I Had to perform this task on our 2010 TDI Jetta. Had it not been for you posting this video I would have been completely lost. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Yours is the only videos showing this particular task. Thanks a bunch, Stan.
There IS an easier way!!! I hope that by writing this, I may help out someone else who need to do this Ridiculous amount of work for changing a tensioner.. I just changed mine as part of a timing belt replacement.. I almost skipped this tensioner after watching this (and other guides) Then I decided to spent 10 minuts, threading my arm "blindfolded" in between all the pipe-work with a 13mm socket and a few extensions. and I freaking found it!! At the right angle, and a good flash-light, you can actually see the "blind hole" WITHOUT removing any of the pipes, tubes or fans! It is a TIGHT fit! and I guess you need fairly small arms to accomplish this! but I managed to change this tensioner in less than 30 min!! Good luck!
I've got an update for this post. I too would have been discouraged in replacing my tensioner, but because of this talk about the blind hole, I took pictures but now realize I can't post them here. What I can say is I used a 13mm deep socket, universal joint, then to about a 16" extension with a ratchet. With a good light, I was able to shoot through coolant hoses and other obstacles right through the machined hole, that Branded GaMbi mentioned, then wiggled it onto the socket. Pretty exhilarating, without having to remove or loosen anything else to loosen the tensioner bolt.
Thanks for this great video. I would not have tackled this job without first watching your video. I went ahead and removed the three bolts holding the A/C compressor before removing the upper intake tube at 6:30. Greatly simplified the extraction of the intake tube, and provided additional access to the tensioner mounting bolt. Thanks again for the video.
Thanks for the tip and thank you for watching! Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some of my channel stickers. Click on "tool request" on my fkh161 website (link is in the description) to send me your address.
So,after determining that my idler pulley was bad, I searched and found this excellent video on how to replace it. Being limited on time had having some body joint issues, I became a little dismayed and subsequently somewhat inebriated about the level of effort required. However, the next day, accompanied by my strapping son who is just a tad lazier than I, we dove in. First, I demonstrated to him how to verify the issue by downloading a strobe light app to my trusty cheapass Moto G5+ and had him watch the belt and pulley do their dances (they weren't totally gone, as in the video). We had removed the passenger wheel, lower fender liner, and belly pan. I figured that we could find out something easier than the significant disassembly that the good Thomas EXOVCDS illustrated. And, we were right. If you look up towards the where the retaining bolt might be found, with your sightline from the oil filter, you'll see a hole. You will need a light on your forehead or in your teeth. Assemble a 3/8" drive 13mm deep wall (I only use 6-points), a universal, a 12" or 18" extension, and a ratchet or electric impact. With a little finesse and by the grace of God, you can sneak the socket into the hole you'll see, and get the bolt loose. It takes patience and probably took us the same amount of time that Thomas EXOVCDS took by disassembling all that he did, but we have less to put back together. HTH, dubbers.
Egad . Encountered a few issues. Does anyone know what direction the small air hose goes(water). Does it point downward? It attaches next to the air filter near the drivers headlight. Also my vent hose below the big intake 4:20 is not curved correctly and seems constricted. Is there a replacement part for it ?. Got it is not plastic so strange. Lastly no need to take tires out. Had to remove the fan shroud through top. Maneuver the upper hose and viola...
I’ve got half the damn carport and I still cannot get the bolt for the tensioner to come loose? I’ll start to lose my mind. I don’t wanna break the head off of it and I’ve literally tried everything. I wanna give it one more shot today, but I don’t think it’s letting go. That thing is stuck on there like you would not believe is it a reverse threat to it or something?!?? Other than that great video. Whoever thinks they can do it so easily and the comment that has 35 likes. I would love to see him. Try to get the one off of this vehicle. I’m working on! I’m so happy I found this video. Thank you. Going to give it one more shot in about an hour.
Boy, i am almost there now. I have the hard pipe removed, have fished the extension and 13mm socket into where i finally saw the hole, but for whatever reason i cannot seem to line up the socket with the bolt, really frustrating and the mosquitoes are killing me now that its dark...
Is there not enough room to remove the charge pipe without pulling the fan shroud? I do these all the time on the TSI cars and those can be done without pulling the fan. It’s a little tight but they come right out.
Year, make, model, engine? Most drive belt tensioners are sold as a unit (tensioner & roller together)... like this one for CBEA or CJAA engine code. www.ecstuning.com/b-ina-parts/tensioner-assembly/038903315ah~ina/ Just like timing belt components, it is best to replace all components at the same time... meaning, even if you find a roller that fits, the tensioner / spring may not last the life of the second roller... so you would then take it back out and replace the tensioner at a later time.
