Failed serpentine belt

[clickman]

I just changed it. It was easy. I was just curious as to what would happen if it went bye-bye.

Mine had one crack in it (see pic). I was hoping it was the culprit for a 2 Hz thrum coming from the AC compressor area, but no joy.

Time for the extended warranty to earn it's keep!

[tonycarreon]

just changed mine. i know it's probably nothing to most of you guys, but it's the most i've ever done to a car. before this, changing a flat tire and adding gasoline were my limits. :chicken:

just wanted to post a link to skyler's boxster maintenance page, which helped me a lot by walking me through the steps.

oddly enough, the belt looked to be in perfect condition - no cracks, tears or anything i could see and the "Porsche" text was still quite legible. so i guess i have a spare just in case.

and for what it's worth, i did not have to remove my seats...

[ChefCarnivore]

I had the same thing happen to me when the top idler bearing failed and the bolt holding it on unscrewed to the firewall. Two tips- 1) You must have a 24mm wrench (preferably an offset box) to take tension off the belt, 2) when you screw the bolt in for the top idler do it from the top of the firewall.

Also the actual bearing is only about 10 bucks, so if you can find someone to remove the bearing and press in the new one you can save $75 over buying a new one.

[clickman]

My ~2 Hz thrum (only noticeable at idle) was diagnosed by the tech as a faulty tensioner pulley. It's supposed to get changed out this week, so we'll see!

As far as what tool to use for relieving the tension when changing the belt, I used an 18" breaker bar with a 24mm socket (1/2" drive). Worked great