Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

997 gen 2 drive belt Tensioner failure .

deMort

Well-known member
Joined
21 Mar 2015
Messages
11,244
See the image below ..

No.1 . T50 bolt that locates it.
No.2 the pivot , it looks like a washer but isnt .. its a pivot .
No.3 the 30 or 32mm nut you adjust it with , i forget which size off hand.

You move No 3 .. if the bolt moves then No.2 is siezed .. you need the top part of the tensioner replaceing .

The lower damper only needs changeing if its leaking , again the roller pully is optional .

Damage can occur if its left .. think of the bolt doing up or unwinding as it moves , and this is what happens .. 4k RPM and it lets go .. expensive .

i dont want to scare but i have seen an engine replacement due to this .. only once and thats since the Gen 2 came out , but it snapped the block fixing for this part ... ( warrenty )

I will say that a lot of mechanics out there dont realise this ... a lot do .. but not all ...

Its an easy check to prove as above .

Just an advise as its a silly item that can be easily be over looked .

Gratitude to Windy101 for the image .

EDIT .. bolts are T50 not T30 .. for some reason i had it in my head they were T30 .. geting old i guess :)
 

Attachments

  • file3_122.jpg
    file3_122.jpg
    468.8 KB · Views: 20,816
I would just like to add my sentiments to those many others have already expressed.

deMort, you are a total gentleman and helpful beyond measure.
 
Thanks to Iain for his wise and informed advice on this issue.
 
MarkC4S said:
Thanks to Iain for his wise and informed advice on this issue.

My problem was subtly different, my tensioner was slow to return, I guess it was partially siezed.


Thanks again DeMort for the help and advice.
 
A slightly better picture of the tensioner i took from a 991 ... you can see the Torx bolt , the Washer which is a pivot and the " 30 " mm head size to move it .

Once again , 30 mm spanner and turn the tensioner .. if the torx bolt moves then its seized and needs replacing .

I'll just add .. Boxster / Cayman and 991 don't tend to suffer from this due to the protected location .. Gen 2 997 do though .
 

Attachments

  • dsc_0009_196.jpg
    dsc_0009_196.jpg
    1,001.6 KB · Views: 19,263
So would this also apply to the Gen 2 3.8 in the Cayman GT4?

Should I be asking the OPC to check something?

Cheers
 
hermes said:
So would this also apply to the Gen 2 3.8 in the Cayman GT4?

Should I be asking the OPC to check something?

Cheers

Yours will be the same , pretty much gen 2 onwards uses this system but its only the 997 gen 2 that seems to suffer from a seized tensioner ..

My last post above mentioned this :)

It's probably due to the fact all the other models have more protection or basically .. lumps of metal in the way of the tensioner that stop water ingress and these corroding .

There is nothing you need to do or have anyone check imho .

Every garage should know full well about this problem by now but owing to the fact i've had a couple of messages about these still being overlooked when a service or a belt change has been done then i keep banging on about it :D

Prevention is far better than a fix afterwards !!
 
:thumbs:
 
Just an update with some better pictures to explain this fault .

Yup i've seen yet another one of these being seized this week .

Images below explain it , i marked the bush that should pivot so you can see it moves ..

This car i moved the tensioner and it stayed where i moved it to .. belt was very slack as after this .. it was seized !
 

Attachments

  • ten_1_119.jpg
    ten_1_119.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 18,712
  • ten_2_203.jpg
    ten_2_203.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 18,712
  • ten_3_194.jpg
    ten_3_194.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 18,712
  • ten_4_101.jpg
    ten_4_101.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 18,712
What is the part under of the actual bit that gets seized (i.e. the bit I need to order)? I ask as the is says part 9A1 10221100 is a roller, rather than the metal pivot thing. Phil UPDATE . . . . ignore me. It also says 'Lever' so I'm being stupid.
 

Attachments

  • tensioner_514.jpg
    tensioner_514.jpg
    93.2 KB · Views: 18,596
Checked mine after visit to Precision Porsche last Saturday.

Unfortunately, turning the 30 mm hex clockwise, the pivot bolt turned as well.
Therefore seized but not broken yet.
The tensioner had to be turned back with the spanner, it should spring back.

My car is 2008, 40,000 miles.

My local indie has seen several instances of completely snapped off tensioners.
Bolt No. 4 in the parts diagram snaps behind the tensioner.
Worst case, the whole water pump and housing to which the tensioner lever is attached has to be replaced, due to damaged threads.

New tensioner to be fitted next week.
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,353
Messages
1,439,439
Members
48,708
Latest member
JLav211
Back
Top