Has anyone ever changed just the cam chain tensioner and not the whole timing belt? For anyone not familiar with my problem I have a loud rattling sound coming from the engine at start-up, and after the engine is at operating temp the rattle can be heard at idle. Please any ideas to help the noise would be great.

 

2001 A4 1.8T Quatrro 56K miles.


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You could but why? I mean why go threw all that trouble just to replace 1 part when you could replace all the parts that will need to get replaced shortly anyhow? The water pump has a plastic impeller that is known for completely falling apart.I changed mine just under 70k miles and when I removed the water pump it started to fall apart.

 

The cam chain/tensioner and timing belt are on opposite sides of the engine. The timing belt is on the front, and the cam chain/tensioner is on the back/firewall side on top under the valve cover. All you need to do is take the valve cover off to get to it. But that may not even be your problem. If you could try to pinpoint where the sound is coming from exactly(front or back) that would help.
You might want to take the valve cover off and check the slack in the cam chain. It should be very tight with minimal to no slack. If you do this, make sure you have a new valve cover gasket, your old one will probablycome out in peices.

 

So you're saying that, I can take my valve cover off and replace my cam chain tensioner? The mechanic said I had to remove the front bumper and basically do a timing belt replacement.

 

Find a new mechanic. Im not exactly sure of the procedure for the cam chain tensioner replacement, but I am sure that you dont need to remove the bumper. I would make sure you have the noise pinpointed before you just start replacing things.

 

I just took the valve cover off and replaced the valve gasket and cam gasket (leaks everywhere in the passat). I assure you the bumper stayed on.

 

Either you or your mechanic is confusing "cam chain tensioner" with "timing belt tensioner".

 

In the repair manual it says you have to remove the cam shafts which you would need to put the lock carrier in service position which is a load of crap. You can un-bolt the cam shafts and tensioner and sneak it out of there, which is why it costs so much to do cam seals at the dealer, they charge you anywhere from 6 to 11 hours to do a job that only takes 1 hour to do on both banks.

 

Except we are talking about a 4 cylinder... So there is only one bank, and lots more room to work in.