danny951

My power steering has been acting up lately and I occasionaly hear a belt squeeking after a cold start when it's cold outside. If the power steering belt were to break, would I be looking at a lot of repairs? or just a simple belt replacement?

Just to be specific, the trouble with the power steering is that occasionally, when driving slow around a corner, the steering gets very hard and I can feel myself having to fight it to get the wheels turned. when I give it some gas, problem goes away. just a loose belt?

CurlyDE

I'm not sure what damage could be caused other than losing your power steering ... I had the pulley fail on my car about 2 years ago (my fault ... did not center it properly when I replaced the timing belt). Basically, my power steering just stopped working. I did not drive it far with the pulley half hanging on to the crank, but no problems ever became of it otherwise.

When was the last time you checked the condition / tension of the belt? Now might be a good time to do it ...

leonc944

Not a problem. The easiest thing on your 944 to replace. No damage when it breaks, except that your steering becomes difficult at low speeds.

PorscheDoc

If it is squeeling, why not go pick up the 10 dollar belt and put it on. It takes all of about 5 minutes, and you really don't even need jackstands.

inactiveuser92616

not much risk unless your name is campeck.

cpt_koolbeenz

Zero10

It probably just needs to be adjusted/tightened. A 5-minute fix, and this problem should be solved.

danny951

Cool. Thanks guys. I need to get in and check it out, I just wanted to make sure I'd be alright if it did go. I wasn't sure if it could hurt something else since I'm not too familiar yet still with the mechanicals.

jim944s2

Mine broke once on my old '86 951. It knocked the plug out of the cooling fan, but that car ran so cool it didn't matter. What caused a problem was: I bought an aftermarket belt from a knucklehead at Napa, which was just a hair bigger than the Conti belt, -just bigger-enough to very slowly saw through the oil cooler line. So, buy the correct conti belt....
It's conceivable that when it breaks it could do some other damage, by getting in somewhere it doesn't belong, like under the alternator belt?

95Juan

ok- absolute worst case scenario-


i was in my '84 944, with unknown number of miles on the belts, no squealing, but i was revving at my friend in his rx7, and my belt just broke at ~3k rpm.

but it didnt just break. my idiot lights came on, and i limped it home (a block or two) and i saw that the belt had lodged itself between the pulley and the pump itself, so i had to spend maybe an hour yanking at it to get it off. my driveway was covered in PS oil, and i was very mad.

that's just the worst case scenario i guess.

Swagger93

My power steering belt sawed through the lower coolant hose on my '88 944 S when the belt was loose. I can't see it being much of a danger in most circumstances, however.