This afternoon I changed my cambelt and tensioner. On the advice of a fellow ClubGTi member I sourced the cambelt and tensioner through VWspares.co.uk and remembered to buy the correct mk3 / ABF parts Fitting the cambelt was simple and without the need to time the intermediate pulley actually easier than on my old 8v. However I wanted to get the view of fellow ABF owners on the tension of the belt, as I can turn it past 45degrees but not fully to 90degress.... I'd say with normal force it goes to about 70degrees. I have the self adjusting sometimes refered to as automatic tensioner. Having spent a lot of time searching and consulting the Bentley service manual I have for the mk2 covering the 16v KR lump I see conflicting statements.... some say 45degrees for the 16v engines whereas only the 8v should be 90degrees. What is the opinion here is 90 degrees ok? So with mine at approx 70 I'll be fine. I always drive my Golf hard to the rev limiter (once warm of course)..... I don't want to be fixing 16 bent valves anytime soon. Here is a picture, excuse my large mits! Applying a little more force than average to. Here is a picture of the tensioner, alignment to v cut-out. (I have it ever so slightly off) I used 90degree circlip pliers which worked well.
Did you turn the tensioner and tighten all the way round to the stop and then ease it off so the marks line up then nip up the nut? You should be looking at 45 degrees for twisting the belt.
if the self-tensioner is setup properly no need to worry about the belt twist method, it'll taker care of everything for you to set it you need to twist the tensioner so the arrow goes all the way to the max stop then loosen it till the arrow lines up and crank the nut down, job done. main thing to note with these is if you recheck it after you switch the engine off it can appear to be too loose, this is normal. main thing is to watch it with engine on to ensure it maintains the correct tension then. I found this one out the hard way, spent a good while chasing the tension as it kept going loose engine off, till I thought to only check it with engine on
Gents, This is why I love this forum! Thanks for the feedback, I know I did not fully tighten then back off instead I just brought up to tension. I'll hopefully redo the correct tensioning process tonight and then finish rebuilding. I've renewed the waterpump, thermostat and metal coolant pipe as well.... All lasted remarkable well considering '96 lump with 176k on it.
I remember wrting a brief procedure for Dennis 10 how to tension the belt. I can repost it here. How to do? Remove the airbox and intake ducting. Remove the cam cover (held on by a 5mm allen bolt over #1 exhaust port) Check crank/cam TDC alignment after rotating the engine 2 times Set the crankshaft on TDC Crank TDC marks on damper and flywheel With the crank at TDC the cam must in this position. Then follow this procedure.
Your metal coolant pipe has done so much better than mine. But then my car has been bodged by previous owners.
I know this is an old thread but it's got the picture of the tensioner that has got me concerned I didn't do mine right - see my pic of how mine sits at rest and when running. This is the first time I've done a belt. The belt has good tension - like the chaps in the picture - I can twist approx 45 degrees. I have run the car at idle (and rotated engine manually many times before cranking too). I have observed on running and it does not move. If I wanted to re-tension this by the guidance above could I just loosen it, retension so the marker aligns with other marker on the tensioner or am I best stripping it all off and starting again? Cheers
No worries sorted it - I'd be confident doing a belt in future now. I just rotated crank by hand to line up timing marks, loosened the tensioner and relined it. Rotated the engine by hand to check.
