eugene89us
Veteran Member
I finally found an opportunity, a 3-day weekend, to tackle timing belt and associated jobs this weekend. Hope everyone's Independence Day is going great! Wanted to share my experience replacing timing belt (including 3 rollers, water pump, tensioner). Initially, I also wanted to replace camshaft seal, since that tends to leak - and you're basically there while doing timing belt. Well, as I tried to tackle that job last weekend, I realized by looking at the timing belt housing that my crankshaft seal was sweating/leaking too, causing a week delay in order for me to order additional parts and tools.
I used all VW tools from vw.snapon.com for seal replacement, including pullers and seal installers. Unfortunately, I ordered wrong seal installer for camshaft, so I had to hope that the seal will stretch onto the camshaft without damage, since I did not have the guide sleeve. But I was able to use crankshaft seal installer to push the seal in place once I worked it onto the camshaft by hand. In comparison, having the guide sleeve for crankshaft was absolutely necessary! I believe if you purchase aftermarket seals, such as Elring, it will come preinstalled on a guide sleeve. I chose to purchase OEM, both cam and crank seals were made in Turkey by RBX. I believe Elring is either German-made or Chinese-made, they have factories all over the place.
Anyways, to begin the job, the first thing is preparation. I read ErWin manual, which was awesome, printed it out, and followed it religiously. However, the video online by My Turbo Diesel was super helpful. I drained the coolant by disconnecting lower radiator hose. Then I disconnected coolant expansion tank (two hoses, one of top and one on bottom). I removed the entire tank to give me more space and a chance to wash it anyways. It looked filthy. Next, I unscrewed the windshield washer filler neck and disconnected the head portion only - just pull it off. That will give you even more space.
Then disconnect a sensor and unscrew sensor bracket and place it on the DPF.
Lastly, for fuel filter, I decided against disconnecting quick connect couplers, since people online said they are very brittle and will likely break. I simply unscrewed 3 bolts/nut, unscrewed a couple of lines downstream, and laid the fuel filter upside down on the engine itself. Yes, it is a little in the way, but you can work around it. Plus, no priming fuel system when job is done. Especially at a time when nerves are at the worst, and you hope you didn't screw something up. Haha. By the way, you're working on a cold engine, you cannot do belt tensioning properly if engine is hot! Once all is disconnected, you can unclip and remove the timing belt cover. Easy so far.
Next, move downstairs. By now, you have used your fantastic QuickJack and have your car lifted. You also removed the underbody (how else did you drain the coolant?) and removed the wheel well. All super easy without any fighting. Remove the ribbed belt since you will be changing it also. Unscrew 4 bolts for harmonic balancer, and unscrew 5 bolts for lower timing belt cover. Now, your belt is fully exposed!
Now, if you're doing the seals, while your engine is timed with an old belt in place, this may be a great time to loosen (but not remove) the crankshaft and camshaft main bolts. Crankshaft is 19mm 12 point. That bolt is a stretch bolt, you will use a new bolt when putting it all back together to tighten to 120Nm plus 90 degrees. Someone mentioned it is around 400Nm in total, so you will need a long breaker bar and a pipe. Unfortunately, Chinese junk will bend, I bent one of my breaker bars from China. I had some USA-made Craftsman Industrial 1/2 in drive ratchet that did the job well. Some pros cautioned against using an impact driver since you can cause micro-cracks in your crankshaft, but my engine mechanic family member says it is okay to use impact to loosen, but tightening must be done by hand! So do what you feel comfortable with. Someone also suggested upgrading to 3/4 drive ratchet and socket. And they have 3/4 in drive 19mm 12 point online that taper toward the socket end to prevent issues with oversized socket, which may be a good option. In my case, nobody carries this size locally and I had to work with what I have - 1/2 in drive sockets and breaker bars. Anyways, you would use ID Parts counterhold tool while you sweat away at the crank bolt. You can use Metalnerd Counterhold tool to hold the camshaft to loosen that bolt. But that bolt is not stretch bolt, so very little effort there. Once bolts were loosened a bit, I decided to proceed by locking the crankshaft at that time, like I was doing a timing belt job, so I would complete the seal replacement at TDC.
Existing old timing belt with 120k miles must have stretched a bit, the tensioner was well below the proper tightness notch and the cam and HPFP pins did not fit with old belt still on. But I saw them being very close with my inspection mirror, see below:
Loosen your tensioner and remove the old belt. You technically don't have to lock these, since you are about to remove the old timing belt and continue to undo your sprockets, but I decided to time it properly, for sake of double checking that everything was in time. Now that you timed everything with the pins, go ahead and remove your pins for camshaft and crankshaft. You can keep HPFP pin in, since we won't be messing with that sprocket for seals, keep it at proper position. You know everything is in time and at TDC, those shafts won't move that easily, so your things will remain close to TDC and perfect time while you work on these. Remove the central bolt for crankshaft. The sprocket won't just pop off, it is a tight fit. So I rocked the sprocket with my hands back and forth until it came off. Another option, use your old harmonic balancer bolts to screw back into the sprocket and use some pliers to pull on it. You will need new bolts anyways so who cares if you scratch these bolts, and this way you don't do something silly and damage the sprocket itself, which you are reuising. But really, just rock it by hand and it will come out easily, I did not need that workaround.
