zoglet

Weekend's work: Removed old belt, checked tensioner looked and spun ok. Put on new belt, started engine, lots of smoke and rubber smells. Switch off, look again to find tensioner couldn't deal with new belt and failed, wrecking new belt. Mad run down to GSF for 2nd belt and new tensioner, fitted and worked a dream. Second time round, fitting took around 10minutes, replacing bit of plastic underneath about an hour! Cheers for your help guys, would've been lost without your collective help. 8)

Aha!!!! It's all so painfully clear to me now, I didn't realise that top bit was part of the tensioner as well. Thank a million all, I wouldn't have had a scooby without ya. I'll be on it this weekend. And thanks craigowl for the pointer to the the Bentley manual, think this is a definite investment. :salute: I've just come back from GSF with a replacement belt, VW said it would take until next week to get and I can't wait another week to fix. GSF also had the tensioner in stock. I took a closer look at this and see what you mean about the M8 bolt. I took another look at the one on my car and could see that the tensioner had closed right up, ie no gap between the main body and the bit the bolt would push against. No guarantees (let you know next week) but I'd say it's a safe bet that if you can see an opening where the tensioner bolt pushes against then you've got a bproblem with the bearing, if like in my case the tensioner is completely shut, it's a safe bet that the belt has stretched to a point it needs replacing. Not sure about this of course but I thought I'd add my tuppeny's worth to the whole fault finding process. Saves you spending £70 just in case. Thank again everyone

Thanks again supercharged, much appreciated. This might cause problems then as it looks like a real trauma to get at. I'll have to bite my lip and have a closer look over the weekend as it looks completely inaccesible to me from the engine bay. re workshop manuals, do you know of any for the vr6? Would be a godsend as a reference.

Thanks mate. A final (I hope) question. I've taken a closer look at the belt arrangement and I don't see anything obviously plastic (braces for impact of abuse and groans). I'm looking down at the belt and wheels from the drivers side of the car. It looks to me like the only wheel that fits your description and is in an way accessible without major tears is the one at the very bottom. All the others look like the chassis frame is in the way. I assume the main wheel sits on this plastic bearing. Am I right? I've attached a pic, looking down at the belt. Am I right in assuming the adjuster is the one at the bottom, partially obscured by that brightly lit tab? It looks like I have to remove some panelling to get at it. Am I right? I'm sorry to be asking the more basic questions but it's the first time I've attempted anything on this car so I'd rather get it right first time than spend half the day trying to get at it from the wrong side, if you know what I mean. Again, thanks a million

Cheers guys You say it's a self adjusting tensioner but the belt seems really slack to me. Am I assuming correctly then that the belts stretched as far is it should and it's time to replace? You also say I should check the tensioner and bearing. Is this as easy to get at and deal with? Again sorry if I'm stating the obvious but I want to know what I'm getting myself into before I start taking bits off. Thanks :)

Hi all, Sorry if this is a bit of a numpty question. In two parts: First part: I'm pretty certain I need a new alternator belt as I'm getting horrid alternator belt noises and the current one is horribly loose. If I'm gonna retension, I guess I may as well replace. GSF sell for 9.95. Can't bear the noise any more and can't get it looked at so gonna try doing myself over the weekend. Question: Is it a lot less trouble to retension than replace? Sometimes retensioning is about loosening one nut and rejiggling alternator whereas replacing involves removal of lots of bits. Anyone who's done either, I'd appreciate a rough estimate on how long either job would take cos I'm f****d if I'm gonna be outside for more than a couple of hours if it's as cold as this over the weekend :) Second part: Following on from first really. Is there a service manual I can get for a VR6 Corrado? There's no Haynes manual sadly and although I'm not totally incompetent with a socket set, I'm not brave enough to attempt anything without some guidance. Many years of tears as a teenager with Beetles taught me that you can often make a job a lot longer and more expensive if you attempt something the long way round. Cheers All

Just to let y'all know I went to Stealth this weekend and it was worth the wait. A bunch of really talented, genuine people. No egos, no fussiness, they were happy to have us mill around and spent time to tell us what they were doing. Car feels great again and I'm taking it back in a couple of weeks for a few more items. Half the work I was quoted by VW was unecessary as expected. Other work previously done was with the wrong parts. A relief to find places like this still exist. My C has found it's new home and it won't be stopping in Bicester on the way back, even for petrol. Thanks to Stealth for the work and the welcome and the forum for the recommendation. :multi: :multi: :multi:

Cheers. Yeah, spent out a fair bit already this year, hence annoyed to find much of the work potentially sub-standard. Very disappointed as never had reason to fault em before. Heard good thing about Stealth for some time though. It looks like it all might work out well actually. I'm heading up north diving at the end of this month and one of the guys I'll be diving with lives in Stoke. Plan is to drop car off and leave with them over the weekend, picking it up on the Monday. Gonna be an expensive weekend :? Cheers again for the tips, btw used to spend a lot of time in Woodbridge a few (6-7) years back, nice part of the world, never saw any Cs around at the time, only mine.

Hey Supercharged, your assumption is correct. Wouldn't go back to them. A two day job took three weeks and then they claimed to do work they didn't to recoup the cost. Some of the other work they did was picked up by VW at the last service as having to be done again. A veritable shower of sh*t for around £1500. Stealth were going to be my suggestion as well but unfortunately, I can't take my car there and leave it with them and pick up later without taking two days off work. As I currently commute every day, this also get's complicated. I might ring them all the same, perhaps I have a cunning plan forming, as I have to go past Stoke at the end of this month. Cheers guys for the advice, I assume these were my options, THere's also G-Werks or summat on the south coast, but none are easy to get to's. Symptoms are clanky boinky noises from front end on turning,bumps, slow full lock parking. Took car back to VW who say it's front wishbone movement but funnily enough the noises only started after the car went in for it's 80k service and they tightened up the excessive play. They now reckon it's loosening off and needs a new wishbone. I reckon I'll ask Stealth to check it out.

Hi guys Quick question for y'all Had my C for about 6 years now, M reg VR6 with 84k on the clock, keeping toying with the idea of selling, keep losing the battle :) Main reason for this is because I find it increasingly hard to find someone I feel I can trust and respect to do a half decent job when working on it. Used to go to a small well known tuner for many years, found them going downhill as they got bigger and bigger and got royally mucked around and shafted by them last time I went there so went back to VW. Car just been to a nearby VW garage for it's 80k service and came out driving worse than when it went in. Their advice, "bring it back in and we'll take a look" suggesting that some more work will be required. I'm now trying to find somewhere nearby with a good reputation for tuning Cs and not messing people about. I live in Hemel Hempstead, M1 J8. Any advice?