i fitted a cam belt and water pump on my octavia vrs this morning and it was hell!!! i am a mechanic and have changed many belts including v6 s and this was by far the worst. i had to work around the engine mount as i couldnt get it out no matter what angle the engine was at. is it possible to remove mount or is that how everyone changes belt?

I know this isn't a help but blame Audi. ;-)

They seem to have a habit of making things hard on engines, I remember when I was a trainee mechanic and was trying to locate the thermostat on an A8, **** was that hard!

my temp gauge is a bit crazy goin up and down and working when it wants. iv been told on a previos post that its the temp sender. were abouts is this positioned presumably on the stat housing but if someone no s it will save me proving around looking thanks

The mount does not come off and you have to work around it. Temp sender is on the left of the engine (passenger side), it has a 4 wire connection.

You have to remove both engine and gear box mounts and support engine gearbox on two jacks,which allows you to push the engine across to gain access.

Temp sender is inline on a hose above gearbox, flick the clip off when its cold and pull sender out. don't forget to replace seal with sender. 10 minutes work at the most!new ones are green if i remember right

sender is inline on a hose above gearbox, retained by a clip.don't forget to replace seal as well.New senders are green if i remember right. 10 minutes work at the most on a cold engine and only a little fluid loss if you leave cap on.

I have just done my VRS cambelt, as the waterpump went. I can agree that this is a pig of a job. the mount does not come out, no matter what position the engine is in!! It took five hours to do in total, plus a series of cuts to both hands.

I was amazed that the plastic pump impeller was broken into five pieces after only 23,500 miles!!

Regards

Hi folks

I did my water pump/ cambelt last week and i assure you the engine mount does come out! As Krussell points out, the gearbox side engine mount has to be removed and then the engine jacked up at the belt side and pushed over a bit. This allows the mount to be removed from the car completely, allowing much better access to oil-filled tensioner etc. Its worth the extra 10 minutes work to do it this way!!!! Oh and incidently my plastic water pump impellor was coming apart :eek: That was at 55k miles so watch out folks. Now replaced with a brass impellored QH Job

yes i was surprised at the state of water pump. im glad the dealer i got parts from recommended one cause i wouldnt have wanted 2 take belt off again!!! and nigel, took me about 5 hours and hat cuts 2 hand!! so i can sympathize there. wont trust haynes manual again it said mount comes out if you lower engine on the osf. if do one again will do as people have said on here and remove all mounts

I have changed many 20v turbo cam belts and water pumps.

There is a a nack of removing the mounting block, it take two of u to do it mind...

you need the dog bone gearbox mounting off and the engine jacked up.

its tight as a nuns, but it comes out and back in. Needs the right angle tho.

I reckon it would be less time consuming and painful to just take the whole bl00dy lot out and work on the bench..LOL!!!

Regards

This is where the dual temperature sender is located:

Makes you realise that the £250 inc parts to have the belt and pump is a bargain.