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YOUR RESEARCHshredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Use genuine porsche product and personally think
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I have, on both occasions, used the genuine Porsche product and personally think that's the way to go.
shredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'Use genuine porsche product and personally think' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Recommend wp every 3 years' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Suggestion
Jake Raby, who used to post here frequently and has forgotten more about 986s than I'll ever hope to know, used to recommend a new WP every 3 years.
shredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace belt and assessing the situation
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Suggestion · Original poster
Would it be advisable to start by replacing the belt and assessing the situation from there?
shredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace of the idler pulleys
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shredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace several components
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Suggestion · Original poster
I decided to replace several components that I thought might be problematic.
shredded drive belt - replace water pump or not - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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6 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
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While driving on the street, the drive belt of my 1997 Boxster (with 90k+ miles) snapped, accompanied by an audible noise and a subsequent loss of power steering. Promptly suspecting the belt as the culprit, I stopped the car and had it towed home. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the belt had been shredded. Notably, all accessory rollers were functioning smoothly without any noticeable play, and the water pump pulley turned seamlessly. There were no signs of oil or coolant leaks.
I have already placed an order for a new belt. My primary concern is whether the water pump could be the cause of the issue. Given the absence of leaks and the smooth operation of the water pump pulley, Is it fair to assume that the water pump is in good condition?. Would it be advisable to start by replacing the belt and assessing the situation from there?
for ref: water pump was last replaced in 2016 about 20k miles ago.
Thank all
I would do a little more research into why the old belt failed, the following thread was posted about a month ago, is anything touching the belt?
https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-and-boxster-s-986-forum/1371556-what-am-i-looking-at-serpentine-belt-shredded.html
I appreciate everyone's feedback. I decided to replace several components that I thought might be problematic. These include the belt, rollers (3x), new bolts, water pump, and thermostat. I'll provide an update if any issues arise again, though I hope they .
Yeah, water pumps are funny things. Jake Raby, who used to post here frequently and has forgotten more about 986s than I'll ever hope to know, used to recommend a new WP every 3 years. That always seemed excessive to me
What I assume was my first one (I bought the car, an '01, in 2006, with 19k miles) went bad on me in 2011. So it was like 10 years old (at 58k miles). I just got around to replacing that one, proactively, in 2022 (109k miles) and it looked fine, spun smoothly, etc. But I was doing other cooling system work anyway and figured it only made sense to R/R the pump.
But the "funny things" part is that I guess sometimes they do fail within a much shorter time period—and it can be kind of a big deal when they abruptly crash and burn on you. So I would, with whatever authority and confidence I can muster
recommend replacing them somewhere between every 3 and 10 years...FWIW.
I have, on both occasions, used the genuine Porsche product and personally think that's the way to go.
This is a source reference. Confirm exact model applicability in the original material.
