Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi All,

Recently changed the belts and bought new pulleys all round, but the timing belt idler I bought was smaller than the fitted one, so I left the original one on and was going to return the new one. Today I did a little research on it and from what I can tell, the smaller (my new one) 32mm idler is for the old style water pump without a belt guard and the fitted 46.5mm one is for the newer water pump with a belt guard.

My water pump doesn't have a belt guard so I suspect is the older type, but the belt hardly touches the 46.5mm idler currently fitted to the car - If I fitted the 'correct' 32mm idler I don't think the belt would actually touch it...

I'm split between ordering a replacement for what I have (supposedly wrong) or putting on the new one (supposedly right) which wouldn't touch the belt, so feels wrong... It also looks like a very small pulley and bearing to sit on the main tension side of the belt between crank and cam!

Thoughts?

Shooting in the dark here but you don't have a 16v belt when you should have an 8v belt or something like that do you? I know that the 16v VW Golfs had broader timing belts than the 8v ones and it could be similar on the 944.


Oli.

The new Gates belt gives the correct porsche part number as compatibility. It was also the same width as the one I took off, not that I think that means much on this car!

The belt width wouldn't really affect it though, it's the position of the belt as run from the cam to crank pulleys... I was wondering if maybe the idler is supposed to work more like the balance belt idler where it stops the belt oscillating too much but doesn't actually touch the belt with the engine stationary.

How old is the pump old style not fitted after 1986
32mm for old style and the 46 for the later pump
All the part numbers are on clarks site
Hope this helps
Brian