rhkwon

I recently talked to a guy who has owned his S4 for over 20 years and has never changed the timing belt since he has owned it. He has put on about 60k miles on it since he bought it and said the previous owner had changed it in 1993. I'm pretty sure this is a catastrophe waiting to happen. I'd love to see what that belt looks like. Or am I wrong?

hacker-pschorr

I picked up my 79 in 2004, based on my conversations with past owners the belt on my car was at least 5 years old at that time, I haven't changed it yet.
Not many miles on that belt (less than 70k on the car).
Last time I had the covers off two years ago, everything looked in tip-top shape. The plan is to drop in a different engine so I haven't been very ambitious when it comes to working on this one.

As stated many times before, the belts rarely fail on their own.....but 20+ years is a bit extreme.
Usually the water pump locks up (which kills the belt) or one of the rollers fail (not as common on the 928 as other cars, like Audi's).

How / where it was parked for those 20 years plays a huge role too. I'm not advocating anyone go this long, but it does not surprise me since I've seen my share of cars (not just 928's) with similar aged and older belts running around.
The stories from my local Indy shops on what they see coming in would make a very interesting book.

SeanR

I'd change that thing immediately.

OCIC '09 we had one local who came with his '88 and we got to talking about the car. Never had a belt change. So I take a look down the vent hole and we could see though the belt. The only thing keeping it together were the metal strands that we should never see.

rhkwon

When I changed my wife's 1998 Lexus LS400 TB last year with 100K on it the belt definitely looked worn and there were tons of cracks at the edges.

joejoe

My '86.5 spun the teeth off the crank at just under 60k and 10 years. I got off 'lucky' as only 2 valve were bent. Unfortunally it did require removal of motor and rebuild. Do yourself a favor and change it now. Surprisingly the rest of the belt looked like new, so a visual inspection is not really adequate.

Dan87951

It won't be long before that S4 is a nice paper weight! Belt needs to be changed ASAP.

Adk46

I've personally known just three people with TB-equipped Porsches (until recently).

The first, many years ago, had his 924 belt break, ending his relatively brief Porsche experience.

The second had her 924 belt break, had the engine repaired, and the new belt broke almost immediately. That ended her Porsche experience, but good.

(I'm using the term "belt broke" loosely, of course.)

The third was me. I bought a 928 with a 20-year-old belt, but not until the PO drove it out to me. I dared not drive it further than into my garage. I opened up the front of the engine, and found everything in good condition. Of course, I changed the belt, the tensioner and the water pump. So far, so good.

I have no message here, just sharing information that I can personally verify.

Landseer

We had a local guy pull into friends shop in 2010 for his 50,000 mile service. Original owner, 86 951. Never had a belt. Got it up onto lift next day, pulled covers, What a mess inside, but no slippage. Released tension and water pump spat parts of its seal and all the coolant rigpht there. Told the guy he should walk across the road to Food Lion and buy a mega millions ticket.

Andre The Giant

Mine was over 12 years old and only had 23,000 kms and it looked in excellent condition, but I did not take a chance I changed it before the summer anyway.

Gary Knox

The first 928 I bought was an '87, with about 50K miles on it in 1997. Service records were included, and nothing related to the belt had been done.

I had driven an Audi V8 with the similar 4 cam/timing belt engine in the early - mid 90's, and the belt change spec for that was 90K miles. I asked the mechanic at the Porsche Audi dealer, who had done the job on my Audi V8, about the 928's timing belt, and he said there was no spec for changing it. But, to be conservative, I had him change the 928's belt at about 88K miles. THEN, I discovered all the 'info' on the internet about 928 timing belts and change intervals.

I am quite sure we are all being OVERLY conservative with the 5 year, 50K mile change recommendations - especially if we use a Porsche or Gates belt.

I've changed a lot of timing belts on the subsequent 928's. So, I've never had any bent valve issues. BUT - there were no issues on the '87 either. I guess the frequent changes can be considered as 'insurance' and I buy quite a few insurance policies for other 'stuff' as well!

Ducman82

whats cheaper, the belt or bent valves?

tmpusfugit

Just an opinion and we all know about opinions, but mine is the belt is not usually the primary failure. My limited experience suggests that water pump bearings fail and lock up, or one of the idler bearings locks up and shreds or ultimately breaks the belt, or in some limited cases the pulley teeth are are worn, develop sharp edges and they eat the belt.

marine928

When I purchased mine there had been 3 documented belt/WP changes and two belt tensioner changes. One at in 1991, @ 42600k by the original owner, 2nd done in 1996 @ 91680 and a third done in 2003 @ 101767 by 2nd owner. The car was only driven eight thousand miles between 2003 and 2012 when I purchased it.
I immediately did a full service @ 109312 and the old belt looked brand new.

NIACAL4NIA

I know this is an old forum but I just checked the timing belt( Contitech) and tension on my 1986 Porsche 928 32v 5speed and looked good as new which was replaced in 2003 so that's 15 years ago, however I drive it on sundays, belt has around 30K miles. I live in San Diego with an average temperature of 75 and car stays in a garage hooked to a battery tender. 180k miles and still going strong.

Mrmerlin