993 Distributor Belts

[Westyman]

How often or at what mileage are you guys changing the dizzy belt on the 993?

Nothing in the service schedule suggesting / advising replacement.

John


Migration info. Legacy thread was 18322

 

[bosch]

these were a problem area on the 964 and solved with a breather kit. I've never heard of replacement on the 993, but it'd be advisable to have a chat with a friendly specialist.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 18325

 

[Gatekeeper]

Same here, never heard of it on 993's. If your worried about your belt snapping, you can always regularly perform the test where you remove the kingpin connector on each distributor in turn to check that the engine still runs and therefore the belt is fine.

Regarding routine replacement, might be a question worth asking on Rennlist.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 18326

 

[jackal2513]

given the damage that might occur if one does let go, i'll be inspecting mine when i carry out my 24k in the next few weeks :thumb:

 

[Pickled Piper]

It's not an official service item. Although, a number of guys on Rennlist have had theirs changed. Then again some of the Rennlist guys have rebuilt their engines at 70,000 miles just because they felt like it!.

There is also a section on p-car.

I've asked a couple of Indys about changing the belt. They have just ummed and ahhed without giving a definitive answer. From what I understand it is a pig of a job and nobody likes doing it.

I would be interested to hear of any other experiences

pp

 

[Rodders]

I had mine changed at approx 70k miles purely as a precautionary measure for peace of mind,there didn't seem to much if any degradation to the original one(no cracks/splits etc)

 

[Family Guy]

Had the belts changed on mine about 2 years ago after talking to my indie about it. He'd had a 993 in where the belt had snapped but hadn't caused any damage, was just down on power. He recommended it was more of a precautionary measure as the problem was not as common as on a 964 due to breather kit. However when he took mine out the belt had started to crack between the teeth. I think for the belts and to change them came to just under £150 so not too bad for peace of mind

 

[guards red]

How often or at what mileage are you guys changing the dizzy belt on the 993?

Nothing in the service schedule suggesting / advising replacement.

John


Migration info. Legacy thread was 18322

This was my thinking on this, I figured I'd need new rotors and caps, £100, it would by now need new leads. £200-220? That's over £300 straight off. I bought a new set of leads (original Beru) and a fully remanufactured Bosch distributor (with new caps, rotors, belt, hall effect sensor, bearings) for £540. They would've knocked £50 off that for returning the old one but I sold it on Ebay for £120 (I did put a new belt in it for the buyer £4) so a brand new distributor cost me £120 on balance. It being remanufactured by Bosch meant it looked brand new too and came with a warranty.

Food for thought.

Regards
GR

 

[ldt]

How often or at what mileage are you guys changing the dizzy belt on the 993?

Nothing in the service schedule suggesting / advising replacement.

John


Migration info. Legacy thread was 18322

This was my thinking on this, I figured I'd need new rotors and caps, £100, it would by now need new leads. £200-220? That's over £300 straight off. I bought a new set of leads (original Beru) and a fully remanufactured Bosch distributor (with new caps, rotors, belt, hall effect sensor, bearings) for £540. They would've knocked £50 off that for returning the old one but I sold it on Ebay for £120 (I did put a new belt in it for the buyer £4) so a brand new distributor cost me £120 on balance. It being remanufactured by Bosch meant it looked brand new too and came with a warranty.

Food for thought.

Regards
GR

GR, I understand you fitted this yourself?
Does the refurbed items come with belts fitted or did you do it? &
Is this something I could do without completely messing up the timing etc?
Cheers Lee

 

[guards red]

Hi Lee,

The distributor comes fully assembled, ready to go. The caps have to come off to line up the timing but this is very simple in a 993 too. The crank pully has a Top Dead Center (TDC) mark on it, you line this up with a mark on the fan housing (long mark right at it's base). You know the engine is on the correct stroke when the two marks (one for each rotor) line up on the corresponding lines clearly scribed into the top edge of the distributor body. Sounds complicated but it's really easy. If you need to do this I can try and find a picture of the distributor with the marks lined up.

With the engine like this you undo the 13mm nut holding the distributor in place and pull it out and stick the new one in. You have to pull it out, put it in a few times (story of my life) before you're happy that the rotors line up again properly (they stay in sync but as the cog that drives them is angled the rotors rotate a degree or two has they engage).

By far the hardest part for me was getting the distributor out. There's only one nut holding it in but when it's been in place for over 12 years it'll be in solid. It feels welded in place. Spray lots of your favorite lube on the base where it goes into the crankcase for a few days before giving it a go. Best way to get it out I found (after three days of near hernia exertion - one of my nuts has never been the same) is to get a "lady foot" lever bar and carefully lever under the body. This aside its easy.

Regards
GR

 

[ldt]

Thanks GR, very helpful. I prefer to spend the money on new parts for the car rather than labour wherever I can :thumbs: