This Forum has 2,481 members (people who have signed up and made at least one post). Active members is anyone's guess, I suppose somewhere between 100-200, call it 10%. Most of the non-contributors were either looking to buy, or looking to sell, and only visited a couple of times. Others came in around 2005 when Eric started this site and have likely moved on from ownership by now.
Over the years I have only heard of a few required tensioner replacements, mostly on cars that sat for a very long time. Keeping up with maintenance would appear to be the best defense against this part needing replacement.
Regards,
Jay
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Driving it or not , at least start it up and let it idle for at least half hour, during which step on that gas pedal and rev that engine to 5 K RPM and back a few dozen times. IMO, that’ll keep the tensioner form atrophy..
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Oh I would like to add that they are incredibly hard to compress, mechanics that are used to 944s think they are seized which they are not, once compressed if you pull the pin they fly out
I would suggest that the 5000 replacements have been used up very quickly by unnecessary replacements at every belt service, simply by mechanics that dont know what they are doing
I have a buddy that runs an Audi VW independent garage, in the 22 years he has been in business he has replaced 3 hydraulic tensioners, due to idiot apprentices breaking them
They just dont go wrong
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
I actually replaced the belts and rollers/sprockets on ours last month. And, after 30 years, the tensioner looked as good as new.
Could have used the hydraulic press, but the vise (with soft jaws) easily handled compressing the tensioner. It's not a horrible job, if you take your time. If the tensioner ever turns out to be seized, it would turn into a nightmare trying to get a replacement.
But for me, having some spare parts that are NLA allows for less stress because I want to keep driving the 968.
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Well, I just got my car back after a S2 tensioner conversion. We had tried Rock Auto about a week ago (4/12/2023) and could not get the 968 tensioner.
I've got the old tensioner and it's seized and completely compressed. There was no tension on the belt at all. The belts were all flopping around. I wonder how it got compressed to the max.
I came home from autocross late last fall and put the car in the garage for the winter. First trip in 2023 was to garage to do timing belts because 7 years. I wonder if I drove the car at autocross with broken tensioner. Lucky I still have an engine.
Conclusion: good idea to remove casing to check the status of the belt at least annually.
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
(This post was last modified: 04-20-2023, 10:24 AM by Rouhart.)
WooHoo! I’ve had great luck with parts from Rock Auto with one exception. I bought some really nice Michelin windshield wipers for my Smart car on close out. I think they were 10 years old, at least. Hard as a rock. (He he, get it) I ended up replacing them in less than a year. WTH, they were $3/ea. I know they’re ~$35 from a shop.
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Quote:WooHoo! I’ve had great luck with parts from Rock Auto with one exception. I bought some really nice Michelin windshield wipers for my Smart car on close out. I think they were 10 years old, at least. Hard as a rock. (He he, get it) I ended up replacing them in less than a year. WTH, they were $3/ea. I know they’re ~$35 from a shop.
I just ordered one as a talisman. (I figure if I have one sitting in the tool box, I’ll never need one)
The price dropped to $102.
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Just to provide a PSA, many know that the tensioner is expected to be reproduced by Porsche classic parts, but in the meantime partworks has a reproduction for sale.
They are located in Germany, but you can easily get it shipped to the US with a shipping forwarder.
Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.
Auto .
