DrZ

Driving on 73 FWY last night when heard noise from engine bay and then dash lit up like a x-mas tree. Pulled the car over to discover fan and alternator belts in several pieces. Lucklly found a local tow service to flat bed the car to Newport Auto. Driver was very careful not to damage wheels or exhaust tips. Told by the driver that only a few services will agree to tow Porsches here due to damage liability issues. Tipped the guy $10 and considered myself lucky to be able to get the car to a dealer on a late holiday sunday night for 90 bucks.

What irks me though is that I had the belt and alternator pulley update done by a highly regarded mechanic in South County about 18 months ago and only had 10k miles on the new belt. Today dealer says fan bearing is okay, suspects belt was over tightened. Sheesh! I couldn't have done any worse if I had tried a DIY job. I am getting more motivated to take on atleast the simpler maintenance projects in the future. Hello Robin's site!

Carrera GT

Right on all counts. Lucky to get a flat-bed. Luck you weren't in near Silicon Valley -- expect $200 for even a short tow. And right also on DIY or getting a knowledgeable someone to guide the work. Things like doing the RS pulley mod definitely fit into the "advanced" DIY category, but not beyond reach.

Jeff 993TT

Sorry to hear about that.. If you do the RS pulley, you could reasonably change the belt on the roadside in about 20 minutes. RS pulley is about $100. You can change it in about 3 hours with the right tools. With the existing setup, it's a crapshoot.

I actually doubt that the belt was over tightened. Most likely, it was UNDER tightened, leading to slippage, which leads to heat, which leads to your situation. Did your dealer re tighten it 500 miles after he installed it? He is supposed to, but most don't care to mention or perform that part of the service.

Also, are you sure that he got the right belt? I've seen instances where the dealer didn't realize that the updated alternator pulley requires a different size belt.

I think you are starting to understand why we DIY so much stuff around here. Except for a VERY VERY few things, dealers don't know squat about p-cars. Why pay somebody to mess up your p-car when you can mess it up for free?

Robin 993DX

DrZ, Jeff,

If the belts were under tightened you would have heard a lot of high pitch squeal noise before it had snapped.

I have also seem cases where the belt sensor roller ceized up and caused the belt to break.

Jack Ennuste

Actually I'ts possible to drive car quite a long trip with alternator belt broken. No need to spend U$ 200 on towing.

DrZ

Jeff, a independent well known to many here on the board replaced the original belt and pulley and no, I was not advised to return to have it tightened. Ironically I had the 15K service done 3 months ago by the present dealer and had requested that a highly recommended mechanic work on the car. I assume the belt tension was checked then?

Robin, I didn't hear any sound from the engine but then again I have been playing my stereo system fairly loud over the last 4 months. Will be asking the mechanic today what he thinks the cause of the failure was.

DrZ

Jack, the fan belt was also gone, and it was not worth risking the possibility of engine damage to save a $100.

Jeff 993TT

Yes, Jack.. I've driven on a broken alternator belt for about 1 hour before and that was fine.

But DO NOT drive if the fan belt is broken.

Philip in AL

Local Porsche mechanic once told me; don't even crank a 993 with a broken fan belt. Said some have made the mistake of depending on the temp gauge to make sure they were safe. The problem is, it reads the OIL temp, not the engine temp. He said that by the time the gauge showed hot, more than likely the engine would have seized!

Jack Ennuste

I absolutely agree. No driving when FAN belt is broken!!! Please dont get me wrong.

But driving without alternator doesnt harm Your car, battery just drains empty in few hours.