Remind me of the ...

[zcacogp]

... recommended change interval for cam and balance belts (on an S2).

It's 3 years isn't it? Or is it 4?

Amazing how it creeps up on you. Looking at the details, I last did the belts on my S2 in autumn 2010 ... which is about 12,000 miles ago. I really need to drive it more, I know. []


Oli.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

4 years, or 48K miles. Have you been driving it enough? []

 

[zcacogp]

4 years? Thanks - so that big chunk of spending can make it into next year instead of this one!

(This year currently has four brake disks, two set of brake pads, two front wheel bearings and various little fiddly things for the gearshift in it, although those gearshift bits were very cheap. Oh, and some rear tyres. That's probably over £500 already, and I do all the labour myself. I need to take care otherwise it will exceed SWMBO's handbags-and-shoes budget, and then there will be BIG trouble. [])

No, I'm not driving it enough. Nowhere near enough. ([] again). Anyone want to go on a driving holiday somewhere in France?


Oli.

ETA: Oh, yes, and a new piston for a front brake caliper. That was £40 on it's own. Bl00dy expensive for what you got.

 

[422hp944]

Lads I'm no expert on all things mechanical, especially when it comes to our cars but every 4 yrs sounds way overkill to me, even more so if the mileage hasn't been clocked up? Why is it most other cars have a longer cambelt change interval?....can anyone enlighten me to why ours is quite short compared to others?.... Cheers

John Daly.

 

[zcacogp]

Ahhh ... it's a bit of an old chestnut but the conclusion we came to last time we had a row about this was that it is as recommended by Porsche, it's cheap insurance and MrNulters (>DoffsCap<) reckons he hears of a number of people each year who leave it for longer than this and it ends up costing them more than the GDP of a small African country in repairs.

Yes, it is much shorter than in other cars but it would take a brave guy to say it's too short ... []


Oli.

 

[Chrishazle]

if you're very brave (or stupid/forgetful) and doing low mileage, you can get away with an extended interval - at the risk that, if you get it wrong, you can end up with a big bill. I wonder if I hold the record with my 968 coupe - I think it was close to 10 years - but only about 30k miles - between belt changes. I no longer have the car or the history file to be more precise, but it was something like that!! Admittedly the car was garaged full time, parked up for weeks or months while I was away working, but I think I got very lucky!

 

[jasonp]

ORIGINAL: Chrishazle

if you're very brave (or stupid/forgetful) and doing low mileage, you can get away with an extended interval - at the risk that, if you get it wrong, you can end up with a big bill. I wonder if I hold the record with my 968 coupe - I think it was close to 10 years - but only about 30k miles - between belt changes. I no longer have the car or the history file to be more precise, but it was something like that!! Admittedly the car was garaged full time, parked up for weeks or months while I was away working, but I think I got very lucky!

wise words chris,,thank god!,,jon at tower spotted play in my water pump and a new one was fitted[car out of tower today],my belts and rollers etc were last changed nearly 4yrs ago and i have done only 7k miles since but didnt think twice when it come to having belts and water pump fitted,,,
for me its 4 years or 40oddk mileage and thats unmoveable,,i wouldnt risk it and had the work carried out 4 months before the 4 years were up,,would have been the same if i had done only 2k or 25k miles and my water pump was deemed totally fine at last belt change probably my lack of miles helped it on its way to the "darkside" but i believe totally these schedules should be adhered to,,,cheers jason p

 

[DarrylH]

I did mine last month as it had come to 5 years! [:-] There were stress marks and tears starting to form even though the car had only done 5000 miles in the last few years. I won't be leaving it longer than recommended any more []

 

[924nutter]

I thought I read in another post only recently that the recommened interval was five years, and I agree with the question about the hullabaloo about belts on a 944. However and I am sure I posted this to Tref about two weeks ago, the real issue is probably the balance shft belt which bends back much more acutely than the cam belt does in its run, and is probably likely to start to break up if left too long. Bear in mind the linear speed of the balance belt is four times the speed of the cam belt so wear rates are going to be exponentially higher. There is no point in doing the balance belt at 48,000 then pulling it all apart again at say 60,000 to change the cam belt which is probably a truer indication of the cam belt life, if considered in isolation. Once we get our heads around the need to change the faster wearing balance belt, and doing the cam belt at the same time we can put this debate to bed I think.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: 924nutter