Hi Thomas At 5.19 mins into video you are removing a T30 torx screw ( between crank pulley and aircon compressor). Appreciate if you could tell me what this screw is securing?
Hi Thomas Great video and very informative. At what mileage interval would you recommend replacing the drive belt and tensioner on this model? Thank you.
Toyo Serpentine Belt should be inspected every oil service or any other service done. Most of quick lube guys dont check at all. soo find a good tecnishian/ mecanic As for Timing belt dont replace just a belt and tensioner it come as a kit. Belt, tensioner, wather pump(metal impeler not plastic ones), serpentine belt alsoo it tensioner etc.. ask your local vw service for more informations.
toyo toe This one had 179k km (111k miles) and was the first one that I ran into that failed. I don't think they have a recommended replacement time, but it would be well worth changing when the timing belt is changed... just like with other engines (while you are in there), but not too many people will want to replace something if it is still good at that time. He'll be back soon for a timing belt (has not been done yet).
***** Yap he replaced it cuz he had to i strongly belive in theat. And he will replace timing belt when i snaps and make more damage. that kind of ppl replacing when it break...
Thanks so much. I guess my car is an outlier if damage is more extensive. Fixing the serpentine belt, tensioner, timing belt and related damage is probably more than I want to spend since Audi will buy back the car this fall for emissions violation.
If you click the reply button under my post, then the conversation will stay fluid / posts stay together (makes for easier reading). Let me know how things go / end up.
+Cynthia Searcy Buy-back value assumes that it is a running vehicle... so it will probably be quite less if it is not, especially if there is engine damage.
Yes, the buyback is almost moot. I'm just really disappointed that the failure occurred at all. It's not the "quality" that Audi claims to be if a five year old car has to have such extensive repairs. It's been maintained per manual and advice from mechanics. If I had run the car into a tree and caused this value of damage, at least my insurance would cover it.
Hi Thomas! Do you know how much i have to remove to change the serpentine belt tensioner on a passat b7 2.0 tdi cr 2012? Any special tools? thanks in advance/Jens
If it is a CKRA TDI... then it is similar to this one. As mentioned in the comments by others, not all of my steps are necessary. Tools used (I believe) are listed in the video. Service manual info is always useful and can be downloaded via a 24hr subscription here: erwin.vw.com/erwin/
I have a 2011 Audi A3 TDI Premium with ~71,000 miles that had a serpentine belt and tensioner failure this weekend. The engine cut out completely, then the glow plug and battery light came on as I coasted to the shoulder of the highway. The Audi repair estimate states, " NOTED SERPENTINE BELT AND TENSIONER HAVE COME APART. CHECKED VALVE TIMING, FOUND TIMING OFF. ADVISED REPLACE TIMING BELT ROLLERS TENSIONER AND WATER PUMP TO START. CYLINDER HEAD DAMAGE POSSIBLE." Questions: 1) Is it common for this failure to happen at ~71,000 miles?; 2) Are the serpentine belt and timing belt close enough to need to replace both?; 3) I'm being advised that the likelihood of cylinder head damage is high. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this dilemma. I'm pretty upset about this failure on a car that's just 5 years old.
@@ljguy300 some replies get forgotten because there are too many per day. The serpentine belt can wrap around the crank pulley and get behind it... and under the timing belt. I have seen it happen on mk4 tdi's, but not yet on common rail engines. Any belt older than 60k miles is good insurance to have changed. In my mind... better early than late.
Thomas I just need to replace the serpentine belt on 2011 tiguan, how much of this can I skip? Is there another tool that will relieve the tension because I don't have that specialty tool.
Just watched another video where someone snaked a wobble extension up in there and accessed the bolt without removing anything but the alternator. And that was to get a better view
What's your opinion on these engines? What is the highest mileage you've seen on one of them and how was it performing? I had 09 Jetta with this 2.0TDI and DSG until 4 months ago, when I sold it for 11 000. Mine was 134 000 when I sold it and it was running awesome. But this is low mileage for diesel, so I"m wondering how these engines perform at 350 000+kms. I've been through 2 exhaust flapper valved. They would seize up pretty good and get stuck in closed/open position. My timing belt was never changed. I bought myself a kit to do it from amazon, but never actually used it, because I sold the car. Interesting, though, on the kit it says 2.0TDI PD, which I take it means Pumpe-Duse. And that is not my engine... but who knows if that was a mistake.