Look at that sweaty crankshaft seal. You know the interesting thing (kudos go to @oilhammer for his insight) but he mentioned the camshaft on top uses the "new, naked" seal format without the "dust jacket" as I call it. But look, the crankshaft had a naked seal version installed also! Replacement seals for camshaft were new style as I expected, but brand new crankshaft seal was actually "older" preferred design with dust jacket. Weird, since I was expecting to see "old" style at crankshaft and only new style at camshaft. Good news, is that the new style puller worked on both seals. Yay!
I used all VW tools from vw.snapon.com for seal replacement, including pullers and seal installers. Unfortunately, I ordered wrong seal installer for camshaft, so I had to hope that the seal will stretch onto the camshaft without damage, since I did not have the guide sleeve. But I was able to use crankshaft seal installer to push the seal in place once I worked it onto the camshaft by hand. In comparison, having the guide sleeve for crankshaft was absolutely necessary! I believe if you purchase aftermarket seals, such as Elring, it will come preinstalled on a guide sleeve. I chose to purchase OEM, both cam and crank seals were made in Turkey by RBX. I believe Elring is either German-made or Chinese-made, they have factories all over the place.
Anyways, to begin the job, the first thing is preparation. I read ErWin manual, which was awesome, printed it out, and followed it religiously. However, the video online by My Turbo Diesel was super helpful. I drained the coolant by disconnecting lower radiator hose. Then I disconnected coolant expansion tank (two hoses, one of top and one on bottom). I removed the entire tank to give me more space and a chance to wash it anyways. It looked filthy. Next, I unscrewed the windshield washer filler neck and disconnected the head portion only - just pull it off. That will give you even more space.
Then disconnect a sensor and unscrew sensor bracket and place it on the DPF.
Lastly, for fuel filter, I decided against disconnecting quick connect couplers, since people online said they are very brittle and will likely break. I simply unscrewed 3 bolts/nut, unscrewed a couple of lines downstream, and laid the fuel filter upside down on the engine itself. Yes, it is a little in the way, but you can work around it. Plus, no priming fuel system when job is done. Especially at a time when nerves are at the worst, and you hope you didn't screw something up. Haha. By the way, you're working on a cold engine, you cannot do belt tensioning properly if engine is hot! Once all is disconnected, you can unclip and remove the timing belt cover. Easy so far.
Next, move downstairs. By now, you have used your fantastic QuickJack and have your car lifted. You also removed the underbody (how else did you drain the coolant?) and removed the wheel well. All super easy without any fighting. Remove the ribbed belt since you will be changing it also. Unscrew 4 bolts for harmonic balancer, and unscrew 5 bolts for lower timing belt cover. Now, your belt is fully exposed!
Now, if you're doing the seals, while your engine is timed with an old belt in place, this may be a great time to loosen (but not remove) the crankshaft and camshaft main bolts. Crankshaft is 19mm 12 point. That bolt is a stretch bolt, you will use a new bolt when putting it all back together to tighten to 120Nm plus 90 degrees. Someone mentioned it is around 400Nm in total, so you will need a long breaker bar and a pipe. Unfortunately, Chinese junk will bend, I bent one of my breaker bars from China. I had some USA-made Craftsman Industrial 1/2 in drive ratchet that did the job well. Some pros cautioned against using an impact driver since you can cause micro-cracks in your crankshaft, but my engine mechanic family member says it is okay to use impact to loosen, but tightening must be done by hand! So do what you feel comfortable with. Someone also suggested upgrading to 3/4 drive ratchet and socket. And they have 3/4 in drive 19mm 12 point online that taper toward the socket end to prevent issues with oversized socket, which may be a good option. In my case, nobody carries this size locally and I had to work with what I have - 1/2 in drive sockets and breaker bars. Anyways, you would use ID Parts counterhold tool while you sweat away at the crank bolt. You can use Metalnerd Counterhold tool to hold the camshaft to loosen that bolt. But that bolt is not stretch bolt, so very little effort there. Once bolts were loosened a bit, I decided to proceed by locking the crankshaft at that time, like I was doing a timing belt job, so I would complete the seal replacement at TDC.
Existing old timing belt with 120k miles must have stretched a bit, the tensioner was well below the proper tightness notch and the cam and HPFP pins did not fit with old belt still on. But I saw them being very close with my inspection mirror, see below:
Loosen your tensioner and remove the old belt. You technically don't have to lock these, since you are about to remove the old timing belt and continue to undo your sprockets, but I decided to time it properly, for sake of double checking that everything was in time. Now that you timed everything with the pins, go ahead and remove your pins for camshaft and crankshaft. You can keep HPFP pin in, since we won't be messing with that sprocket for seals, keep it at proper position. You know everything is in time and at TDC, those shafts won't move that easily, so your things will remain close to TDC and perfect time while you work on these. Remove the central bolt for crankshaft. The sprocket won't just pop off, it is a tight fit. So I rocked the sprocket with my hands back and forth until it came off. Another option, use your old harmonic balancer bolts to screw back into the sprocket and use some pliers to pull on it. You will need new bolts anyways so who cares if you scratch these bolts, and this way you don't do something silly and damage the sprocket itself, which you are reuising. But really, just rock it by hand and it will come out easily, I did not need that workaround.
Look at that sweaty crankshaft seal. You know the interesting thing (kudos go to @oilhammer for his insight) but he mentioned the camshaft on top uses the "new, naked" seal format without the "dust jacket" as I call it. But look, the crankshaft had a naked seal version installed also! Replacement seals for camshaft were new style as I expected, but brand new crankshaft seal was actually "older" preferred design with dust jacket. Weird, since I was expecting to see "old" style at crankshaft and only new style at camshaft. Good news, is that the new style puller worked on both seals. Yay!
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