I'm in the middle of replacing the timing belt on my 2000 TT with 85k miles. The belt looked great as did the plastic impellers on the water pump. All bearings looked and spun true without much noise and the auto tensioner was good as well. I was amazed at how well it had been kept up as most others run into broken impellers and noisy pulleys. Anyways, I bought the dieselgeeks.com timing belt kit and am having problems with the Contitech timing belt they sent me. I cannot get the belt to go on for the life of me. It is REALLY tight and I have about a half inch distance from getting it seated on the camshaft pulley before I have to stop because it just won't budge any further. I've been referencing the Bentley manual and it has been straightforward so far. Anyone else run into belt installation problems? I've done about a hanful of timing belts/chains on other vehicles and they usually slide on with little effort and let the auto tensioner do the tightening. I'm out of ideas and the auto tensioner rod is still in place with the pin and the tensioner pulley is resting on this. I've been looking for a visual description with pics that perhaps someone has done, but couldn't find anything. Any help guys is appreciated.

 

that was the hardest part when I did mine. I ended up taking the tensioner impeller off relieving stress on the tensioner pulley and putting the belt on. Then I grabbed a few very large zip ties I had in the garage and a pair of pliers and pulled the belt together where the tensioner goes. Then I re-installed the impeller and cut the zip ties. I know that was kind of a ghetto way of doing it, but i was stuck in the same spot for over an hour, and didn't have an extra set of hands to help, so that's what I came up with, and it ended up working pretty well. Good luck.

 

When you say "tensioner impeller" do you mean the central bolt for the tensioner pulley or the auto tensioner (the piece with the pin and hydraulic rod)? I will keep this idea in mind when I go out there to try it in a few minutes. I was hoping I could removed the tensioner pulley and get everything set up before putting it back on. I'm hoping this will give me more slack. Thanks for the info.

 

I'm still having issues getting the damn belt on. I feel like the belt should be two teeth longer and it would fit perfect, yet still allowing the tensioner to tighten the belt good. I'm embarrassed to ask such a thing as I've never been stumped like this on a project or repair when it comes to cars. This is just so frustrating and I feel like I've tried every possible avenue, including fellow enthusiasts' suggestions. I borrowed my aunt's garage to do the work, which I had hoped to finish yesterday and would like to try to get someone to help me out if possible by tomorrow. If anyone is in the DC/MD/Northern VA area and could help me just get the belt on that would be much appreciated, and, as the subject states, I would compensate you for your time. I will continue my struggles until I can get in touch with someone. My email is ctwombly@gmu.edu.

 

in retrospect, you can leave the pulley on, and just remove the hydraulic tensioner itself if you have something to pull the belt together with. It was a real pain in the butt, but keep working at it and you'll get it.

 

Mine was super tight too, I put the belt on w/o the tensioner. I still had some trouble pushing the tensioner into place and getting the bolts in, but it worked. had a second set of hands to hold the motor mount out of the way while i turned screws, but that was it.

Keep working at it, you'll get it

 

Well I finally got it yesterday after I was able to borrow a second set of hands. This proved to be very difficult with only one set of hands. I tried removing the tensioner pulley, tried removing the auto tensioner, and all the other normal methods, but nothing seemed to work. With everything installed, I left the tensioner pulley loose and slide the belt barely on the camshaft pulley, water pump, and tensioner pulley. I then had someone hold the belt in place up top to keep it from slipping off. I then pulled it so that a few teeth engaged the crankshaft sprocket (still had like 3/4 inch to go before it would've fully seated and it was beyond tight at this point) and then (making sure all marks were still at TDC) I rotated the crank bolt and "walked" the belt onto the crank sprocket. It was very resistive but it went on without too much trouble this way. I tried it before by myself but it would just slip off up top due to the resistive force. I then took the square end of a block of small wood and tapped the belt into the groove so that it was fully seated and that was it. Needless to say I was overwhelmed with joy and proceeded to start it up to check the work and it was perfect.

I guess for future reference, those that are having alot of trouble should try the "walking" method like I did. As long as both the cam and crank marks are at TDC, you should be fine because the belt is engaged enough on the crank sprocket that when you start to turn it, everything will move in unison with it. Worked wonders for me, and an extra set of hands is almost essential.

I appreciate the comments guys and thanks for the motivation. Damn am I glad that is over with!

 

One more thing to mention, for future reference, turn the engine over BY HAND at least one full revolution. If by some weird chance your marks were off or some other oddball thing happened, feeling resistance by hand isn't going to do the damage that NOT feeling the resistance with the starter is going to do. Consider it extra insurance.

And considering you probably just took hrs or days of your life trying to get that damned belt on there, whats another 2 minutes to final check your work?

; )

 

I am about to do it as well in the next 2 weeks. Purchased teh Bentley CD and the guy that is helping me is a Certified Marine Mechanic. Rebuilds in board engines all the time. He says, and I quote " Damn that will be fun can't wait to do it. So 2 sets of hands A expereinced mechanic and I have a small background in auto repair. Oh yeah I work for a Porsche store and we have a Audi Store as well. I chose to do it myself than bring it to them LOL. They Suck!!! No offense if any of you know me or know what store I am talking about.

Well thanks for all the posts. I had wished you would have posted some pics of teh work.

Jewbin

 

Any of you in Atlanta car to help me with mine? I've got a bottle of crown in it for you