Rumen Hristov Haven't seen much for major repairs... we seem to get low mileage vehicles. Check / ask V10PDTDI what his thoughts are. He seems to get a lot of high mileage TDI's! Was probably the wrong kit.
I don't remember replacing any thing on a mk5 Commonrail engine the only thing would be the Belt when the timing belt was due the ones that are prone to fail is the 5 cylinder cars there is 2 belts and a bucket of rollers :)
V10PDTDI Yeah, I was surprised about the failure as well, but at 178K km... parts only last so long. I couldn't find any of the small ball bearings (rollers) that used to be in the tensioner. Hopefully none are going to get into the timing belt area.
@@EXOVCDS Didnt realise i had gotten a reply, process is exactly the same. but when i removed the part at 7:14 there was some oil coming out, should that be there?
Great video....but you do not need to remove all that crap. I did the job in 25 minutes without spilling a drop of coolant. Just removed the hard downpipe blocking access to the 13mm tensioner bolt. I dropped the pipe down...disconnected the sensor after it was partially dropped and took the bolt out with a 13mm and 3" extension. No need to remove the bolt...leave your socket on it and reinstall. One pipe, two hose clamps and one sensor clip along with the lower right splash guard removal for side access.
The hard downpipe is for the intake? I don't really want to have to drain the coolant. Which sensor is being removed? The MAP? I have to do this operation on my '13 Sportwagon. The belt started shredding itself and I went to replace it and discovered my tensioner bearing killed itself. Thanks for any input.
you mean inner fender? didn't remove that either, might as well shortcut it all the way. I also put an 3/8 to 1/2 adapter on top of the extension, that brings it out just to the right amount to put a long handle fine tooth 1/2 inch ratchet on it to make the rest easy
Dammmm so much work for a serpentine belt and a small belt tensioner thank goodness I have a Mazda 3 sooooo much easier and in half the time.Crazy German cars.
+Thomas EXOVCDS I'll tell you what. As far as a serp belt tensioner goes. This is by far the worst/hardest one I have ever done bordering. I mean to have to remove fans to do a tensioner on a transverse mounted engine?? Absolutely ridiculous! By the way I didn't do much of what you did here to get mine off just now. Lucky for me the ac system was empty (from me misdiagnosing and replacing the compressor as the source of the rambunctious noise it was making but old one is back on just not charged). I just removed the suction line to get to the T30 bolt holding the charge pipe then moved it to the side about 2 inches so I could get my swivel and extension with socket in the hole to pull the tensioner bolt. It was a snap that way saved me a ton of time.
I Had to perform this task on our 2010 TDI Jetta. Had it not been for you posting this video I would have been completely lost. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Yours is the only videos showing this particular task. Thanks a bunch, Stan.
Nice to hear that one of my videos was of help to someone! Thank you for watching!
There IS an easier way!!!
I hope that by writing this, I may help out someone else who need to do this
Ridiculous amount of work for changing a tensioner..
I just changed mine as part of a timing belt replacement..
I almost skipped this tensioner after watching this (and other guides)
Then I decided to spent 10 minuts, threading my arm "blindfolded" in between all the pipe-work with a 13mm socket and a few extensions. and I freaking found it!!
At the right angle, and a good flash-light, you can actually see the "blind hole" WITHOUT removing any of the pipes, tubes or fans!
It is a TIGHT fit! and I guess you need fairly small arms to accomplish this! but I managed to change this tensioner in less than 30 min!!
Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your DIY experience! Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some of my channel stickers... as a thank you!
For up or down the engine did you work?
I've got an update for this post. I too would have been discouraged in replacing my tensioner, but because of this talk about the blind hole, I took pictures but now realize I can't post them here. What I can say is I used a 13mm deep socket, universal joint, then to about a 16" extension with a ratchet. With a good light, I was able to shoot through coolant hoses and other obstacles right through the machined hole, that Branded GaMbi mentioned, then wiggled it onto the socket. Pretty exhilarating, without having to remove or loosen anything else to loosen the tensioner bolt.
@@davidrobinson4797 can you send me some pictures?
@@aaronforrester71 where?
Thanks for this great video. I would not have tackled this job without first watching your video. I went ahead and removed the three bolts holding the A/C compressor before removing the upper intake tube at 6:30. Greatly simplified the extraction of the intake tube, and provided additional access to the tensioner mounting bolt. Thanks again for the video.
