[jda422]

Hi I am Jose from Austin, Texas. I bought a 2002 TDI New Beetle and I am trying to do all the work by myself. My project today is replacing a noisy belt tensioner for the riming belt following instructions posted here. I decided to buy a kit from Ebay, so I bought one with no bolts included, big mistake. When I got to replacing the crankshaft pulley, I found the bolts stripped, but I tried anyway and ended up stripping them more. I went to Sears and bought the stripped bolt remover and got them out. When doing this I found easier to support the ratchet with the 19mm socket on the car axle and use my free hand to unscrew the stripped bolts. It worked very nice. I purchase new ones at a local junk yard for $2.00 a piece, the dealer sells them for $1.58 but it would take a week to get them.
I will post how it goes.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Post moved to its own thread.

FYI, the motor mount bolts are single use only. If you decide to reuse them they could strip the motor mount or break. If the kit from ebay is from e m i a t a or p r o t h e, I would return it because he sells almost all low quality copycat parts. The cost of saving $50 could be $1000s in repair to the head and if it breaks the seller is responsible for the replacement timing belt, not the replacement head. I bought parts from that seller and after such a horrible experience I knew it was a mistake. The tensioner could fail, bearings could fail, IMHO, his parts are fail. It's nothing personal, it's that quality parts are much more reliable.

 

[Wook60]

I hate reading posts like this because they almost always have terrible endings. You're already in the middle of a extremely critical procedure. Don't skimp out on items like the rollers, a new waterpump, required replacement bolts, etc... You said you're following a procedure, so I assume you have the correct tooling. There are some VERY well known and respected vendors out there specializing in TDIs who only carry quality parts. Many of them batch together every item needed for the job at reasonable prices. It sounds like you're in a hurry to get the car back on the road. Button it back up with the parts you have if you must, but it would be in your best interest to really go through it asap correctly, even if it means spending a couple extra bucks. It will pay off in the long run.

Check out this posting: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=306650

Sadly these seem to be weekly events.

 

[Seatman]

Hi jda422, welcometomyturbodies.

 

[YMZ]

I hate reading posts like this because they almost always have terrible endings.

Me too...

These cars don't take well to any shortcuts - either to the material (quality of components) or to the method... Hopefully you're replacing the entire timing belt system (belt(s), tensioner, 3 idlers, water pump, and at least 5 so-called "stretch" bolts...). The procedure found here is thorough and well presented... don't skip any steps, especially with regard to locking things down (camshaft, pump), loosening things up (camshaft sprocket, injection pump sprocket), and the torque values recommended... (the camshaft sprocket could be a bit higher... 40 - 45 Ft*Lbs is often recommended...

Which eBay seller sold you the kit of parts? There are one or two respected sellers of these parts on eBay, but quite a few more that are less than honorable...

Good luck,

Yuri

 

[Wook60]

JDA, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, we all want to see you get your car back in order.

 

[esemoore]

I'm about to start a t-belt replacement on my 02 bettle TDI and the information presented here has been extremely helpful. The t-belt kit is recommended as part of the service. Anyone has an idea as to the approximate cost of this from the VW dealer or is there an aftermarket vender with comparable quality?

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Look in the writeup, all linked vendors sell quality parts. I wouldn't buy from the dealer because there's a high markup and the water pumps are very expensive, no need to spend $200 more when an equivalent part will perform the same.