I have a Superb 1.9 tdi 130 which has done 120K.

I'm in the process of getting all the parts together for a cam belt change. The engine is running perfectly it almost seems a shame to start fiddling about with it but the belt was last changed at 56.5K so its a little overdue now.

On the Eurocarparts web site I have a choice of belts, I think I will get the Contitech belts as that is what is on now (I can see the writing on the present belt) and i've heard good reports on them.

My problem is do I get the kit with the tensioner pulley damper or just the standard kit?

Cheers

Tugman

The early PD engines had a tensioner with a hydraulic damper and the later engines had a Litens tensioner with a friction damper.

If you remove the upper cambelt cover the hydraulic cylinder is clearly visible to the lower left of the tensioner wheel on the earlier engines. I think the ECP website gives the engine numbers at which the change occurred if you click on the "info" section.

I changed my '05 AWX cambelt using Conti kit CT 1028 K3, ECP part no. 348 77 0765. This is the later design with the friction damper.

Apart from the idiot design involving pulling the front which is stupidly time consuming, changing a belt on the AWX is dead easy if you have the locking tools. Make sure you tension the belt with the camshaft wheel free to turn (hub locked). With the engine locked, the camwheel bolts need to be positioned in the slots, although on my engine they ended up near to one end. On a cold engine with no locked in torque, the tensioner pointer needs to be in the centre of the slot.

Watch the torque setting for the tensioner nut (15 AF). I believe the recommended torque/angle risks pulling the stud out of the head or over stretching it so judgement may be wise, but it's your choice. I tightened it to 20 Nm + 20 degrees.

Change the water pump whilst you're in there - it involves very little extra work. The KWP pumps from ECP have metal impellers.

rotodiesel.

Edited 17 August, 201015 yr by rotodiesel

Hi,

All the tackle has arrive from Eurocarparts ok although the water pump has a plastic impeller and not a metal one as the chap at ECO thought. Still I'm not too bothered about that.

But I am puzzled by the little key/pin that came with the timing belt. The Ikea style picture instructions don't realy shed any light on it. It looks to go in a small hole on the face of the tensioner but i'm not sure why.

I bet it would become obvious when I start to change the belt but I like to everything sorted in my head before I embark on something like this.

Cheers

Tugman

The key function is not obvious. It does go in the little hole in the tensioner and should be in position when you fit it. The instructions are worse than useless.

The purpose of the key is to bring the tensioner into the fully retracted position for belt fitting. This is done as follows:

Fit the tensioner to its stud, making absolutely sure that the metal tang is in its slot. Fit the nut and tighten finger tight. With the key in the tensioner, use a hex wrench or the VAG peg tool (Litens tensioners will take either) and turn the tensioner in the direction of the arrow until the pointer is just to the right of the backplate - well beyond the notch. Tighten the 15 AF nut to keep the tensioner retracted whilst you fit the belt.

With the belt fitted, retract the tensioner gently and remove the pin, then turn the tensioner in the direction of the arrow until the pointer is in the centre of the notch. This sets the belt tension. Don't mix up the two M8 nuts in the kit - the smaller 13 AF nut is for the little roller. Take note of my warning above concerning the tightening torque for the tensioner nut. The figure given for the roller is OK.

rotodiesel.

Hi,

I'm almost ready to have a go at the cam belt now. I had a dummy run today as I needed to know if the non working horn(low note) was not working cos IT was faulty or the wiring was faulty. turned out to be the horn. so I need to get a new horn to replace the old one when I do the cam belt.

While I had the bumper off I found I needed a bigger torx bit than I have in my tool box to remove the bolts of the lock carrier assembly in order to move it forward to the service position. I think I need a t45 bit.

In the Haynes manual for the Passat it says use a length of threaded rod to support the assembly but it fails to mention what thread size it is. Can anyone help with that?

While I was under the bonnet I took the battery out to unbung the drain hole in the Plenum. We had some rain and water was getting into the car again. The drain hole is quite big and was very easily cleared. Has anyone tryed to clear it from underneath the car?

I Managed to break the plasic thing that goes under the windcreen though when I was refiting it. I wonder how much a nw one of those is?

Cheers

Tugman

It's much better to use long bolts rather than studding to support the front - the bolt heads stop the front falling off.

They are M8, standard pitch and long bolts are available from B&Q. The bolts I bought were 4.25" long and were setbolts (threaded up to the head) but this is not essential. Bolts longer than this would bend under the weight of the front panel. When you pull the front with the bolts in position, put a block of wood where the snub mount goes - this keeps the front nicely out of the way and increases the working space.

