Guess the 1500 mile mark

steveu812 · 05:07 PM

I recently replaced my timing belt (and pert nar everything north of the block). I know I'm supposed to readjust the new belt at 1500 miles, but...my odometer is - I know this is a surprise to many - kaputz

I was thinking I'd back into the 1500 miles by keeping track of the gas used, but the unknown variable in that equation is miles per gallon. My driving mix is probably 50/50 highway and city. Any thoughts on the MPG number I should use?

Thanks

944 Ecology · 11-24-2008, 11:54 AM

30 mpg highway, 22 city, figure 26 at a 50/50 mix.

AaronM · 11-24-2008, 03:19 PM

Why not just fix the odometer? It's a 60 minute job at most (in my case, at least 15 minutes of that was spent trying to find one of the circlips that I dropped) and the gear is dirt cheap.

krystar · 11-24-2008, 05:13 PM

take yer daily commute and map it on google maps. multiply by 2 for round trip. multiple that by ..1.5 for a fudge factor. then figure how many days....

most likely going to be about 2 months

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Pssh 26? I would kill to see better than 22 when my odometer worked. Im in the same boat as you but its not the gear in my odo so i have no clue what the problem. I would just wait a few months and then retension it. These will start making a slapping/ticking/knocking sound when that belts gets loose and slaps the cover. Ask me how I know.

bazar01 · bazar01's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Pssh 26? I would just wait a few months and then retension it. These will start making a slapping/ticking/knocking sound when that belts gets loose and slaps the cover. Ask me how I know.

On cold morning start ups, this is when you hear the belt slapping on the belt cover when it's time to re tension the belt.

steveu812 · 11-25-2008, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AaronM

Why not just fix the odometer? It's a 60 minute job at most (in my case, at least 15 minutes of that was spent trying to find one of the circlips that I dropped) and the gear is dirt cheap.

It's on the list. At this point I already have 4 tanks on the belt.

I'll do the estimate and listen for the slapping in the interim.

Thanks for all the input.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by bazar01

On cold morning start ups, this is when you hear the belt slapping on the belt cover when it's time to re tension the belt.

Nope when mine got loose it was always slapping. Sounded like a water pump dying actually. Took it to the local porsche shop and they tensioned it for 80 bucks.

AaronM · 11-25-2008, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Pssh 26? I would kill to see better than 22 when my odometer worked. Im in the same boat as you but its not the gear in my odo so i have no clue what the problem. I would just wait a few months and then retension it. These will start making a slapping/ticking/knocking sound when that belts gets loose and slaps the cover. Ask me how I know.

If the speedometer works and the odometer doesn't, it's a gear somewhere. They are driven by the same stepper motor, so something in the odometer gearset has to be off if it's not working but the speedo is.

If neither works, then yeah, you've got other issues.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

I am almost positive that the odometer is driven off of a different motor. And seeing as replacing that motor cures the issue for a little bit then I would say I have a short somewhere. I have several of the dead ones I can check once I find them but like I said I am fairly sure that the motor is seperate.

AaronM · 11-25-2008, 06:44 PM

I could have sworn there was only the one, but it's been a 18 months or so since I had mine apart.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Ok well once I remember where I stashed the old ones I will post pictures.

HondaDustR · 11-25-2008, 10:03 PM

Don't forget to re-tension only when the engine is "cold" at around 70 degrees. If it's too cold or too warm, then the tension will be off when the engine is at the other extreme. It really does noticably affect the tension, and tensioning too cold could be an issue now that winter's setting in. Probably not a big deal unless it gets really cold, but it will make the belts tighter than usual when the engine warms up.

steveu812 · 11-28-2008, 05:04 PM

OK, did the odometer gear today. Thanks to the guys at odometergears.com and Clarks garage, this was a piece of cake. That hardest part for me was reinstalling the speedo in the pod - simultaneously inserting the odo reset shaft...lining up the 4 prongs...keeping the 3 grommets in place...and not branding the face of it with a fingerprint.

FWIW - The guys from odometer gears said not to pull the speedo needle off, but gently rotate it clockwise while gently pulling up - as if you're unscrewing it. This took me about two full 360 deg. rotations. I used a plastic fork as a mini-crowbar and it worked well and kept the gauge face from my fingerprints. After that follow Clarks write up.

Regarding the removal of the ribbon connectors from the gauge pod. Maybe it's just my big hands, but it was easier to remove the left side first, then reach around the back of the pod from the left to unlatch the horizontal right hand one - even though it would seem more logical to get it from right side. At that point, you can pull the pod most of the way out and unlatch the vertical right one.

If you plan to do your dash lights, BEWARE the Sylvania 194LL (Long Life) bulbs are halogen and rated at 4.7 watts!!!!! i.e. a full watt hotter than the 3.7 watts Clarks recommends as maximum. Advance AP has the non halogen and they appear to be the 3.7 watts.