I thought I read in another post only recently that the recommened interval was five years, and I agree with the question about the hullabaloo about belts on a 944. However and I am sure I posted this to Tref about two weeks ago, the real issue is probably the balance shft belt which bends back much more acutely than the cam belt does in its run, and is probably likely to start to break up if left too long. Bear in mind the linear speed of the balance belt is four times the speed of the cam belt so wear rates are going to be exponentially higher. There is no point in doing the balance belt at 48,000 then pulling it all apart again at say 60,000 to change the cam belt which is probably a truer indication of the cam belt life, if considered in isolation. Once we get our heads around the need to change the faster wearing balance belt, and doing the cam belt at the same time we can put this debate to bed I think.

Now that's an interesting way of looking at it. However you also need to bear in mind that the balance belt runs at very low tension, so the stresses on it will be less which will slightly counteract the 'acute angle' aspect. If the balance belt breaks then it is highly likely to take the cam belt with it, which would be bad news. (Ironically, this could be alleviated in design by putting a separate cover between the belts thus holding them apart, but Porsche clearly didn't think of this.)

Having said all this, you need to view the comparatively low cost of replacing the belts (approx £200) in the light of the very very high cost of repairing the damage done as a result of the cam belt breaking. It's cheap insurance, and I don't generally feel lucky with this sort of thing.


Oli.

 

[J4CKO]

Ill bet there is a 944 somewhere on its original belt.

I think belt snappage is partially down to how much you worry about it, I suspect people in blissful ignorance just get away with it, yet if you know if you go a month over it will be the kiss of death.

Mine was done at four and a bit years.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: J4CKO

I think belt snappage is partially down to how much you worry about it, I suspect people in blissful ignorance just get away with it, yet if you know if you go a month over it will be the kiss of death.

Bar-steward! Given how much I worry about my car, your gloomy prediction means I'd better change it right away (and it's only two-and-a-half years old!) []


Oli.

 

[Dave928]

ORIGINAL: J4CKO

Ill bet there is a 944 somewhere on its original belt.

I think belt snappage is partially down to how much you worry about it, I suspect people in blissful ignorance just get away with it, yet if you know if you go a month over it will be the kiss of death.

Mine was done at four and a bit years.

I know of a 924s that is still on it's original belt ! Low miles but not good !

 

[J4CKO]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

ORIGINAL: J4CKO

I think belt snappage is partially down to how much you worry about it, I suspect people in blissful ignorance just get away with it, yet if you know if you go a month over it will be the kiss of death.

Bar-steward! Given how much I worry about my car, your gloomy prediction means I'd better change it right away (and it's only two-and-a-half years old!) []


Oli.

Yes, best had !

Mine is only a few months old, it is just the rest of it I need to worry about

 

[TTM]

It's 5 years or 48k miles, whichever comes first.

I can't remember how many times I have tightened/loosened the cambelt on the turbo (because of camshaft+lifter woes) in the last 4 years but at 22k miles and nearly 4.5 years old it still looks as new.

 

[ChasR]

The brand of the belt may have something to do with it.

Two specialists near me were happy to use Dayco belts but not so much Contitech items (one specialist said he saw them stretch (I know Rennlist document a couple of things about this), and another was not at all too keen on the tooth design for the cam belt, but thought CT's balance belt was OK (and probably made things quieter).

I was going to say Gates belts until I took the one off my Passat (2006 with the 1.9 PD TDI engine) which was two years old. Maybe I was unlucky etc. but the Dayco belt seemed thicker etc. that went on.

 

[zcacogp]

Yes, I've heard shady things about the Contitech belts as well - they don't get a good billing on Rennlist. Having said that, I've used them on my S2 without problems and will probably use them again (they are the ones that Promax supply.)


Oli.

 

[Veerzigzag]

Not just belt failure: there is also the issue of tensioner bolts breaking as per the "bent valves" example shown on the Clark's Garage site.
Worth looking at those pictures in case you are thinking of extending the belt-change interval...
..and J4cko's comment about belt life being inversely proportional to how much you worry about it - that's a logical extension of the "clean cars run better" proposition.
It's definitely a point to consider - I gave my 944 a really good clean before taking it for its MoT yesterday and it sailed through.
Now all I have to do is NOT THINK ABOUT THE BELTS