Matt O.

Damn. My brother just called, me is on the side of the road in Orlando (on Aloma) and his 944 just turned off and the idiot lights went on and what not.

I'm afraid it's the t-belt. This sucks. I'm a little bit pissed because the previous owner told him that the water pump was changed but they didn't change the belt because it "looked ok" -- WTF???? Can you just look at a t-belt and say, "hey, that looks good, let's leave it in there even though it will only be another $14 for the belt..."

Anyway, I told him to have it towed to Zotz, not to try to start it and what not. Hopefully there is minimal damage if it is the belt.

TIA,
Matt

Matt O.

Bump.

He can see the t-belt throught the whole on the cam sprocket cover... If you've thrown your t-belt, can you see it there?

Thanks,
Matt

944smitty

Hey Matt,
It's possible that the bottom part of the T-belt is destroyed (down near the crank where it is driven). The part wrapped around the cam gear could just be what's left.
It may be possible to take the car out of gear and very gingerly turn the crank by hand slighty back and forth to see if the cam pulley moves with it (watching through the inspection hole you mentioned). If all seems well you could turn the crank to TDC and verify the cam gear is in sync.
The best method is to open up the belt cover and inspect of course. Think it would just require a 1/4" drive ratchet, small extension, and a 10mm socket to pull off the top half cover. Takes a little finesse, but not too bad. Certainly worth the peace of mind to really know what's up in there if you suspect belt failure.
As for just looking at a belt & saying it's OK, I do that on my Jeep where the only thing to lose is the belt. On a 944 TBelt I'm way too chicken, it's a different ballgame $$$.
944smitty

Matt O.

Well, he's not as into these cars mechanically as I am, so he had it towed to Zotz. They'll fix him up $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

-M

Micah

Matt,

Sorry to hear that Hopefully everything will turn out okay. There's no way in hell to look at the belt and say with certainty "it's okay" unless you can obviously see some cracking or glazing that would tell you it's not. With just a visual assesment, the belt could be ready to slip the next time you crank it and it would be impossible to tell.

That whole "it looks okay" deal sounds like a typical PO statement.

Micah

User 41221

Any reason why you don't suspect the DME relay or a flywheel sensor? More to th epoint, why do you suspect the timing belt?

Regards,

dave120

Could definately be the DME relay as the car is pretty much dead if it stops working since it gets no fuel. I keep a little jumper (as well as a spare relay now) in the car so I can jumper the connection and see if it works.