fsa

Last night while fast driving the dreaded dash light appeared, as did fan belt light. Oil heated past mid-line, never did before, heard "whine " in the rear.
Shredded fan belt, others intact.
I was surprised fan still turned, and after cooling off, drove slowly and with low rpm's 10-miles to my house.
Could have been a mess if on a trip or in the hinterlands.
Any likely damage to the fan, bushings, whatever else is in there?
? oil change indicated.
Belts 4 1/2 years old, only 7k miles; replace all of them?
I've read of those who carry extras- count me among them!
Thanks,
Fred

KNS

I'd change 'em all but I'd wonder why it failed. Make sure the pulleys all line up evenly. If you have the old style fan pulley update it to the newer version.

Hopefully the outside air temp was nice and cool on your beltless drive home. If the oil stayed cool that's good but (not to alarm you) the heads are what get the hottest and they are air cooled.

evilfij

Carry spares and the special tool and a 24mm or 15/16th wrench. Cut the AC belt if you are on the side of the road and you can do them in 10 minutes. Lesson learned here. Mine shreaded the alternator belt. If it was the fan belt, I would have had it towed.

The gates tension gauge for belts is $10 or so on Amazon. Install, run a few times and check after doing to Porsche specs when first installed.

NYC993

You can look between the "teeth" of the belt to see if the rubber is starting to crack.
Also make sure your belt sensor wheel is intact. Mine failed after 1 year...the plastic wheel disintegrates due to failed bearing and then the metal part of the wheel eats into the belt.
If you carry belts just make sure you have all the necessary tools to replace them as well as extra shims.

Quick tip: when changing belts (or belt sensor) put something like a rag or crumbled grocery plastic bag under the pulley so if you drop any bolts or shims they won't go all the way under the crank pulley.

fsa

Thank you all for the helpful responses. Could be ugly...
Car to Rothsport, 10-miles away, for the work, especially since I drove a while without realizing what had happened.
Opinions re: OK to drive there? I shall chat with Jeff Gamroth. They service it.
Oil temp was cool for the 10-miles back home after the discovery- that was after the car sat for an hour before return drive.
Will provide findings.

pp000830

I keep belts, all the tools to make them easy to replace and extra pulley cap screws in the frunk.

Gbos1

Sorry to hear! That's what Roadside Assistance is for... and off to my Mechanic. Some things I will do myself but definitely not worrying about changing a belt alongside a road or HWY for that matter!

Railmaster.

The belts are a typical service item, change them every three years and You will stay out of belt-trouble!

Gbos1

Every three years? What is the typical / AVG mileage or age to change the belts?

Railmaster.

True! Manual say CHECK belts every 30.000 miles, not change! There seem to be no specified belt change interval? But maybe every six years is a good idea?

Mike J

Lots of variables here - what are the temperatures where you live, how often is the car driven, how tight are the belts, how old are they .... so its hard to predict. I have seen several belts shred/break, but never a new one, usually they seem to be at least a few years old. You indicate that your fan belt is shredded, not broken, right? If the fan turns you can drive it but definitely keep an eye on it, if the fan is not moving air, its pretty easy to overhead the heads even if the oil temperature is not high yet. It takes time to move the heat into the oil and have it distribute, so there is a lag.

I don't proactively replace belts every three years, its more of a balance of visual inspection and assessing how the car is driven and the conditions. However, they are pretty cheap, so putting it on a regular replacement schedule does not hurt.

Cheers,

Mike

AOW162435

That's funny right there. I installed the Clewett serpentine setup a few years ago and don't give the belt(s) a second thought anymore.

My 2001 4Runner now has 380,000 original-owner miles. At 171,000 miles, I had the timing belt & original accessory belts replaced. They showed normal signs of age, but had plenty of life left. 185,000 miles later (last summer) I did a complete timing belt job again and the accessory belts still looked good.

So at 16 years old and 380,000 miles the truck is only on its third set of accessory belts.

Why are shredded belts such a common occurance on 993s? Properly tensioning a v-belt is not rocket science.




Andreas

Dryfly57

Decided to change after 4 years and noticed a difference. Now I'll change every 3 for piece of mind. And heck there cheap enough.

PRSWILL

Happened to me last summer- Coming off the highway, I pulled away from the light really fast and all the sudden I hear this noise like I ran over something and the whole freakin dash lights up. I slowed down and the fan belt took out the other belt when it gave way. Was going in for an oil change the next day so I limped it over and all was well. The belts had 40K on them. Check the fan bearing when you replace the belt- it's probably good, but worth the inspection in the event that was the cause of the belt blowing out.

fsa

Thank you all for your helpful remarks. I have learned, perhaps as have others-
will update...
Rothsport via flatbed tomorrow.