serpentine tensioner

I'm posting this question for a friend with an '01 A4 TDI JETTA. He asked me to look at his belt tensioner. I had a quick look last night under the glow of a small flashlight, so I couldn't see much......!

It appears that this style of tensioner has a piston type damper built into it??(I think that's what I saw) I have an A3 TDI, so this is new to me. Anyways, the reason he asked me to look at it was that the boot covering the piston has come loose and there appears to be some seepage of fluid from the damper. I believe he discovered this by chance while checking some items under the hood, and not because he noticed a problem with his car.
Anyways, I guess what I am asking is....Is there anything special to know about replacing this part, would it be difficult, or would it be similar to replacing an A3 style tensioner? I have not worked on an A4 before, however, I have done water pump/alt/belts etc on my A3.....but a backyard mechanic wannabe at best. My friend doesn't work on his car...he takes it to a dealer, but after the last time he had it in for service and they charged him $12 labor to replace a tail light he didn't know was burned out, he calls me about a problem first!!

......and then I ask you...............

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jamie

It is really easy to change it. There are instructions and some helpful pictures here.

Basically, of course, you are going to remove the serp belt.
Then there is 3 13mm bolts that hold the tensioner part. You will need a mirror to see where they are located. You look from them from the top. All 3 bolts are close to each other. Once you remove them, the part comes out easily. Reverse to install.

The serpentine tensioner part is under $100. You have to replace the whole thing.

1) click search
2) click advanced search
3) type tensioner in subject field, and mogolf in author field
4) enjoy your reading

Look here

-Jason

compu_85 said:

Look here

-Jason

Click to expand...

Awwww man, I was doing a life lesson for the newbie! I actually pulled that up with a search to confirm it was still there.

Well, in all fairness, I thought I had added that to my entry in the HOW TOS thread... but I hadn't. It's there now