Quote:
Originally posted by shepparddb
Guessed it was the balance belt - sure enough it had broken and it was only fortunate it didn't rip apart the timing belt too. Also while off, it was noticed that the water pump was about to freeze which would also have wrecked the car. At least now I know I'm fairly safe for the next 3 years. (is it 30K or 60K for change?).
In my opinion, for a 'German Engineered Machine', I think that is a pretty sucky design.
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Not a sucky design at all - it does exactly what it is designed to do. They squeezed every last bit of horsepower they could out of the car given the technology, emmissions etc..
One thing to keep in mind, it is a Porsche, not a Chevrolet - You had to make a pretty good chunk of change to buy the car when it was new - with that comes the assumption that you can also afford the maintenance.
19 years have gone by, the cars are cheap now - the maintenance requirements never changed - you want to play, you got to pay one way or the other.
Your balance shaft belt broke, pat yourself on the back and call yourself lucky - you didn't damage anything. Before you criticize the design let me ask you this:
When were the belts changed last - do you know?
If it was changed recently - was it done properly - meaning an experienced person with the proper tools?
If you can answer yes to both, you are in the 5 - 10% where unfortunately "***** happens"
Otherwise, you fall into the other 90 - 95% where the cause, one way or the other is the same:
Owner error/neglect
Change the belts every 30000 miles, retension them at 1000 and 15000 miles. If you have access to the tools and someone to teach you, by all means, do it yourself and save a few bucks - you will save money in the long run.
Anything else, you are gambling a $1200+ repair job to save $430 (cost to replace belts with 2 retensions) or less in maintenance.
AFJuvat