Thanks for the tip and thank you for watching! Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some of my channel stickers. Click on "tool request" on my fkh161 website (link is in the description) to send me your address.
So,after determining that my idler pulley was bad, I searched and found this excellent video on how to replace it. Being limited on time had having some body joint issues, I became a little dismayed and subsequently somewhat inebriated about the level of effort required. However, the next day, accompanied by my strapping son who is just a tad lazier than I, we dove in.
First, I demonstrated to him how to verify the issue by downloading a strobe light app to my trusty cheapass Moto G5+ and had him watch the belt and pulley do their dances (they weren't totally gone, as in the video).
We had removed the passenger wheel, lower fender liner, and belly pan. I figured that we could find out something easier than the significant disassembly that the good Thomas EXOVCDS illustrated. And, we were right.
If you look up towards the where the retaining bolt might be found, with your sightline from the oil filter, you'll see a hole. You will need a light on your forehead or in your teeth. Assemble a 3/8" drive 13mm deep wall (I only use 6-points), a universal, a 12" or 18" extension, and a ratchet or electric impact.
With a little finesse and by the grace of God, you can sneak the socket into the hole you'll see, and get the bolt loose. It takes patience and probably took us the same amount of time that Thomas EXOVCDS took by disassembling all that he did, but we have less to put back together. HTH, dubbers.
Thanks for your DIY experience / feedback!
Send me your mailing address and I'll send you some of my channel stickers.
Thank you for watching!
Egad . Encountered a few issues. Does anyone know what direction the small air hose goes(water). Does it point downward? It attaches next to the air filter near the drivers headlight. Also my vent hose below the big intake 4:20 is not curved correctly and seems constricted. Is there a replacement part for it ?. Got it is not plastic so strange. Lastly no need to take tires out. Had to remove the fan shroud through top. Maneuver the upper hose and viola...
I’ve got half the damn carport and I still cannot get the bolt for the tensioner to come loose? I’ll start to lose my mind. I don’t wanna break the head off of it and I’ve literally tried everything. I wanna give it one more shot today, but I don’t think it’s letting go. That thing is stuck on there like you would not believe is it a reverse threat to it or something?!?? Other than that great video. Whoever thinks they can do it so easily and the comment that has 35 likes. I would love to see him. Try to get the one off of this vehicle. I’m working on! I’m so happy I found this video. Thank you. Going to give it one more shot in about an hour.
Thank you for your great video. It was a big help today fixing a family member's TDI.
Thank you for watching!
Boy, i am almost there now. I have the hard pipe removed, have fished the extension and 13mm socket into where i finally saw the hole, but for whatever reason i cannot seem to line up the socket with the bolt, really frustrating and the mosquitoes are killing me now that its dark...
Is there not enough room to remove the charge pipe without pulling the fan shroud? I do these all the time on the TSI cars and those can be done without pulling the fan. It’s a little tight but they come right out.
There probably is enough room. I tend to remove more than need be and sometimes not enough.
My tensioner is pulling towards the crankshaft pulley and it won’t go back to it’s original position what should I do
It may be faulty, remove & replace.
What if the tensioner is good but the pulley is bad. Can you just replace the pulley? If so, how?
Year, make, model, engine? Most drive belt tensioners are sold as a unit (tensioner & roller together)... like this one for CBEA or CJAA engine code.
www.ecstuning.com/b-ina-parts/tensioner-assembly/038903315ah~ina/
Just like timing belt components, it is best to replace all components at the same time... meaning, even if you find a roller that fits, the tensioner / spring may not last the life of the second roller... so you would then take it back out and replace the tensioner at a later time.
Damn, that seems like a lot of work for the tensioner. The A4 seems a hell of a lot easier. Keep up the great videos.
John Fountaine Yeah, that's a little much!
Does the new belt tensioner bolt on or just sit in there?
At 9:50 I remove the securing bolt.
Hi Thomas
At 5.19 mins into video you are removing a T30 torx screw ( between crank pulley and aircon compressor). Appreciate if you could tell me what this screw is securing?
That's the lower mounting point of the charge air pipe / hose... it will make sense as you take the pipe out.
Hi Thomas
Great video and very informative. At what mileage interval would you recommend replacing the drive belt and tensioner on this model? Thank you.
