Anyone attempt a timing belt install on a 1.8 T Q without pulling the whole front end apart like the how-to's show? What was your experience???

Doing the job tomorrow and looking to make it quick (that's a relative term) but not stupid....

S

 

HaHa well if you wanna make it quik then pull the front off otherwise you wont be able to do it... In order to get the radiator in the service position the bumper has to come off.

 

TAKE PICS!!!

Inquiring minds wanna know!

-T

 

Pull the front.
Its much easier to get at everything. You will save time by being able to work more quickly when you take the front off.
It's not really all that hard a job. Just labor intensive.

 

I agree, I did mine a month or so ago. Unless you want a lot of bloody knuckles, take the bumper off. It really only adds like 20 minutes to the process, and will probably save you a good hour or two.

 

Thanks all. Just didn't want to get into un-necessaries...

Pictures? Sorry, time is of the essence. I've done a couple published how-to's and I know how much time taking good photos take. The online how-to is pretty good including the photos but one thing I did find that's not in the "how-to" is for automatics you have two cooler lines on the passenger side radiator to remove.

Half way done. Got the belt on and starting to button up but going to parts store to get new belts. Couple of them look quite nasty.

I see a lot of oil residue. Both sides of engine. Passenger side appears to be coming from valve cover gasket but can't see under intake on driver's side to determine where it's coming from. Any typical places to suspect from those in the know???

S

 

The job is done. The belt was in decent shape but boy was it loose. Alas the tensioner.

S

 

Sorry I didn't reply to this earlier, could the oil you saw also been coming from the cam seals? That would have been a whole lot more helpful before you finished the timing belt. I had an oil drip and had trouble identifying where it was coming from and that was it. Nice work on the belt changes, that's not for the meak. The valve cover / cam chain adjustment seal is an easy replace compared to the timing belt. When you do it, just make sure they give you both gaskets. It's likely if one is leaking the other one is probably not far behind.

 

I don't think it's the cam seals. Or, it doesn't seem to be coming from the front one. That area was totally dry. The oil doesn't seem to be coming from the rear either as it appears to be coming from the sides of the motor. On the passenger side it's def. the valve cover. On the driver's side it appears to be something below the intake manifold but it's too cluttered to pinpoint any closer than that. With all that I did, I didn't want to foray any deeper and pull the intake.

I'll get a new valve cover gasket and install some time in the near future. I need a break from the car for a while...

S