I am a recently new owner of a 84 944, I gave the car a tune up this weekend and repalced all the hoses and belts...while changing the belts I noticed that the upper turnbuckle was broken...split right where the eyebolt meets the cylinder. The only thing holding the turnbuckle together was the pressure from the altenator and the AC compressor...yeah not good one good bump good have sent both crashing inwards!! I found a replacement from an old junker at a yard (with some other cosmetic upgrades) and fix the issue...my question is does the turnbuckle break often? It is one of the easiest and best belt tention systems I have ever encountered but if broken could cause some hefty damage. Will I have to replace this again or was the issue due to previous owner not losening the eyebolts before trying to release tention therefore breaking the piece? Anyone have this problem? Sorry for the long post...thanks for any responses...

 

You nailed it. It should hold up fine for the life of the car, unless ErnieBob tried to adjust it with Channel Locks without releasing teh tension. Pretty much every 944 I have ever come across had that problem with either the power steering or ac adjustor (and occasionally both).

Regards,