Carlo_Carrera

Were any of the mounting bolts reverse thread?

mffarrell

Do you mean left handed thread?

Carlo_Carrera

Yes.

mffarrell

I seem to remember they were right handed threads.

Carlo_Carrera

Interesting, usually one of three is left handed.

pfbz

I just changed the serpentine belt on my Turbo... Once the belt is off, you can easily spin the idlers and see if they are spinning freely. All mine seemed fine, buttoned it back up without replacing, but it's easy to replace any of them once you have the airbox out and the belt off...

Macster

My 2003 996 Turbo made a noise like that and it proved to be the idler/tensioner roller bearings. While the tech id'd the specific one I just had all replaced. (This is the 2nd time one of these has acted up.)

While the car is in the air for idler/tensioner rolller bearing R&R a check should be made of the water pump for any bearing play or leak sign.

Also a sign there is a problem (bearings) with an accessory drive is if the serpentine belt has a sharp edge. This arises because the belt is not tracking properly due to an accessory drive with excessive (really any) bearing play. The belt should not contact any sides of any of the accessory drive pulleys.

sgtpeper

How expensive should this be at a local shop?

pfbz

Hard to say, prices seem to vary wildly for repairs... Two local shops quoted me $1,000 to change spark plugs. I did it my self in about 3.5 hours and $25 in parts. I did put in $270 worth of coils as well, but that would have been extra (and likely double) at the shops as well.

Changing an idler is really very simple. It's maybe 10 minutes of extra work tacked on to changing the serpentine belt, which is a 'one-wrench' kind of job.

If you do get quotes at a shop, let us know...

Here's a link to Pelican's instructions for a belt change... Not a Turbo, but pretty similar.

pfbz

Here's a good link to a discussion of doing the job yourself...

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-question.html

sgtpeper

Want to drive over and work on the car with me? I think you're local haha. I'm used to working on much older simpler cars (ie my '74 Alfa).

pfbz

I find working on Porsche's easier than any other cars I've worked on... Not that every job is easy, but they just seem to be well engineered, and usually go back together after taking them apart!

Macster

First time the noisy idler was replaced under warranty. I paid the extra cost to have the other idlers/tensioner replaced but I don't recall what this was.

The 2nd time the car was out of warranty but I don't recall the cost and the invoice is put away.

My best advice is to call shops you'd trust to work on your Turbo and get quotes.