Toyo Serpentine Belt should be inspected every oil service or any other service done. Most of quick lube guys dont check at all. soo find a good tecnishian/ mecanic
As for Timing belt dont replace just a belt and tensioner it come as a kit. Belt, tensioner, wather pump(metal impeler not plastic ones), serpentine belt alsoo it tensioner etc.. ask your local vw service for more informations.
toyo toe This one had 179k km (111k miles) and was the first one that I ran into that failed. I don't think they have a recommended replacement time, but it would be well worth changing when the timing belt is changed... just like with other engines (while you are in there), but not too many people will want to replace something if it is still good at that time. He'll be back soon for a timing belt (has not been done yet).
Domperoid Had he come in a bit sooner, we would have probably heard the loud bearing!
***** Yap he replaced it cuz he had to i strongly belive in theat. And he will replace timing belt when i snaps and make more damage. that kind of ppl replacing when it break...
Thanks so much. I guess my car is an outlier if damage is more extensive. Fixing the serpentine belt, tensioner, timing belt and related damage is probably more than I want to spend since Audi will buy back the car this fall for emissions violation.
If you click the reply button under my post, then the conversation will stay fluid / posts stay together (makes for easier reading). Let me know how things go / end up.
+Cynthia Searcy Buy-back value assumes that it is a running vehicle... so it will probably be quite less if it is not, especially if there is engine damage.
Yes, the buyback is almost moot. I'm just really disappointed that the failure occurred at all. It's not the "quality" that Audi claims to be if a five year old car has to have such extensive repairs. It's been maintained per manual and advice from mechanics. If I had run the car into a tree and caused this value of damage, at least my insurance would cover it.
Hi Thomas! Do you know how much i have to remove to change the serpentine belt tensioner on a passat b7 2.0 tdi cr 2012? Any special tools? thanks in advance/Jens
If it is a CKRA TDI... then it is similar to this one. As mentioned in the comments by others, not all of my steps are necessary. Tools used (I believe) are listed in the video. Service manual info is always useful and can be downloaded via a 24hr subscription here: erwin.vw.com/erwin/
@@EXOVCDS thanks! 😊
I have a 2011 Audi A3 TDI Premium with ~71,000 miles that had a serpentine belt and tensioner failure this weekend. The engine cut out completely, then the glow plug and battery light came on as I coasted to the shoulder of the highway. The Audi repair estimate states, " NOTED SERPENTINE BELT AND TENSIONER HAVE COME APART. CHECKED VALVE TIMING, FOUND TIMING OFF. ADVISED REPLACE TIMING BELT ROLLERS TENSIONER AND WATER PUMP TO START. CYLINDER HEAD DAMAGE POSSIBLE." Questions: 1) Is it common for this failure to happen at ~71,000 miles?; 2) Are the serpentine belt and timing belt close enough to need to replace both?; 3) I'm being advised that the likelihood of cylinder head damage is high. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this dilemma. I'm pretty upset about this failure on a car that's just 5 years old.
I'm still at work... will reply again once I get home.
@@EXOVCDS lol 2 years later still no reply. Head damage is not likely as the serpentine belt is a different system to the timing belt.
@@ljguy300 some replies get forgotten because there are too many per day. The serpentine belt can wrap around the crank pulley and get behind it... and under the timing belt. I have seen it happen on mk4 tdi's, but not yet on common rail engines. Any belt older than 60k miles is good insurance to have changed. In my mind... better early than late.
Thomas I just need to replace the serpentine belt on 2011 tiguan, how much of this can I skip? Is there another tool that will relieve the tension because I don't have that specialty tool.
To move the belt tensioner... usually just a wrench or socket & ratchet is required.
Just watched another video where someone snaked a wobble extension up in there and accessed the bolt without removing anything but the alternator. And that was to get a better view
There's always more than one way to do something. I never said my way was the best.
What's your opinion on these engines? What is the highest mileage you've seen on one of them and how was it performing? I had 09 Jetta with this 2.0TDI and DSG until 4 months ago, when I sold it for 11 000. Mine was 134 000 when I sold it and it was running awesome. But this is low mileage for diesel, so I"m wondering how these engines perform at 350 000+kms.
I've been through 2 exhaust flapper valved. They would seize up pretty good and get stuck in closed/open position. My timing belt was never changed. I bought myself a kit to do it from amazon, but never actually used it, because I sold the car. Interesting, though, on the kit it says 2.0TDI PD, which I take it means Pumpe-Duse. And that is not my engine... but who knows if that was a mistake.
Rumen Hristov Haven't seen much for major repairs... we seem to get low mileage vehicles. Check / ask V10PDTDI what his thoughts are. He seems to get a lot of high mileage TDI's! Was probably the wrong kit.