Take the plenum bungs right out. The one under the servo must be pushed down about 1" as there is a pipe running through it. The pollen filter housing outer seal must be replaced - I used the VAG specified mastic strip which is a perfect fit in the recess. This must be the crappiest piece of design in the Western World.

The windscreen trim is about £13 - the mobile windscreen fitter managed to break mine (he paid). VW dealers have them in stock but quote the part number accurately as some were made in grey plastic for other clones. Remove the circlips and oil the wiper shafts whilst you're in there - they rust.

You need a good set of tools to change a cambelt - dear old VAG use about 4 different heads per size of bolt. One essential is a good 6AF Hex driver - needed to get the crankshaft aux drive pulleys off. Use a really good quality 1/2" drive bit, square on and tapped fully into the bolt head recesses, which are soft. The best way to hold the crank whilst you undo them is to get a helper to lock the flywheel with a big screwdriver in the ring gear teeth - accessible through the inspection hole under the coolant reservoir.

One final tip. Make absolutely sure you can shift the long bolt (8AF hex driver) which goes through the rear of the fan bearing before you start the job. It's tight, and holding the fan drum is not that easy unless you have the 2 peg holding tool. The bolt has a right hand thread. If you can't get the fan off, you can't do the job.

rotodiesel.

Edited 16 September, 201015 yr by rotodiesel

It's much better to use long bolts rather than studding to support the front - the bolt heads stop the front falling off.

They are M8, standard pitch and long bolts are available from B&Q. The bolts I bought were 4.25" long and were setbolts (threaded up to the head) but this is not essential. Bolts longer than this would bend under the weight of the front panel. When you pull the front with the bolts in position, put a block of wood where the snub mount goes - this keeps the front nicely out of the way and increases the working space.

Take the plenum bungs right out. The one under the servo must be pushed down about 1" as there is a pipe running through it. The pollen filter housing outer seal must be replaced - I used the VAG specified mastic strip which is a perfect fit in the recess. This must be the crappiest piece of design in the Western World.

The windscreen trim is about £13 - the mobile windscreen fitter managed to break mine (he paid). VW dealers have them in stock but quote the part number accurately as some were made in grey plastic for other clones. Remove the circlips and oil the wiper shafts whilst you're in there - they rust.

You need a good set of tools to change a cambelt - dear old VAG use about 4 different heads per size of bolt. One essential is a good 6AF Hex driver - needed to get the crankshaft aux drive pulleys off. Use a really good quality 1/2" drive bit, square on and tapped fully into the bolt head recesses, which are soft. The best way to hold the crank whilst you undo them is to get a helper to lock the flywheel with a big screwdriver in the ring gear teeth - accessible through the inspection hole under the coolant reservoir.

One final tip. Make absolutely sure you can shift the long bolt (8AF hex driver) which goes through the rear of the fan bearing before you start the job. It's tight, and holding the fan drum is not that easy unless you have the 2 peg holding tool. The bolt has a right hand thread. If you can't get the fan off, you can't do the job.

rotodiesel.

Hi Rotodiesel,

On this final point you make about the long bolt on the fan, are you takling about the viscous coupled fan? When I was looking at it today I thought I could maybe get away without removing it. but thanks for reminding me about it.

The one thing I dread is getting the car into bits and finding I haven't got the right tool for the job. I think I have a 8AF hex but I will check tomorrow.

Thanks for your help, I will let you know how I get on. Now I need a fine day to do it.

Cheers

Tugman

The bolt holds the viscous coupling and fan assembly to the bearing which is pressed into the bracket. It enters the bracket from the rear, passing through the bearing and there is a hole in the bracket web to allow access - it's just large enough to take the socket.

The fan assembly has to come off to do the job and I suggest you get this bolt out whilst the car is fully assembled (then put it back again if you're not going to do the job just yet). Holding the fan drum is the problem - I made a peg wrench like the VAG tool.

Best of luck - you need a fine day. I did mine in Feb which was not ideal, but that was when a helper was available. Go to the bank and scrounge some coin bags. You will generate so many odd bits doing this job that segregating and labelling the fixings is a good idea.

You don't want your Superb to look as though it's been to a dealer...

When you put the front back on, get a helper to align the panel so that the marks of all the fixing screws' washers all line up. If you do this, the bonnet catch, panel gaps and headlight alignment will be correct. Mine was spot on when I'd finished - Skoda Cz had assembled it accurately in the first place.

Best of luck - go carefully and methodically with the right tools - it's not at all a difficult job, just tedious due to stupid design. What were they thinking about?

rotodiesel.