however many modern belts are kevlar or have other compounds that extend wear and life. For example, Porsche changed the genuine 944 Turbo belts (timing not accessory.... so more critical) to kevlar reinforced and these belts last 10-15 years. They used to last 3-5 years depending on mileage. Different materials. Yet still people bang on about changing in 3 years on the 944 Turbo forums.

I'm surprised to hear that Porsche would use failure prone rubber in late 2010's on a 991.2.

JLR is using belts that have 10 year / 100k change interval (for example, on my L663 Defender 110).

Perhaps this belt is just an outlier... and cracked due to environmental conditions, but modern belts go more than 5-6 years, easily.

Foosh

Perhaps the drive belt replacement guidance for the 991.2 is different, but I doubt it. For 991.1, it's every 6 years or 60K miles. I simply follow Porsche's guidance on all service intervals.

Sure, like driving on bald tires that are 10 years old, drive belts quite likely will last much longer, but they're also much more likely to fail. It's up to each individual to decide how much risk they want to assume.

Nashvegas

You make good points.