cy7878

Been thinking about changing out the belt ever since I got the car (96 coupe with now 79k mi, driven only 2k mi in the last year). From everything I have read in buying and owning the car that if the belt breaks, bad things will happen. So this week, I finally took the car to a local shop to get the belt replaced. From the look of things, I think it was a good call.

The tech snapped the belt with his fingers when he fished it out from the belt housing. If the belt snapped that easily during replacement, I can only imagine how little it would have taken to snap it during normal operation.

I guess $18 in part cost and 2.5 hour labor charge is cheap insurance. Now I probably wouldn't need to think about this for another 13 years, or 80k miles.

pantera43

Excellent call! Amazing you got that amount of mileage from yours. Are you sure it wasn't done before? In my case it was time that deteriorated the belt. My 964 only had 38,000 on her when the belt snapped when changing out caps/rotors. Funny thing the car started up normally but felt just a tad sluggish. Installed the vent kit at the time of new belt which I think all you 993 owners already have.

Dan

swmic

Wow, nice catch.

I know the 964s have had their issues with belts but I have not read about too many problems on the 993s. Since the age of these cars are now getting up there, I'm sure we'll start seeing more problems. I'm changing mine in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the reminder!

AOW162435

I'm pulling my distributor this winter as well. I've had a new belt sitting in a plastic bag for more than a year....


Andreas

ABCar

How hard of a job is it? I am going fishing in there soon and maybe I should get on it...46000K

Stealth 993

The job is a PITA. The dist gets fused in the case, & you might need to get a slide hammer to get it out. It's also not very easy to get the gear pin drilled out. It's more then a 2hr job, especially the first time.


My belt was changed @ 90kmi, & was in great shape, it looked to be in perfect shape. But at least now I know it was changed.

jaholmes

I had a local indy shop do mine. I didn't feel link trying to punch out the pin. Pulling the distributor is not fun either. You need to have some pretty good leverage to pull it. Make sure you find top dead center on both rotors.

Arena993

I did mine as well when I restored my car. Well worth doing if not for miles the age of the belts.

Mike

ABCar

enough info for me...I am grateful for those who dedicate themselves to fixing Porsches!

stace

I've wondered about mine as well. is there an easy way to inspect the belt without pulling the distributors, etc.??? at a glance it looks pretty enclosed.

matt777

I thought the belt was good for 90k or more? You can see some of the belt with the distributor still in the car and the rotors and covers off. I looked at mine a few months back and it looked great but I can't say if the PO had it changed it at the 60k service or not.

2Many Cars

Did the '95s have the distributor vent mod? If not that's probably why the belts are packing it in on the early side.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

I do recommend new belts at 60K miles, based on what I've seen. All 993's had vent kits but the belts simply wear out and without a warning system, one is at risk if the lower rotor comes to rest pointing at a cylinder.

The other issue is that we are finding more bad bearings in these things as time goes by.

Edward

Yes, the 964s had problems which were addressed by venting the caps ...which apparently licked the premature failure. But you are right: age trumps rubber and this is an essential maintenance item that is often neglected. I did mine at around 85K or so, and now at 125K I know I'm fine for a while ...but would replace it in a heartbeat if the engine were out or you're already "in there" ...it's just makes sense and so much easier than when in the car. Regardless, anyone who is uncertain whether it has been done would do well do so or risk being stranded (or as the Sage Steve said, risk further damage).

Edward

briefescape

Yes I did mine at 130 k miles a) belt was ok b) bearings were shot and rusty .

will be replacing distributor belt and servicing other stuff in my other 993 in a month and it has 178k kilometers .