Fan belts 95 940

It is no more critical than the alternator and drives both of the critical, fluid-based components. If you feel that the water pump merits it's own belt drive, then you should change to a diesel version of your car, in which the water pump is driven from the cambelt. Do you have an owner's handbook for your car? In it you will find most of the interesting details.

Cheers, Peter.

The need for two belts driving an accessory is to do with how much stress that accessory puts on the belt. The thing that is capable of putting most load on a belt is the alternator when you are running with high-load electrics turned on, which is why you will sometimes see two belts driving this. The water and steering pumps or the AC compressor are comparatively light loads and really don't put that much stress on a belt.

If your concern is about the risk of a belt breaking, the belts should be checked for wear, damage and tension at each 12k mile service. A broken belt is a rare thing these days, but as they have to be removed when the cam belt is routinely changed it makes sense to change the accessory belts as well.

How they're routed on your car is how they came from the factory. However, I've seen a couple of cars where the middle belt has been exchanged for a longer one that also goes around the second water pump pulley groove. I have no idea how much longer this belt needs to be, but if you're worried about it, you may want to look into this for peace of mind.