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Originally Posted by Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems
If its a '96 or later, make sure you get a factory Porsche belt, otherwise you will get misfire codes and a CEL.
Hi Steve,
I have seen this comment before. I have used OE Porsche branded belts as well as non-Porsche branded belts in the same sizes and have not experienced this on my 1996. I do have the pulley update installed. Can you provide any insights as to why the root cause of a misfire is related to the belt? Was something published by Porsche on this subject?
Andy
When my fan belt shredded and a Dayco, non-Porsche OEM was used, the CEL and 3-consistent cylinder misfire codes appeared, disappeared, re-appeared. When a Porsche belt was swapped, all went back to normal.
In researching, and I posted this previously, there are several (minor) differences, or were with mine:
1-Total belt diameters among these OEM, non-OEM belts differ by several mm. As I recall belt widths did not. I'll find the charts if there's interest?
2- The rubber serrations on the underside OEM and non-OEM differed. There were more of them, spaced closer together, slightly smaller on the Porsche than non-Porsche belts, both fan and alternator.
I don't have the pulley update.
Perhaps one or both issues is/are responsible?
several (minor) differences, or were with mine:
1-Total belt diameters among these OEM, non-OEM belts differ by several mm.
2- The rubber serrations on the underside OEM and non-OEM differed.
Interesting how they are different observations, thanks.
I was looking for why the above makes a difference.
Andy
This is one of those repairs that is "easy" to do, but takes some care and special tools to do correctly, so you don't have another failure or damage at an even more inconvenient time and place. Great details here from Bruce7 (as per his usual level of excellence):
IMHO, Steve and fsa are correct on using ONLY genuine Porsche belts (the ones with "Porsche" printed on them). You may not have problems with aftermarket belts, or maybe you will...
By OEM belts earlier, hope it's obvious I meant Factory Porsche versus non-Factory. The circumferences of them also differ by several mm. Looking for the comparison chart and will re-post.
Some people have problems with non-Factory, others never..!
Funny, similar thing happened to me just last week, complete disintegration of the belt, not just a clean break. Make sure you clean up any belt strands that may have ended up in bad places eg wrapped around the AC compressor or the cooling fan. Still looking for pieces of my alternator belt. Decided to replace all 3 belts and in the process, discovered the fan hub bearing was in bad shape so had to deal with that too.
If you happen to have an extra battery and jumper cables you could bring them along in case your primary battery doesn’t make it the 50kms. Not a bad idea to carry BCAA as extra insurance in case you do end up needing a tow (my AMA gold covers towing up to 160kms). Before leaving, ensure the tow hook is in your toolkit! If you have to call for a tow, make sure you instruct the dispatcher that you need a flatbed, NOT crane type tow truck. See this thread and related rennlist post for info on towing, should it come to that, but hopefully it won’t...
The AntiLock warning light may have come on as a consequence of the alternator no longer charging. A couple of years ago I was having fits with warning lights coming on randomly (including the AntiLock warning light). It turned out that the problem was corrosion on the battery terminals so the car's systems were seeing lower battery voltage than required. When I fixed this the warning light issues went away.
OP, changing the belts is pretty straightforward. It's not a complicated system. I would do a search for some detailed instructions and pics and give it a shot.
I've been running the Clewett as well for about 3 years, and have zero regrets. No issues whatsoever, and it looks so good back there spinning around......
Swap it for this, and be done with worrying about belts snapping!
09-09-2018, 12:33 PM
