When I bought this Vanagon new, it had two belts on it, and I
always replaced them as a pair.  Then the alternator belt broke
in Aachen, Germany in '94.  I made it to a VW dealer and they put
on the single belt.  When I questioned this, the service manager
said it was the way they did it now as the "modern" belts were
more reliable than the old ones.  He showed me two diesel
Vanagons they had in the shop at the time and they both had the
single belt.  I've put about 40k on it with one belt with no
problems.

Joe in Albuquerque

           ********* REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 05/16/2002 at 6:24 AM Michael Snow wrote:
>The diesel Vanagon pulleys are not in the same plane.  Two belts
are
>required.  At least some diesel cars (like my Golf) have a
single belt,
>but they also drive the water pump at much lower RPM.  I would
seriously
>question whether you could reliably turn the Vanagon water pump
with the
>minimal belt to pulley contact provided by the single belt setup
used on
>diesel cars.
>
>Mike Snow

 05/16/2002