Has anyone ever broken one and NOt bent any valves?I knowIT ISpossible to break one and not bend valves, but has anyone that owns a 944 ever gotten away with just doing the belts? I figure while I got it apart I will do both belts too. Well any input would be great! I'm going to start tearing into it Monday. Later!

 

Nope. If you broke the belt, you bent valves. How many, you won't know until you pull the head.

 

Doc, are there any warning signs to look for? Or is just regular maintenance the only way to protect from breaking the belt?

 

Do the belts every 30k and you won't have problems unless the belt is old.
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Like willard said, replace the belt every 30k miles or 4 years whichever comes first (and retension at after the first 1500 miles, then 15k miles), and you don't have a problem. I don't go over 15k/3 years on a belt, but I am always in the motor changing things, lol. The belts are too easy to change to not swap them out every few years.

 

Is the tensioning toolabsolutely necessary? Is there a lower cost method?

 

I use the 90 degree twist method, but I wouldn't recommend it until you know what a properly tensioned belt feels like. There is the kricket tool available from Napa

 

I am thinking about doing this weekend while the alternator is being replaced, if I ask for a kricket will theyknow what I mean or will I get a crazy look? When I bought the car the previous owner said it had less than 10k on the belt but then again, I had to fix the odometer gear! Not to steal the thread, but, is the plastic cover with the vent on the back of thealternator necessary?

 

I haven't had my vent on for years, but I run AC delete, so the alternator is mounted down lower where it gets a little better airflow. There should be an air tube going to that duct to funnel in cold air. I don't know that I have heard of any premature alternator failures because that vent wasn't installed.