Timing Chain Tensioner seal leaking?

A friend owns a 2002 Beetle 2.0 Turbo 5-speed, and was informed by a VW dealer that the Timing Chain Tensioner seal needs replace because it was leaking. Are they referring to the sealed bearing that is leaking grease or to a seal to the motor that is leaking. They also recommended spark plug replacement, (they were changed by same dealer 3 years ago, plugs have ~33K miles on them) vehicle has 83K on it and runs fine.

Bzzzt ... No timing chain on that engine. It uses a timing BELT.

Perhaps there is a leak somewhere ... but the terminology that they are using is wrong.

Since there is no such thing as a 2002 Beetle with a 2.0L and a turbo, I will assume you mean the 1.8t engine... and it sounds like your chain tensioner is indeed leaking oil (very common).

BTW, that engine has TWO chains, the 2.0L only has one chain, the oil pump chain, and that would be impossible to leak oil as it is inside the crankcase area anyways.

EDIT: since your friend is in STL, he/she should really just come here and avoid getting aboard the dealer's Failtrain in the first place, as most of that route ends here anyways.

I was going to say, I never heard of a 2.0T in that year...

Hah, I didn't pick up on the "turbo" word. Still, the 1.8T's used a timing belt.

There are chains inside the engine. I'm not sure but I think there is a small chain that transfers the action from one camshaft to the other, maybe that's the one they are talking about.

yeah those seals are very common leak points. That seal/gasket is located under the tensioner for the little chain that goes from one cam to the other.. Same with the Passat 2.8 and 3.0, and the 2.7TT (they have one on each head).. I've been pulling a number of 2.7T Audis apart recently due to those leaking.. Almost every single one that comes in here over the past few months have been leaking..

And the tensioner shoes wear down, too. Sometimes so far that the actual phenolic covering has cracked away and the chain is slappin' around directly on the inner metal part, blowing metal chunks into the oil ... a nice feature.

It is these engines that make me bat-poop crazy when I hear people say they'd rather have a chain than a belt. Sorry folks, but Volkswagen cannot make good chain drives. They just can't. Apperently all the good engineers in Germany that work on that sort of thing are busy at MB and BMW.

I just had to do both tensioners on an 88k mile ATQ V6... both WIPED OUT, not to mention oil barfing all over... the belt that had to come off to do the job? Yeah, that looked fine, and would have easily made it to the recommended 105k mile interval.

oilhammer said:

Since there is no such thing as a 2002 Beetle with a 2.0L and a turbo, I will assume you mean the 1.8t engine... and it sounds like your chain tensioner is indeed leaking oil (very common).

BTW, that engine has TWO chains, the 2.0L only has one chain, the oil pump chain, and that would be impossible to leak oil as it is inside the crankcase area anyways.

EDIT: since your friend is in STL, he/she should really just come here and avoid getting aboard the dealer's Failtrain in the first place, as most of that route ends here anyways.

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Thanks for info Brian. This particular vehicle was at a stealership for serice of another nature, and they recommended doing 90K Service at 83K, which involved air filter and plugs and the above mentioned seal. The car is running fine, alas, I changed out the air filter as it was reinstalled incorrectly (folded foam seal at corner allowing bypass) and recommended that she make an appointment at Cardoc for 90K Service when due.

The 90k service is an oil change and a tire rotation. Plugs and filters would be done at 80k. I'd not trust the dealers to understand a Volkswagen's PM schedule, though. That would be asking for a lot.

MyWifesTDI said:

Thanks for info Brian. This particular vehicle was at a stealership for serice of another nature, and they recommended doing 90K Service at 83K, which involved air filter and plugs and the above mentioned seal. The car is running fine, alas, I changed out the air filter as it was reinstalled incorrectly (folded foam seal at corner allowing bypass) and recommended that she make an appointment at Cardoc for 90K Service when due.

Click to expand...

Then another Volkswagen will be properly repaired!