997 gen 2 drive belt Tensioner failure .

deMort · 4 Jul 2019

And this is why i keep banging on about this fault .. excellent news you checked it and found an issue .. well not excellent but better to find out before something happened !

Air box removal wasn't hard i take it

Btw .. a pleasure to chat on saturday , hopefully you enjoyed the chat and the look around the workshop .

PS1000 · 11 Jul 2019

Thanks Iain

Extremely helpful post as always. Checked mine today and all is well

(Dead easy to check folks - really recommend doing it just in case)

Regards

Pete

PJ997 · 23 Jul 2019

Have you got any tips on reinstalling the tensioner and lever? Getting it out was a complete ball ache as there's hardly any room to get the two bolts out. For reinstalling I'm thinking the belt needs to be off the roller so that there is absolutely no tension in the mechanism, I loosely put the top bolt in, then lift the lever up and down while trying to locate the bottom bolt . . . sound right? I'm dreading it!

In terms of tools . . .. .
I had to grind a torx bit down in order to get the top bolt out (ring spanner, with a bar to loosen, then slowly remove using mole grips)
The bottom bolt was a torx bit taped to a ring spanner, with a bar to loosen, followed by torx in ratchet spanner (taped one side to stop it falling out) taped to a big screwdriver . . . removing a click at a time!
. . . . has anyone got a better suggestion in terms of tools?

Any help appreciated.

Phil

deMort · 23 Jul 2019

Sorry for the late reply ... i'm afraid i work all day and as such am only ever here for 2 hrs of an evening .

The belt should be well out of the way when refitting the tensioner . its basically a case of screwing in the top bolt loose then crawling underneath and fitting the bottom tensioner bolt .. i can just about get my hands in there so dont have too much trouble .

A cut down torx and i use a spanner on it to undo .. then wind out with fingers ... A pry bar levering the engine carrier bar to give a few more mms of clearance also helps .

To refit the belt then you use the 30 mm spanner to move the tensioner down and then pull the belt over the idler wheel .. you have to make sure the belt is seated in all the pulleys otherwise you won't come close to refitting it .

PJ997 · 24 Jul 2019

Cheers DeMort . . . . you're a star. I didn't think I could get the bottom bolt from underneath, but you can (just about - and after removing a H&S exhaust hanger).
Thanks

P9XX · 24 Jul 2019

I've now had my tensioner replaced, about 10 days ago.
There is not much space to get the old bolts out or new ones back in so I decided to let my local indie do the job.
They did quite a lot of removal to get at the bolts but at least that allowed them to get a torque wrench on the new ones.
In detail, 3 hours labour to remove then re-fit the following :
Air Box, Rear Lamps, Rear Bumper Skin, Front (transverse) Muffler and Muffler Support.
Support weight of Engine then remove the Engine Carrier which is the component in the way.
On re-assembly, new Cat to Muffler bolts (6) fitted.

Having asked for the old parts to be given back, I've cleaned them up to see what had failed.

The new Tensioner in place:

The bigger surprise was that it seems the Hydraulic Tensioner is seized solid, still full of oil. The Pivot Bolt for the Lever had become slightly loose which transferred all the movement in the system to between the Pivot Bolt and the inside face of the Pivot Sleeve which now has the start of a thread being formed inside. I guess the movement here could cause the Pivot Bolt to snap as the Tensioner mechanism was now solid.

Anyhoo, all's well again, for now.

deMort · 24 Jul 2019

Every garage will have a different way of doing these .. porsche instructions often say remove parts to gain access .. you don't always need to .

I've done many of these .. i have small hands and have worked out the tools i need .. and indeed have modified them to do this job .

Therefore i do it in 1hr .

If i had bigger hands and lets face it just about every mechanic does ( i'm only little ) then this is a harder job and better access is required

AT The End of the Day .. i made this post to highlight an issue .. people have checked and have either found or not found an issue ..

For this i'm chuffed to bits as its job done

sjfpdk · 26 Jul 2019

Cheers DeMort, Just had an oil change and ask them to take a look at the tensioner/pully and they found that it has seized.

So thanks for the info on this as I would have not known to ask about checking it.

Regards Steven

murph7355 · 28 Jul 2019

With the family away I decided I should check this.

