How to change cam belt.

[Gman 0]

Corrado 1.8 16V

 

The head gasket on my car went last week and I am due for a cam belt change anyway but what I would like to know what is involved in changing the cam belt. Is there a way to lock the head pulley and the crank pulley in place before removing the belt? How do I go about it? Also which pulleys on the bottom of the engine do I need to remove?

 

When I refit it all, how do I know what tension the belt should be at?

 

Please could some one help me with this ASAP? This is my only transport and so I really need to get it back on the road by Monday. I have bought all the consumables that I need such as head bolts gasket set new belt and tensioner. Now all I need to know is how to remove it and re fit it.

 

Cheers

G

[2_Door_fun 0]

Was about to offer help then, I see you have a 16v best leave it to those that have em.

 

The pulleys are hard to move once you reach TDC, So once inlign it should be ok to do.

 

Always fit a belt from bottom up. No belt teeth not fitting anywhere that way.

[Gman 0]

Please. I am getting Desperate here.

[bcstudent 0]

There shouldn't be a need to lock any of the pulleys. Make sure all the timing marks are lined up before you remove the bottom pulley and the belt itself and make sure they all line up again at the end. There are timing marks on the flywheel, crankshaft pulley and two on the camshaft pulley (one outside that lines up with a mark on the valve cover and one inside that lines up horizontally with the edge of the cylinder head).

 

To get at the timing belt and the tensioner you're going to have to remove at least: the alternator belt, power steering belt, water pump pulley, crankshaft V-belt pulleys and the timing belt cover. A lot of this will already be off if you're changing the head gasket at the same time I guess. When you re-tension the new timing belt it should only just be possible to twist it through 90 degrees. It'll whine like a **** if it's over tensioned and cause premature wear of the new tensioner.

 

To be brutally honest, if you have to ask questions about someting so critical to the life of your engine it may not be the best job to attack yourself.

 

Best of luck.

[Gman 0]

Cheers.

 

I have no doubt in my ability to do the job, the only worrie i have is that if i miss something when takeing it all off that it will become an even bigger job to get it all back together. That is a risk that i would like to avoid. I am working away from home and so i dont have all my tools such as timing light etc with me. Hopefully i will have the head off tomorrow. I just hope it has not warped.

 

Cheers for the assistance. Will be of great use tomorrow.

[bcstudent 0]

I'd just like to make it clear that I wasn't intending to be patronising in any way. In my experience head gasket and cam belt changes aren't the enormous job some people imagine them to be and I'm not questioning your ability. Trying to do the job without a decent range of tools may cause problems. You have my sympathy.

[blue95 0]

I thought when refitting the head it required skimming before being ffitted?

 

I would way up the cost of getting it done professionally and a DIY job - last thing you want to do is stuff the engine.

 

If it needs a head gasked the garage will have to take the belts off anyway.

[Rob_B 0]

surely if you knew what you were doing then you wouldnt need to ask about locking the crank in place as you would just set the engine up for TDC before refitting the head?

[Gman 0]

Rite well on some engines you can lock both the bottem end and top end in place so you dont have to phaf around with timing marks.

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

one word.....Tipp-ex :wink:

[RapidVII 0]

Hi all, im another newbie so we all have to start somwhere !

 

Just reading the posts about the cylinder head and cam belt issue, I think I should say that ive done quite a few head jobs on the KR engines, and in my honest opinion is, if you've never done a cylinder head rebuild before, the KR engine isn't the best one to start on. The 8v PB unit is alot simpler for the 1st timer.

 

If the gasket has gone, measure up the face of the head to see if it wants skimming first, if it does, remove the inlets, because they need to be removed for the re-face.

 

Also remove the exhaust's, as its stupid NOT to fit 16 new valve stem's for the price of them.

 

Its a time consuming job lapping the valves back in, but you will benefit from doing so, as the car will probably run better than it ever has done by doing so.

 

You can either buy new tappets ( 3 quid each from GSF ) 16 of them, or if there not too noisy use the old ones, before re-fitting them, warm them up and work them in the vice ( I protect them with some hard plastic )

 

Make sure when you re-fit the tappets, along with the cams, use plenty of light machine oil for lubrication, its crazy not to do so.

