I completed this repair thanks to the generous help of Kris Hansen's DIY located here. AudiWorld Tech Articles

While I was replacing the belt I had a few "ah ha" moments and thought a DIY would be beneficial for others.

Tools Needed
17MM Socket
2' Breaker Bar (might be able to use something shorter)
Allen Wrench of decent size (to be used as the tensioner locking pin)
Flat Head Screw Driver
Approx 1 Hr of Time


Start off by removing the weather stripping from the bumper and plastic engine covers that block access to the serpentine belt, see Serpentine in the car.JPG.

Next, remove the plastic vacuum line from the left side. Undo the clamps and remove the screw at the bottom of the plastic vacuum line as shown in the pictures below. Also, the plastic vacuum line sits on a lip near the bottom so it'll take some work to get it out. See the following photos.

Disconnected Plastic Hose.JPG
Plastic Hose Disconnect Top.JPG
Plastic Hose Disconnect Bottom.JPG

Once the plastic hose is out of the way, you can now freely access the serpentine belt.

Get your 17MM Socket and Breaker bar and attach it to the nut and rotate it towards the driver side, see Belt Tension Bolt Location.JPG While holding presser on the breaker bar (relieving pressure on the tensioner), put the locking pin in (allen wrench), see Belt Tensioner Relief Pin Placement.JPG. Note, it's best to feel for the locking pin location first before getting the breaker bar in there.

Slide off the old belt.

Compare the old belt to the new belt, see Old and New Belt.JPG. Their lengths should match!

Put the new one on. Fish the belt around all the pulleys leaving the tensioner for last. You want to make sure the belt grooves are lined up before closing it back up. The first time I tried to the put on the belt it was difficult because I did not have the belt lined up correctly on all of the pulleys. When you slide the belt on to the tension it should be easy. If it's not look around; the belt is not on properly.

With the belt back on check it again, make sure the grooves are lined up.

Ok, put it back together, take it for a test drive, and smile because you just saved yourself $350 in labor from the dealer.

I did this repair when my car was 7 years old and had 50,000 miles after the dealer suggested replacement because it was noisy.

 

Continuation of previous post. See attached photos.

 

Thanks for the details and Pics! I was just about to start this job and was looking around for some help so I don't screw up or take forever.

 

Thanks for the belt replacement guide. Found that my belt tensioner had failed and that caused the belt to fail. Found a non oem tensioner at Autozone for $52. The tensioner comes off the engine with one 10mm Allen key (use a hex socket). Problem is once off, you can not get it out of the engine compartment past the passenger side auxiliary electric cooling fan. Turns out there is one philips head machine screw in the top of the fan's bracket. Remove this with a right angle driver or small socket wrench with a philips bit, rotate the fan to the driver side and pull it out toward the engine. You can them remove the fan or push it off to the side to permit removal and replacement of the tensioner. Plan on moving the passenger side hose that connects to the throttle body well out of the way. I removed the air intake cowl and really peeled the hose back. Did this after an hour of trying to work around this 2 inch diameter hose. Just start by getting it out of your way.

 

seriously, a diy for the serpentine belt, lol.

 

@jkoeh Glad the guide helped. Thanks for contributing additional info for the belt tensioner. Fortunately I didn't need to do mine.

 

OK, I'm resurrecting this thread, first to say thanks for the write-up, was wondering how I'd get in there without replacing the bumper.

Second, to say, How the **#&(#$*&! do you get the belt on???

I've got the tensioner held with an allen wrench in the hole for the position to mount the belt, verified the belt is the right part, verified the routing and everything IS on the grooves, but I seem to lack about half an inch to get the damn belt on the tensioner...

So how do you get it over the damn tensioner??!! lol

 

Assuming you have the correct belt, and the tensioner is in the unsprung position, if you can not get the belt over the tensioner, the only thing that could stop you is if you have the belt routed improperly. Really study a picture of the belt path and carefully examine the way you have it from every available viewpoint. This is not trivial and it took me about 10 minutes to really peer in and validate that it was positioned correctly ( not so the first time I tried). When correctly positioned, there is enough excess belt to make a loop about 4" of excess belt. I taped the belt looped with electrical tape so that tension held it in position on all pulleys, then when I released the tensioner, the loop in the belt flattened and the tape, as it wrapped the loop, just slipped off. It is not a bad idea to have two people when you are doing the final release of the tensioner to make sure the belt remains aligned. I don't think there could be anything else you are missing. If you have the right belt, and the right path, there should be no problem getting past the tensioner. There is so much excess belt that it is actually an issue holding it in alignment unless you use the tape trick. Good Luck, don't get any more frustrated !

 

I have to echo what jkoeh said.

Check that the belt is on properly; it may take some time to get it right. Also, verify the belt is the same length (if not the oem). Remember when you have it lined up it should go on easily. If it's off it will be hard to get on. So look for the issue as it will slide on easily when it's correct.

Oh, and I did it without any help so you can do it 1 person. Just route over the pulleys you can't reach first, ie the fan etc.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

 

Wow... really? 4 inches of excess belt??

To backtrack a little...

I've been working on and rebuilding 3000GT VR4's for about 12 years now, so not an idiot when it comes to automobiles by any means.

Last November I was driving through Chattanooga for Thanksgiving when BAM! the tensioner roller completely separates from the car. awesome. Found a small shop, took them 4 hours to replace the tensioner and belt, and even THEY couldn't get the "stock length" belt on correctly, ended up buying a longer belt by two inches and put that one on.

Shoot forward 6 months later, and my belt just magically disintegrates, but ALL the accessory pulleys still turn. There's burnt rubber on the pulley grooves so it LOOKS like something locked up, but it all turns just fine. Nothing left of that belt, it's trashed.

So it took me about an HOUR to get the stupid tensioner to lock in the correct position (damn near touching the crank pulley). The breaker bar wouldn't fit over the tensioner nut, fan kept getting in the way, so I used a crowbar to push it most of the way and a wrench with a hole in the back with some speaker wire looped through a couple times to get enough torque to finish getting it that last inch to get the allen key in.

I'm using a picture from the following write-up on timing belts for routing info for the accessory belt.

S4 Timing belt DIY - Audi Forums

My belt is routed precisely like that one and not enough slack at all to get it over the tensioner roller.

The belt I'm using is generic Drive Rite 730K6 which shows on multiple sites to be the correct belt for the 2000-2001 Audi S4 2.7T accessory belt.

Thoughts??? I'm pretty stumped here. Wondering if they put the wrong tensioner on but the wheel isn't that much bigger than expected. So odd...