My first mechanical experience...

[dimeified]

Well, I'm 24 years old, i drive an 84 carrera, I've had it for 2 years. I havn't done much of my own work to the car other than change the door handles, change the shifter to factory short shift, and clean the interior, and change my chip to a Steve Wong chip. And with my fathers help, installed a premuffler and muffler. I also had to change a rotor a distributor cap after backdating my heat because I didnt dent the tin enough on the 930 heater duct and the distributor cap was on crooked. So, I really dont have much mechanical expirience. I learn by screwing up.

Anyway, about 2 months ago, my alternator light came on about an hr away from my house. I pulled over right to the side of the NJ Turnpike just like i read i should do on this forum and shut off the car. I realized my belt broke and needed a new one. Well, i know i shouldnt drive the car, but i got back in, started her up, turned off the radio, kept the rpm's low, and drove a mile to a restaurant where i let my car sit about an hr, and got something to eat, asked for the nearest pep boys. Luckily it was only 2 lights up. Walked to pep boys, didnt have the right size belt, but had one a half inch shorter. I changed the belt successfully.

Anyway, I made the rookie mistake of not using enough shims on the alternator shaft, cause i droped one down near the crank pulley.

Fast foward to 3 weeks ago. Car is making a strange noise. Since i dont understand Porsche language, i ignored my car and kept driving it for a month like this. Finally i got sick of it, and opened the decklid and took a look, everything looked good. Kept driving. Smelled something burning. Checked it out again, this time figuring it must have been my last belt change, and something is wrong with the belt. I drove home, looked again, and saw the pulley busted. Not only that, but the pulley cut into fan AND alternator shaft. So last week i ordered a new fan from our host, and alternator from ebay cause I'm poor, and swaped everything today, and the car runs fine. Luckily i take the train to work, so its not an issue i couldnt drive for 2 weeks. I DID expirience letting the B+ wire and ground that connect to the alternator touch each other, but the spark pushed the wires apart from the force, so it wasnt for long. After that expirience, i've decided i need to wire a kill switch somewhere. And considering these Paris Rhrone alternators crap out real soon, i want to install a volt gauge in the clock area.

What is the whole point of this story? To give a shout out to Wayne from Pelican Parts/BBS for providing us with such a resourceful site. I couldn't have changed the fan/alternator on my own without reading up on here.

I know everyone would recomend getting compression and leakdown tests after driving to that restaurant, but the car doesnt smoke, and still sounds great and performs excellent. Besides, at well over 100,000 miles, im sure I will be facing a rebuilt eventually, which i will be willing to try. By the time this happens, i wont be living in a very expensive apartment with money for more parts, and my fathers help (he used to build american hot rods when he was younger, and still is... 71 camaro), and the information on this board, to arm me with what i need for that. So thanks everyone. If only i had mobile broadband in the car when i broke that belt, i could've read up on the proper way to repair it! And FYI, i've learned to listen to my car when it speaks to me, hehe.

[Zeke]

I guess I don't follow your story. If the pulley was broken, how could the fan turn? And why didn't the light come on a 2nd time? I know this is not exactly what happened, but I can't figure out what did.

Good on you for fixing it and tuning into the car.

BTW, I wouldn't worry to much about the one mile drive. People have gotten away with this before. I have. Not a good idea, though.

[Walter_Middie]

dimeified,

I learn the most when I make mistakes. It's sometimes slow and painful, but I eventually get the car fixed. To me, the car wouldn't be nearly as much fun if it didn't break down every once in a while. I don't really own a car until it breaks and I fix it - then it owes its life to me. Keep learning, and keep fixing it - and welcome to this forum.

[dimeified]

I meant to say the center of the pulley broke, but still had somewhat of a skewed jagged center, and somehow still grabbed the fan, to turn it. And the noise would go away rpm's above idle.

[Zeke]

So, the tension you used with the too short belt and too few shims put so much stress on the pulley that it snapped it in the middle. I think the owners manual tells you how to adjust the belt tension. If you familiarize yourself with the car, you can avoid these costly learning experiences.

I'm not being critical, as it might sound. I'm simply advising some more thought as you jump into DIY repairs. There's a "feel" when working on most cars and nothing feels better than knowing you did it and did it 100% right.

[azasadny]

dimeified,
You learn the same way I do. Have fun and do your own repairs and maintenance, you'll save some $ and learn a lot about your 911!

[SCWDP911]

Originally Posted by azasadny

dimeified,
You learn the same way I do. Have fun and do your own repairs and maintenance, you'll save some $ and learn a lot about your 911!

And sometimes you will spend more money!!!

Welcome and how about a picture?

[Early_S_Man]

dimeified,

Welcome to the board and the world of DIY 911 maintenance!

There are many pitfalls in automotive maintenance ... some can be dangerous, and others can be just very expensive to recover from.

I hope you realize, now, that installing the wrong size fan belt for anything but just a short, emergency trip home or to a repair shop is a big mistake! Traveling without a spare fan belt of the proper size and spare shims in your tool kit was what led to the bigger mistake, but you have now learned that lesson, too.

In my opinion, fan belts for a 911 should always be ordered in pairs, and both should be installed and run for at least a week of normal driving, so you will have a broken-in spare in your tool kit! A 24 mm 6-point socket is the only tool that should be used on your alternator/fan nut, so that should always be present in your tool kit along with breaker-bar and torque wrench!

Good luck!

[RWebb]

ordered in pairs....

I just put a new one on every few years and keep the old one. Grady's idea is safer, since the belt you'd change to is a 'new' one.