 

Use your common sense on whether or not to change the chain ( how many miles as the engine done ) again - for the price of it, its foolish not to buy a new one.

 

Also, buy a new set of head bolts even though VW dont recommend you need to. Whilst the head is removed, use an old head bolt and work the block holes, just to make sure its not going to hydrolic on you when you fit the head. ( As liquid CANNOT compress if theres excess oil in the gallery )

 

If there's tippex or painted markings on the pulleys etc, my advice is dont follow them, rub it all of and do the job right. as you never know which monkey has timed it up before, set TDC and valve timing up right, then you know its right.

 

Before you fit the head, get the pistons to TDC ( 1 and 4 at its maximum top dead centre ) remove the plastic cover on the bell housing, and you'll see the flywheel. Get a strong flat headed screwdriver and rock the teeth too and frow, until you see a circle with a line at the top of it ( like the letter O with an I positioned at 12pm on the O ), when you see that, ( which is the TDC mark ) get a sharp coloured crayon and lightly shade the mark, 1 because its dark down there, and 2 because sometimes there's another mark on the flywheel, and it saves confusion.

 

Make sure that the O with the I mark is smack in the centre of the inspection hole, then that is TDC.

 

When you have this lined up, get under the car, and on the bell housing you'll find a flywheel inspection cover that is secured with 2 or 3 10mm bolts, remove this and draw a vertical line from the bell housing to the flywheel, this helps to make sure you have TDC after 720 degree's. And also, the slightest movement of the crank will shift the marks.

 

DO NOT bolt the head down with the pistons set at TDC. Rock the crank 45 degrees, or until ALL the pistons are in a vertical line with each other in the cylinders. THEN FIT the head.

 

When you re-fit the cams, you'll find each cam has a O mark on the sprockets, they need to be lined up otherwise the timing will be out. Make sure though, that before the belt goes on that the cams do two full turns and line up PERFECTLY, other wise it will be at least a tooth out ( no half a tooth because its a chain, not a belt ) This can be a tricky job, as when you bolt the cams down, the valves open and shut slightly, and throws the timing out, sometimes you'll get it first time, and other times it can take forever !

 

After you've torqued the head down, ( set at TDC ) rock the crank to TDC and check your markings ( the one you marked on the flywheel when you removed the inspection plate is the most accurate )

 

If your unsure on how to make sure you have the camshaft at TDC with looking at the cams, grab your valve cover and tempory fit it, and the 2 corresponding marks should line up - one on the Camshaft sprocket and one on the valve cover.

 

Before you drop the belt on, remove the tensioner and inspect it for signs of wear, eg, spin it for worn bearing noises, and feel it for excess play, again, if in any doubt, change it.

 

Once the belts on, tension the belt at TDC, and to check its tension, find the centre of the belt when its at its longest, and it should twist no more than half a turn.

 

Turn the crank 2 full revolutions of its cycle ( 720 degree's ), and check the timing marks, the marks on the Camshaft pulley, Valve cover, Inspection cover and inspection plate underneath should all line up perfectly.

 

If it doesnt, DO NOT try and start the engine, take off the belt, re-set TDC and re-fit until you get this right.

 

When everything is right ( 720 degrees or two full revolutions ) re-check and adjust the belt tension if required. ( on start-up, if the belts to tight it will whine )

 

Then comes to tedious job of building the rest of the stuff back together.

 

My advice is, if you havent done a head job or timing belt before, and dont have the correct tools, pay someone who can do the job.

 

It will save you time, anger and most importantly, money to be honest.

 

Cheers and good luck !

 

R7

[bcstudent 0]

That's a lot of information for a first post mate, most people just say 'hi' :)

 

Welcome to the forum.

[tim20vt 0]

i personaly would set at tdc then mark the belt and pullys with white paint so theres a mark on each pully and over to the belt,i then mark the same paint blobs on the same teeth on the new belt,so then u make sure uv been given the right belt and it cant be wrong if every tooth on the new belt goes in the same place as the old one,thats what i do i find it easyer :D

 

and ul need the tensioner tool or u can stick two short 3mm allen keys in the holes then put sumthing across them to tension it up.