Getting the airbox out was easy. Getting it back in again was a pita - getting the rubber hose over the throttle body evidently has a knack that I don't think I have (and that involved making sure the lugs are in their housings properly I think

). Either that or Oompa-Loompa hands.

If I cannot move no.3 at all, should I assume the whole lot is seized?

I don't have a 30mm spanner (nor a 32mm one) so was using an adjustable spanner which isn't ideal (especially as the jaws on mine aren't that sturdy). And the material the hex is made of on mine seems very soft...but tried to move it in both directions with nothing whatsoever moving.

deMort · 28 Jul 2019

You need to move 30mm nut clockwise .. an adjustable spanner should do as long as it's done up tight and not rounding the nut .

If not moving at all then it would appear to have a problem but bear in mind there is a fair bit on tension on it .

Rubber pipe is tricky .. undo the jubilee clip as far as you can without it fully undoing then slide it back towards the air box .

pull out the top part of the rubber bellows and use your fingers inside of it to push the lower part over the throttle .. then fit the top section .

Airbox pins tend to line up if you use the blue rubber grommet and plastic pin as a guide .. i can just about get my hand under one side to check but a rule of thumb is it won't go down if the pins have totally missed the grommets .

murph7355 · 28 Jul 2019

deMort said:
You need to move 30mm nut clockwise .. an adjustable spanner should do as long as it's done up tight and not rounding the nut .

If not moving at all then it would appear to have a problem but bear in mind there is a fair bit on tension on it .

Rubber pipe is tricky .. undo the jubilee clip as far as you can without it fully undoing then slide it back towards the air box .

pull out the top part of the rubber bellows and use your fingers inside of it to push the lower part over the throttle .. then fit the top section .

Airbox pins tend to line up if you use the blue rubber grommet and plastic pin as a guide .. i can just about get my hand under one side to check but a rule of thumb is it won't go down if the pins have totally missed the grommets .

Ta.

On the airbox, that's the technique I worked out. Now have a couple of layers less skin on my fingers but it's back on.

I think I might have to look for a better adjustable spanner or by a 30mm and 32mm one

deMort · 28 Jul 2019

Im 90 % sure its a 30mm spanner .. trouble is as a mechanic i have 30 - 36 and tend to grab what fits without taking much notice of the size ... i currently have 7 different sets of spanners for different jobs .

well done for working out the best way of refitting the pipe .. trust me it took me many attempts and i do this for a living !

move it clockwise .. if it doesn't return then the pivot is seized .. if it doesn't move at all then the tensioner is seized but i've not seen that yet .. they are pretty stiff to move as standard .

P9XX · 28 Jul 2019

Murph7355 : Spanner size is 30 mm. Bought mine from Halfords, ring and open ended combination spanner for £12.99. 400 mm long so get good leverage.

Refitting the rubber to throttle body made easier with a little silicone spray on a clean cloth then smear inside the rubber hose and on the step on the throttle body.

Everything else as deMort says.

murph7355 · 28 Jul 2019

P9XX said:
Murph7355 : Spanner size is 30 mm. Bought mine from Halfords, ring and open ended combination spanner for £12.99. 400 mm long so get good leverage.

Refitting the rubber to throttle body made easier with a little silicone spray on a clean cloth then smear inside the rubber hose and on the step on the throttle body.

Everything else as deMort says.

Thanks very much. Will pop in if I get half a chance tomorrow...saves me having a 32mm in the tool kit

How easily did yours move?

P9XX · 28 Jul 2019

My adjustable spanner would not move the lever at all but then it's only 9 inches long.
The new 30 mm spanner is huge in comparison and it took a worrying amount of force to get any movement clockwise at all. A slight movement turned the lever and the pivot bolt together. The Aux belt became slack and had no tendency to re-tension automatically when the spanner was removed. I had to manually re-tension the belt by turning anti-clockwise. See deMorts comments on this.
I've had everything replaced to do with the tensioner and believe the lever and the hydraulic tensioner were both seized - see my pictures above. The hydraulic tensioner has a meaty spring inside but even squeezing it in a vice could not force any movement.
Finally, bear in mind if you get a "garage" to do the job for you, deMort can do the job with 1 hours labour, my local charged 3 hours but had to remove lots to get at it. Again, see my post above. So quite a big price variance.

997 gen 2 drive belt Tensioner failure .

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