Big Dave

Last night I made a 1 mile trip to a store, as I was leaving I started the 928, backed out of my spot, put it in drive and heard disaster. A grinding noise from under the hood accompanied by my dash lighting up like a Christmas tree.

It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. I knew immediately what happend but I was in complete shock. I popped the hood and looked into the timing belt ventilation holes. Passenger was fine....but when I looked into the drivers side I saw nothing but gear.

My timing belt snapped. A stream of coolant appeared from under the car. It appears that my 15 month old, 15K mile rebuilt water pump seized. There's no other explanation for the coolant. The car could NOT have overheated enough in a 1 mile trip to crack the block. I had NO warning signs whatsoever. The timing belt was the same age as the water pump and had been properly retensioned a couple months ago.

I'm done. Over and out. After putting in a NEW (not rebuilt) transmission 3 months ago, I refuse to rebuild and be exposed to the same risk. I did the proper maintenance and still got hit.

Some of you know my car. It's in fantastic shape. As soon as I get it home, parts are coming off and going up for sale. My webpage has a lot of pictures, so if anyone wants parts, PM me. I expect some stuff will go quickly, and I need to recoup my costs and fund the purchase of another (as yet undecided) car. I may go with non-Porsche, or with a 911. I haven't decided yet. I'm still naseous from the whole thing.

hacker-pschorr

Damn it.

When's the rebuild party, I'm there. DO NOT PART ANOTHER 928!!!

Chris

First off take a break, put the car away before you do anything rash.

Get a timing belt, put it on, do a compression test maybe you got lucky and didn't hit any valves.

Chris

Big Dave

Here's my issue: The car was maintained by the book. A new timing belt was put on in Spring of 2003, including a rebuilt water pump from one of the Big Three. I purposely avoided getting the pump from a non-Big Three supplier to avoid quality problems. I retensioned after 2K miles, and then retensioned at 15K miles. I used the Kempf tool.

If I rebuild, and I continue to do maintenance by the book, I'm still exposed to this happening again. I sunk $$$ into the NEW transmission already this year. This car was my daily driver, so now I'm forced to get another car.

I want to throw up.

karl ruiter

OUCH! I'm sure we all feel for you. Every 32V 928 owners worst fear. Personally I have two non interference O.B.s....I'd love to upgrade to a 32V but I just dont have the *****.
One possibility is that the bolt which fastens the tensioner arm to the waterpump came out. That would have caused both the coolant and the belt failure.
Does anybody know of any cases in which a 32V car had a belt failure and did not bend valves? If so , perhaps it would be worth Dave's time to slip a belt do a compression test before the other sharks start smelling blood.

Steve J.

So sorry for your misfortune. Wish I could think of something to say to ease your pain. (Maybe a Renegade conversion? ) Blood in the water - feeding frenzy imminent.

Big Dave

I HEARD it happen. It sounded like someone put a metal spoon into a metal cooking pan and shook it around for 1 second.

Rez

Dave,

Sorry for your loss.

Take a couple of days. I would be pissed too. But rethink what you are planning. I'm sure you will regret parting out such a sweet car and it truley is a sweet 928.

Chris

Seen it happen to someone else too, they just bought an 86 and it had all the records including a recent WP/TB change. He was picking it up from the shop when I saw it, the bill must have been huge. His WP seized at a traffic light, it happens.

Not that this makes it any more bearable on your part.

If your is in otherwise great condition and you are going to sell it, sell it complete, must be someone out there who would want it.

Chris

Dozman

Dave all the BS aside, think about not parting it.
Do some investigation of whats wrong, then see how much $$ it will cost. If you repair it, you might get a bit more or a bit less for putting the work into it. But you will recoup more money by selling it whole up front , as parting it with less frustrations and less time and effort.
After all time is money.

Big Dave

I may throw it up on eBay, but there's no way I'll get what it's worth even after deducting a few grand for the engine. The damn transmission alone (NEW!!!!!) is worth a small fortune. A few of you may remember that I lucked out and got it from 928 International for the same price as a rebuilt one. The thing came with its own Stuttgart birth certificate proving it was new. The guy I had put it in told me normally new ones are over $10K.

I've secured transportation for the next two weeks, so I can take some time and figure things out. I've got to get it home and pull off the front end of the engine to confirm that it's the pump. My wife drove by and said there's a lake of coolant by the car now, so it's either the pump or a cracked block. Gotta love her...she's been emailing me info on other Porsches for sale (although she wants a 911 instead of a 928--no timing belt issues there).

MikeN

Really sucks, but really sounds like something seriously let go.......timing belts rarely snap.....strip yes, but snap? Those suckers are pretty tough. I'll bet when you open it up there will be something major that let go.......

Roger

Dave,

So sorry to hear about you car. I think this is the type of thing that all of us hate to hear, not just because it happened to a loyal Rennlist Member, but it also reminds all of us that possible catastrophe (for us 32v) is just 1 second away.

Out of curiosity, have you spoken to the vendor that sold you the parts (not for the purpose of blame)? I'm hoping that they can somehow help you...or atleast provide you with some direction.

Good luck...

Roger

Big Dave

By the way....I'm getting flooded with PMs. I'm not going to give prices for parts yet since it's not 100% certain whether the car is getting parted, sold as a whole or (unlikely) rebuilt by me. Give me a few days.

As soon as I get it home and figure out what the hell went wrong, I'll post it.

heinrich

Dave I am so sorry.

But ask Tom M ... Trust me it can be a very easy fix. Even if the valves are all bent. I have 3 or 4 '85 valves in great shape I will give you if that will help. I know there are others with same. Come on Dude ... like Chris said. Just put the car away for a week, do nothing. Relax. Think how you love her. Somewhere there is a great reason why this happened. Sometimes human error, sometimes mechanical. But this is a rare thing, they do not usually fail all on their own, with proper installation and procedure. HANG IN THERE
Heinrich