Timing belt change - fitting engine support bracket.

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Hi everyone.

 

I have recently changed the timing belt, water pump and associated pullys and bolts, etc. on a 2012 Yeti with 2.0 tdi engine.

 

Approaching the hopefully successful completion of this job, yesterday I fitted the engine support plate, as shown in the photo. This bolts up to the iron engine block ( rear and lower bolts ) and to an aluminium housing ( front bolt ).

 

All the bolts are 8 mm diameter and have a fair length of thread engagement ( 3 to 4 cm ). The factory manual tightening instructions are ( in sequence, rear bolt first, then lower bolt, then front bolt ) 40 Nm, followed by a further 180 degrees.

 

There is also a warning in the manual that unless the sequence and full tightening to specs. is done, the engine support bracket will be stressed and may fracture. 

 

I followed the above instructions ( very time-consuming to do carefully ! ) but what perplexes me is that many Youtube videos show people tightening these bolts ( and others ), by hand i.e. estimating how tight they should be.

 

Given the specific warning in the manual, I wonder if there are failures that occur when these procedures are not followed, or whether the manual''s method is over-kill.

 

I know we probably can't link a failure ( e.g. broken engine support plate ) to not following the manual's instructions, but my question of any folks who may have done a timing belt change on a Yeti, is how did you choose to tighten the engine support plate bolts ?

 

Are others out there strictly following the manual ( like I did ) ?