I don't remember replacing any thing on a mk5 Commonrail engine the only thing would be the Belt when the timing belt was due the ones that are prone to fail is the 5 cylinder cars there is 2 belts and a bucket of rollers :)
V10PDTDI Yeah, I was surprised about the failure as well, but at 178K km... parts only last so long. I couldn't find any of the small ball bearings (rollers) that used to be in the tensioner. Hopefully none are going to get into the timing belt area.
is it the same procedure for a vw cc 2.0t gas engine?
Should be easier on the gas engine.
Thank you so much man i couldnt find anything good for my 2013 jetta tdi even with this video it was aggravating but i got it
Thank you for watching!
any idea if this is close to what needs to be done on a VW Caddy 2012? or have you done it one and got any tips?
Not sure... we don't have Caddy's in North America. What's the engine production code / version of 2.0L TDI (so I can look up information)?
@@EXOVCDS Didnt realise i had gotten a reply, process is exactly the same. but when i removed the part at 7:14 there was some oil coming out, should that be there?
dont really have any mechanic experience, but didnt want to pay the car dealer 530$ for it. so decided to do it myself
@@mortenharklau2045 Some oil is normal (PCV fumes /oil).
@@EXOVCDS Sounds good, thanks for the helpful video and fast answer!
Good video, first time, long time. Are these tensioners in the 2.5 A5s?
Haven't had to replace one yet... not sure what they look like / how they mount. I'll get back to you on that.
Looks to be similar:
parts.vw.com/parts/2007/Volkswagen/Jetta/2.5?siteid=9&vehicleid=190368&diagram=9278070&diagramCallOut=2
***** Yeah, I noticed that it does appear to be about the same. Thanks for the reply.
Cedric Long the tensioner bolt is loosened from the front... easier than in this video.
altrom.com/images/altrom/catalog/1552702-1.jpg
Very nice video! Thought it would be not easy, I changed my mind on doing it myself
Great video....but you do not need to remove all that crap. I did the job in 25 minutes without spilling a drop of coolant. Just removed the hard downpipe blocking access to the 13mm tensioner bolt. I dropped the pipe down...disconnected the sensor after it was partially dropped and took the bolt out with a 13mm and 3" extension. No need to remove the bolt...leave your socket on it and reinstall. One pipe, two hose clamps and one sensor clip along with the lower right splash guard removal for side access.
Timothy Sean Thanks for the tip... this was my first one. I usually don't think of shortcuts till I've done 3 or more.
The hard downpipe is for the intake? I don't really want to have to drain the coolant. Which sensor is being removed? The MAP? I have to do this operation on my '13 Sportwagon. The belt started shredding itself and I went to replace it and discovered my tensioner bearing killed itself. Thanks for any input.
you mean inner fender? didn't remove that either, might as well shortcut it all the way. I also put an 3/8 to 1/2 adapter on top of the extension, that brings it out just to the right amount to put a long handle fine tooth 1/2 inch ratchet on it to make the rest easy
thanks for this vid, it helped out a ton
Thank you for watching & taking time to comment!
Awesome!
Thank you for watching!
You shuld have writen VW A5: 2.0L TDI Serpentine Belt Tensioner removal(whats left of it) :)
Domperoid First one I have changed and that has failed!
After realizing the job I have ahead of me, this will be my last vw product..
You don't have to remove as much as I did. I like to have more access for better visibility.
Dammmm so much work for a serpentine belt and a small belt tensioner thank goodness I have a Mazda 3 sooooo much easier and in half the time.Crazy German cars.
+Martin Martin Zoom Zoom!
German engineering is so overkill sometimes. All this for 1.3 labor hours? Bullshit!
+Elton I've seen worse on Domestic & Asian vehicles... it's not just the Germans.
+Thomas EXOVCDS I'll tell you what. As far as a serp belt tensioner goes. This is by far the worst/hardest one I have ever done bordering. I mean to have to remove fans to do a tensioner on a transverse mounted engine?? Absolutely ridiculous! By the way I didn't do much of what you did here to get mine off just now. Lucky for me the ac system was empty (from me misdiagnosing and replacing the compressor as the source of the rambunctious noise it was making but old one is back on just not charged). I just removed the suction line to get to the T30 bolt holding the charge pipe then moved it to the side about 2 inches so I could get my swivel and extension with socket in the hole to pull the tensioner bolt. It was a snap that way saved me a ton of time.
WTF! Seriously?