help!!!! 9A cambelt change.

[Purplebaghera 0]

Hi. Guys. I am in the process of changing my camelt, all went fine untill I tried to rotate the engine on the crank pulley after fitting the new belt to make sure the timing marks still lined up. well the crank pulley still turns but the camshaft pulley wont. any ideas what I have screwed up and how I can get this sorted. any info apprieciated, this is the only job i've never attempted on a car as I always knew it would go wrong, somehow :( Cheers Vince.

[volksworld13 0]

this is a good one. obviously i dont know how competant you are about mechanics,? so first things first talk me through what you have done so far! is the belt taught, is the tensioner tight. im struggling to see how this has occured.

[volksworld13 0]

ive got it, i think you may of snapped the wundruft key off on the cranck shaft and the pulley is spinning but the crankshaft is not just the pulley turning on the crank,take the belt off, and can you spin the crank pulley with your hand?

[Purplebaghera 0]

Hi Volksworld13. I am a mechanical engineer by trade, so should know a bit :) I followed the Passat bentley manual, lined up the crank pulley with the timing mark on the cover and checked it was also lined up with the one on the flywheel,loosened the tensioner and took off the old belt,lined up the timing mark on the cam pulley (this did take a couple of turns to actually find the mark) and it did seem a bit stiff?. Slipped on the new belt whilst checking nothing had moved and then roughly tensioned it, with the twisting method, again checked nothing had moved and then tried to rotate. now s**t scared to even touch it! which is nuts!!!! Vince.

[volksworld13 0]

if you have the timing mark aligned then you dont need to worry, did you tipex the cam and crank pulley?

so you can now turn the crank freely over and the belt will not turn? if this is the case if def seems like the wudruft key has either sheered off, or come out if it has one, i think it has or the bolt which holds the pulley to the crank is loose.

[Purplebaghera 0]

Thanks. Volksworld, I,ll take the belt off again tomorrow and check the pulleys, Is there a way of checking the pistons/ valves are in the right place? maybe taking the sparkplugs out and putting a long screwdriver down to check the piston is in the right place (would piston number one be at the top) not sure about the cams being right, where they should be, even if I took the cover off (which I don't really want to do,unless I really have to). just pooping myself I've got the two in the wrong position somehow :( Vince

[joby 0]

Take number 1 plug out and place a long screwdriver down the cylinder rotate crank pulley (with the belt off) untill you see the TDC marks lign up you should see the screwdriver just inbetween the downward and upward stroke then mark the crank pulley TDC mark with tipex corisponding with the block then check that the cam pulley marks are ligning up (pulley against Head Marks) Then place the belt on caerfully as not to move the marks then rotate from the crank a few times yoy will feel a slight resistance if all is not well! Try doing an audi TT belt absolute knightmare!!! The valver is a doddle.. Good luck

[davidwort 0]

sorry, not being funny but are you not just up against the compression of the engine, my valver has very good compression and is quite a bugger to turn over by hand, you don't need a 3ft strongarm but you do need to swing pretty well on a standard length ratchet.

[Purplebaghera 0]

Thanks Joby, I'll give that a go. Thanks also davidwort, I have much respect for your knowledge :) and you may well be right! and this is what I thought might be happening but wanted to see what your experiances were as I havn't done this before so am unsure what it should feel like. cambelts have had a stigma for me for years and I wanted to do this to put that to sleep!!! Any ways I'll have A VR6 to do soon :) Thanks all again. Hopefully I can let you Know how wimpy I've been when I get another chance to have a go tomorrow:)

[davidwort 0]

don't worry, with a standard ratchet handle you won't bend a valve by hand, you should feel the resistance from the compression and then after a few degrees of turn it will release as the valves open and then tighten again a few degrees further on for the next cylinder with the valves closing.

I'm always paranoid (I once moved a belt years ago and bent four valves on starting lol!) so turn the engine over at least twice by hand after doing the belt ever since! :)

[Supercharged 2]

Turn the cam pulley with a 24mm (I think) spanner...

 

Could also take the plugs out to make it easier

[joby 0]

sorry, not being funny but are you not just up against the compression of the engine, my valver has very good compression and is quite a bugger to turn over by hand, you don't need a 3ft strongarm but you do need to swing pretty well on a standard length ratchet.

 

Wrote that post too early in the morning ha ha, what i meant was you would feel slight resistance if one of the pistons came close to a valve, My valver was really tight to turn over too david especialy after the head rebuild! Doing cambelts is always a nail biter even after youve checked and double checked. When i did my TT i stood and looked at it in total fear for half an hour before i started it up Ha Ha.

[Purplebaghera 0]

Fantastic!!! you guys :) you made me laugh and not think I'm so stupid after all!!! I can still see me having three cups of coffee and maybe a few beers before I get enough guts to start it :)

[stereoflaver 0]

Have you started it then ?

[Purplebaghera 0]

Would you believe it!!!! reset belt,went to torque up the idler pulley nut and the stud sheard off :( . Picking new one up from stealers today!!! Thanks for asking, will let you know :) Vince.

[Supercharged 2]

Would you believe it!!!! reset belt,went to torque up the idler pulley nut and the stud sheard off :( . Picking new one up from stealers today!!! Thanks for asking, will let you know :) Vince.

 

Ah - wait a minute, Autodata / Haynes list the wrong torque setting for this nut plus VW reccomend you change the stud anyway - what were you trying to torque it to?

[Purplebaghera 0]

Hi.supercharged. My Bentley passat manual quotes 45nm. Which does sound a lot???. Vince.

[Supercharged 2]

Yeah the Bentley is wrong too then - it's 25Nm and I think you'll find the stud is M8. It would be 45Nm for an M10 stud.

[davidwort 0]

god, yeah, this has come up lots of times, trouble is VW changed the stud and tensionner on an engine number not engine code IIRC, so the smaller stud and nut is often mistaken for the mk2 golf 1.8 16v one. That's why the manuals are confused, they may well have been correct for the engine info at the time of writing.

[Purplebaghera 0]

Yep. Thats what I just found out. My engine is the later type with 8mm stud, so wants 25nm!! where as my Bentley manual only quotes for the ten at 45nm and doesn't mention anything else!!! ahh well live and learn :) and at least I've got a new stud now!!! Just put belt back on, all tghtened up and the timing marks line up, Hurrah!!!! Have to get aux belts back on now,before the big start-up :) Thanks again for all your help. Vince.