belt change
- Thread starter ashonen
- Start date
pauljmcnulty
Active member
Considering the potential damage I'd be wary of doing it myself, but anything more than changing a bulb is pretty well beyond my experience. The Club do have a couple of the tensioning tools for free loan to Members, or could you take it to a specialist after changing it to let them give it a once-over and check that you've tensioned it correctly? If they charge you for an hour's labour then it's not the end of the world.
xenon
New member
Changing a 944 belt is no more difficult than any other, but you have the balance belt too which other cars don't have. You are supposed to use the tensioning tool but others say the usual quarter-turn method is adequate. However, if you've never done a cambelt before be very careful - the engine will be written off if you get it wrong.
ashonen
New member
Ive come to a compromise with an ex mechanic i know he was self employed for 20 odd years working on Porsche and other cars and got fed up with the job, so he packed it in and vowed never to lift a spanner again, he now works at the same place as me he has said that if I do the work he will talk me through it and I should be able to do it all by yourself next time it needs doing [
]
]
pauljmcnulty
Active member
As someone who'd never attempt this anyway, it's always struck me that there's a bit of the old "black arts" about 944 cambelts. Assuming you know how to change the belts on any other car, and the tensioning tool is freely available from Club office, why is it so diferent from the myriad of other engines out there?
morris944s2john
New member
Just to hijack this thread, does anyone have a link to the previous thread where all the part numbers needed for complete belt/rollers/tensioners for the 944 was listed? I will be doing this on my 944 when I do the work for the MOT and all the other jobs that are needed. BTW, I bought a tool kit from the states with every special tool you need for the 944, the pin spanners, flywheel lock, belt tension gauge and instructions. Look up Arnworx..
morris944s2john
New member
Nothing is easy! Or easy is relative, if you've done a belt change before and are a competent mechanic then it should be within your abillity! We will see, if I blow up the engine on my S2 then we will see! Does anyone have a link to the thread with all the belts and pulleys parts numbers??
A5DSR
New member
Just done my 8V belts, very straight forward, no different to any other car I've done in the past. Just ring Berlyn services, he will send you the correct belts, rollers & tensioners. About £170 including power steering & alternator belts. I currently have one of the clubs tension gauges. Its the Porsche tool and is easy to use following the guides on Clarks Garage. Darren
pauljmcnulty
Active member
Just contact Club office with your membership number. They'll post it out to you, assuming they're not both out already!ORIGINAL: ashonen who do i contact to borrow the tension gauge oh and no power steering for me[
pylonracer
New member
The belt change is no more complicated on a 944 than other 4 cylinder engines that run with a balance belt, I have also changed cam and balence belts on Lancia Integrale engines, those Integrales make working on a 944 look like childs play! A well known Ducati service shop told me that as well as observing the service mileage, that the cam belts on a Duc should be changed every two years even if the bike has not been used. A Ducati can be very hard on the cam belts, I think this may be due to the belt having to shut the valve without the assistance of the valve spring(desmodronic valves). Again I changed the belts on Ducati 'V' twins with no concerns. My view of the 944 belt is that it might be a little longer than some other belts (from memory) apart from that I don't think it is an exceptional installation or demanding application. I will use the 1/4 turn system at the next 944 cam belt change, but I will change the belt every two years there after, which will equate to less than 10,000 miles between changes. My 944 has just been put back on the road after a 3 1/2 year layoff, so I think it deserves the new belt very soon. Having sounded quite cavalier above, it is a complete catastrophe if the belt does snap so do what is right for you! Baz PS my current 944 belt has over 30,000 miles on it and is at least 7 years old!
morris944s2john
New member
I would get it changed ASAP! I had a Cam belt go at only ~30,000 miles at 5 1/2 years.
pylonracer
New member
Yes you are quite correct a belt change ASAP is required, but you can see from your own experience that there is some variable that makes belts fail at different time periods. My guess is that this is due to tension setting, probably too much tension. The problem with the 1/4 turn technique is that one persons idea of the effort required to acheive the 1/4 turn is different from the nexts. Hence the creation of a standard testing device (the Porsche tool), I remember when I used to get the 944 serviced at an OPC many years ago, that they used to recheck the belt tension after it had bedded in (streched) Regards Baz
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
