Aivar88

clarks garage also indicates rollers should be changed every other belt change unless any roller makes noise.

hacker-pschorr

Generally speaking, belts rarely fail on their own. Something in the system fails & takes out the belt.

Good friend of mine who's been working on Porsche's since the 70's jokes the one item you can probably re-use in a timing belt job....is the belt. He's not advocating doing so, just trying to get across the fact the rollers / tensioners, pumps etc... are what causes most belts to fail, not the belts suddenly failing on their own. Such comments are about all cars with timing belts, not specific to 944's.

The parts are cheap, why even chance it?

marc abrams

I'm on my third belt now. I skipped replacing the rollers on one belt replacement because I felt my 1200-1500 miles a year didn't warrant it. I couldn't believe how knotty the rollers have gotten in 3 years and less than 5000 miles. I'll never again not replace the rollers when replacing the belts.

Tripl7

Since the rollers and pulleys are "ancient design", has anyone thought of changing the design with wider pulleys and better bearings? I'm sure there is a lot to consider such as the timing plastic cover interfering with wider pulleys, and the fact that the wp pulley would have to be altered in design but just a thought...

There are some billet timing gears running around so producing matching rollers and the rest of the bunch might not be too far out of sight.

V2Rocket

it's your funeral.

Aivar88

Will change rollers too. Extra 100 bucks doesnt brake the bank anymore, after getting this car theres no bank to brake anyway;p

NelaK

The question is what is it worth to you? Its about $100 for the pulleys and $100 for everything else involved in the timing belt change (not including a waterpump change).

Pulleys and belts with a longer service life are entirely possible but it would be pretty hard to hit the same price point especially with low volume manufacturing methods and the market simply isn't large enough to justify the upfront cost of specialized tooling. There's also the cost of the engineering and testing. If there was a kit available for lets say $400-800 and it effectively doubled the service interval of the timing belt/pulleys to a more modern 100k miles/6-8 years, would it still be worth while? You'll save in labor but the parts costs will definitely be higher.

jderimig

Why do "timing belt kits" (belts and rollers) cost more than the individual parts bought separately?

V2Rocket

the kits are put together by conti typically.
if you buy the components separately but with gates belts you can save 30 bucks or so.

944 timing belts are pricey but the labor is cake to do, even every 3 years.

jderimig

Its crazy on Pelican, The timing belt kits (without water pump) are over $220. Same rollers on Pelican are $104.25 (I priced it out). Belts separately on Pelican are about $60. FCPEuro rollers are less than $100.

NelaK

Speaking of which - FCPEuro covers them for life so buy them once and never worry about paying for the parts again.

Aivar88

Why do kits contain 5 rollers when theres actually 7?

jderimig

I think there are only 4 "rollers". The others are driving shafts.

Aivar88

Those smaller "toothed" rollers dont contain bearings so they dont need to be changed.. am i right now? This way it makes them 4 , not all the 7?! Or what?