My nomination for the dirtiest engine award

[robdimond]

Half way through my water pump and reseal job, here is a before photo. Looks like it was long overdue! I am 99% certain that this is the original waterpump with 185k miles on it, but still not leaking. I think all the seals are that old as well, every o-ring I took out snapped in my hand.

Some discoveries on the way:
- Both top-hat spacers and oil pump drive gear heavily grooved
- Spring completely missing from the cambelt tensioner! Obviously not a problem if it's tensioned correctly by hand...
- There is a bit of oily sludge in the coolant reservoir, but the coolant drained out was clean (certainly not milkshake) I see oil cooler seals in my future
- Thermostat was rattling loose in the waterpump, all rubber seals missing/disintegrated (explains cold running?)
- Both balance shaft rear seals loose and leaking oil, intend to seal with some RTV rather than take the shafts out.
- All rollers/idlers a bit noisy and very loose, are being replaced
- The bottom hose has been rubbing against the bodywork and was almost worn through. Maybe engine mounts are on the way out?

Was straightforward compared to what I was expecting. Flywheel lock made it really easy to get the crank bolt out. I had to use a puller to get the gears off... would be very tricky without.

Just waiting for new rollers, bottom hose and water pump bolts.

Does anyone breaking a car have a new style (spring) cambelt tensioner? I don't really want to put back the one without a spring.

 

[robwright]

I have a spring tensioner taken off my 88 turbo that I have refitted an 86 block to so the spring tensioner is redundant to me. Yours if you want it.

 

[Hairyarse]

That'll take some cleaning Rob [] I bet you'll notice the difference once it's all done though []

 

[chrisg]

Glad to see the job is going well, I'm pleased to see that although all the seals are shot, that none of the various studs holding rollers, tensioner etc have snapped. Btw, Istr that u don't have to take the balance shafts out to. H Ge the oils seals. If undo decide to change them, make sure u mark them up correctly, although they look very similar they're noticeably different with a different part no. And there's some small thin nylon seals in there too - I remember all this from stripping the engine apart 4yrs ago !

 

[robwright]

Rob do you still need the spring tensioner? I have it handy in the garage. It will need a new roller but I presume you are replacing them all anyway?

 

[os951]

For some reason S2 uses "old style" steel bodied tensioner. Most 1988 and newer 8V models have aluminium bodied one. Don't know does it make any difference if aluminium bodied tensioner is used on S2 engine.

 

[david924s]

My S2 has an alloy tensioner and as far as I know always has had the spring tends to go weak so cant be relied on for tension and it only tensions when the mounting bolts are loosened not continuosly like the 968 so having no spring should not be an issue if tensioned by hand then tightened up.

 

[robdimond]

Rob,
Thanks for the very kind offer. I'll send you a PM.

Rob

 

[robdimond]

My S2 has an alloy tensioner and as far as I know always has had the spring tends to go weak so cant be relied on for tension and it only tensions when the mounting bolts are loosened not continuosly like the 968 so having no spring should not be an issue if tensioned by hand then tightened up.

Hmmm.... I just looked on PET and it does list a different part number for the S2 tensioner. The S2 (and only the S2) has an additional idler roller that bolts to the tensioner. I wonder if the alloy tensioner does not have the tapped hole for the idler?

Maybe I could swap the spring over?

Interesting that the spring doesn't do anything when the bolts are tightened... explains why my engine was running fine. Still would be nice to return it to factory with the spring in there.

Rob

 

[robdimond]

After a good clean, new water pump, new water pump bolts (£6 from OPC, didn't want the rusty old ones to snap), new seals all round:

The new water pump had some locating dowels which the old one didn't have, and the block was also missing the counterbores for them, so I took them out.

I went with the consensus of google rather than the workshop manual and put a thin film of hylomar blue sealant on the waterpump and gasket rather than putting it on dry and anti-seize on all the fasteners rather than red loctite.

I also noticed a weep from the sump gasket at the bottom of the oil pump, so I smeared a bit of silicone in the groove... dropping the sump can wait for another day.

 

[Super_Marv]

Amazing difference. Well done![8D]

 

[Hairyarse]

Great transformation Rob [8D]

 

[robdimond]

Cheers guys. Lets hope it stays that way... and runs!

Going to attempt the cam chain next!

Rob

 

[andy watson]

You can't have the award now Rob!! looking good

 

[robdimond]

For some reason S2 uses "old style" steel bodied tensioner. Most 1988 and newer 8V models have aluminium bodied one. Don't know does it make any difference if aluminium bodied tensioner is used on S2 engine.

OK, anyone who is not fascinated by cambelt tensioners should probably move on to the next post now...

So it turns out there are three different kinds of tensioners. There is a steel one that came out of my S2 (right), an aluminium one for 16 valve engines (centre, marked 4V and with P/N 9441056118R) and an aluminium one for 8 valve engines (left, marked 2V and with P/N 9441056117R).

I couldn't see any difference between the aluminium ones, but I thought there must be a difference for Porsche to bother with two separate castings and two separate part numbers? The 4V one is from an S2 (via Elliot) and the 2V one is from Rob's 88 turbo.

I put the 4V one in the car in the end, mainly out of superstition because they really looked the same!

So Rob I'm sorry I didn't use yours in the end... I can bring it when I see you at Rutland or just keep it for the next forum person who needs it...

 

[944Turbo]

Might be the photo but the arm looks longer on the 2V.
Tony

 

[zcacogp]

When you say "steel one", which bit is steel? Is it a cast steel part?

Looking at the 2V and 4V ones, the two part numbers seem to be 944 105 611 7R and 944 105 611 8R, so they differ in one digit only, and that being a minor one at the end. Plus, of course, the '2V' and '4V' nomenclature.

I'm struggling to remember what sort of thing I had bolted on my S2, but I do know that the spring was over-enthusiastic on mine; you had to slacked it off slightly before nipping up the bolts otherwise it over-tightened the cambelt.


Oli.

 

[robdimond]

Oli,

The whole thing appears to be cast steel. I think my spring is overtightening the belt, I'm unable to turn the water pump pulley at all by hand with the belt tensioned. Remember reading on a US forum that you should be able to turn the pulley.

I've asked to borrow the tool from the club so will find out for sure.

Rob