Jack667

Another happy customer. Replaced the air filter (had done that before) and also changed the belt this time. Cleaned out the engine bay a bit. No drama...
Thanks USMC_DS1 !!
Did the oil change and filter a couple of weeks ago
Jack

USMC_DS1

Congrats Jack667 on a successful s-belt swap.

Crossfire190

I think I got lucky this weekend. I was showing my eight-year old the engine and noticed a tiny split on my S-Belt on the top pulley. Aside from that one split, the rest of the belt looked fine (from the top and from what I could see with it in place). I had a belt on hand, so I changed it and the old belt was in pretty bad shape. One edge was starting to deteriorate. It definitely needed to be changed. I think I dodged a bullet. My car is a 2006S with 50,000 miles. If you are over 40,000 miles... check your belts!

slicky rick

Sometimes I think about this but my Japanese sub hit 100k Kim's a few months back and the serpentine belt still looks great.

BIG smoke

I love these write ups. Sometime I tackle these jobs, sometimes I let my indy do it. Whats important is that I know what's involved, the time and the part. Don't charge me 400 for the belt and 6 hours. i know its a 60 dollar belt and 30 minutes work, with clean up.

Bruce In Philly

My belt looked virtually perfect when I replaced it on schedule in my 2009 C2S. I wonder if you have a pulley going bad. Did you spin the pulleys to check for wear?

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Crossfire190

i did spin the pulleys. Everything seemed fine.

remik

My tensioner pulley bolt turned in-place as it did for a few others. I used a regular length (not chubby/shorty) 15mm open end wrench, wrapped a little with a cloth on the other end, for the back side of the pulley; yes, 15mm, NOT 16mm. For the front I used a 24mm socket with a 12" ratchet as the breaker bar from a 21pc set from the local "freight" store; leverage was more than adequate in the tight area. I turned clockwise about 20 degrees (very little), and that seemed enough to tighten the bolt so the tensioner could move left as designed. Funny thing is that I believe this is the first time a belt was changed on my 2008 997 C4 (42,700 miles). The old belt was ok, but not without a few cracked patches.

upier

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjxd5sa65I0

This video is in German but has English subtitles. One interesting thing is that it shows a T25 bolt that needs to be loosened on the tensioner.

Any else need to do this?

Schnell Gelb

The mystery T25 Torx bolt is at 6:10 in the video.

This may be a fix for the spinning bolt problem on the earlier engines. This is mentioned in previous posts. Briefly ,the problem is that the 24mm-head bolt in the Tensioner Pulley spins when you try to relieve tension on the belt. Perversely, you will probably be able to get the old belt off if this happens but you certainly will have great difficulty getting a new belt back on !
The solution is to be very careful about reassembling the tensioner arm and pulley after you have had to remove the entire assembly. The problem is not just that the nut spins on the bolt when you relieve tension. The nut does not slacken in these circumstances. The problem is that BOTH the nut and the bolt spin. So the solution is to make that inaccessible 15mm-head nut a captive nut.Mig weld it on?
The alternative is to use the max recommended torque after having put a Nordlock washer on the back face of the nut and Red Loctite on the threads ?

Derek Zoolander

x2 much easier to leave the slack for that lower idler pulley next to the tensioner pulley

voiceprint1

Are you guys experiencing chirping and chatter with this belt issue, and to the guy who just cleaned the roller parts, did that noise return, I feel like I am hearing too much of these noises (when idle or low RPMs), especially when cold out, but I am not sure if I am being overly paranoid.

slicky rick

THat youtube video could be wrong. Speaking for a 997.2 S engine, nothing to loosen just remove airborne remove tension by using big wrench remove old belt reinstall new belt. That's it. If your engine experience chirping try cleaning the tensioner. It's located left hand side of engine. It gets very dirty and this could be preventing free movement. Clean in by using a pressure washer. I spritz some silicone spray on the moving part after cleaning. All is well

kellen

Check the rollers for grooving. My tensioner pulley and the 2 other idler pulleys had some obvious grooving that went away after replacing the belt and 3 pulleys. Real simple job.

Schnell Gelb

Check the alignment of all the grooved pulleys. Put a straightedge across the faces and note any gap more than a 2mm. Mine were off and had to do a little shimming.