99.5 2.0 Golf Build

bgsnyder

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
TDI
99.5 Golf & 2005 Passat
Any idea how the back cover could have broke? Once the tensioner is tightened it shouldn't be able to move, even without the notch in the rear cover, right?
 

JFettig

Vendor
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Location
Blaine, MN
TDI
B5 Passat, 2010 Jetta
You're correct, the back cover should not have broken - nor should that have been the cause of the failure if it was originally tensioned correctly.

Where is the tab now? Where it should be or somewhere else?
 

bgsnyder

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
TDI
99.5 Golf & 2005 Passat
Well I checked the nut on the tensioner and it was still tight. So I'm even more stumped at what broke that cover. It seems like the belt was rubbing on something until it stretched enough to hop teeth.
 

ATR

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Location
Baltimore
TDI
2011 Golf TDI 6MT
I'm very curious to see what may have caused this to happen. Did it skip timing enough to damage the engine?
 

bgsnyder

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Location
Cedar Rapids, IA
TDI
99.5 Golf & 2005 Passat
After a year of sitting I finally decided to check and see what happened. Looks like the bolt holding the lower idler broke. :(


 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
absolutely heart-breaking!! all that great work and gets spoiled by stupid design. really, what engineer in his right mind says yes... let us carry a dynamic load through a bolt that is TTY and also removed with relative frequency. The block should have a spindle cast into it that carries the load, and a bolt should only hold the bearing tight to the spindle. The same way the engine shouldn't hang off bolts either, esp not bolts threaded into aluminum.

I hope your engine is ok and you can get the car back together, actually enjoy it a little while.
 
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