Hi, I`m changing the cam belt on my mk2 8v gti with power steering - i thought i`d done the difficult bit in removing the 4 allen headed bolts that attach the lower pulley on that drives the power steering and water pump. The problem i have is that all the guides i`ve read, say to remove the pulley by removing the 4 bolts, then next step is to remove the lower timing belt cover. The problem is that once i`ve removed this lower pulley, there is still another pulley in place which drives the alternator. its held in place with a funny serrated end bolt which i guess connects to the crank. I`ve loosened all the bolts on the lower timing bolt cover but it just moves behind the alternator pulley. Should i remove it - if i do does it slot back in in the same position? i`ll attach a pic in a minute. thanks, mike
I'm confused by this. I'm used to removing both the crank pulley and waterpump pulleys prior to removing the lower cover. Each pulley is usually secured by four allen head bolts. So I'll await your picture to see what you mean.
Oh THAT. That's the crank sprocket bolt. You don't touch that at all. The crank pulley that you have removed the four bolts from is now ready to remove, but usually it's a swine to pull off as it'll be a tight fit and will have rusted on too. I see that you've easily pulled the outer pulley off it, but the main part doesn't come off so easily. So, do this. You see how you also have four threaded holes in the pulley, in addition to the holes you took the bolts out of? Take two of the bolts you took out, and wind them into two opposite threaded holes. When the bolts poke through the other side of the pulley as you wind them in, they'll force the pulley to come away. You should also remove that large splash cover plastic away by simply taking a few screws out. Then you also need to remove the water pump pulley before you can remove the lower plastic cover. Trev
Gentle nudge with a rubber hammer should sort that out. Trev's right about the water pump pulley too - needs to come off.
cool - thanks - that makes sense. i didn`t really want to go hitting it with a hammer or anything! just glad i managed to get the 4 allen bolts out as i was worried about rounding them off - the vw dealer didn`t have any in stock. hopefully done the hard part now! just got to keep everything lined up cheers, mike
thanks for the info - got the pulley off no probs with a puller. I`ve fitted the new belt - just want to make sure i`ve set the marks up correctly. I`ve set the cam shaft so that the notch in the back is aligned with the head cover flange and the crank pulley so that the notch aligns with the arrow on the lower timing cover - have to confirm this is at TDC by checking the piston down spark plug number 1 and the flywheel mark. the dizzy and intermeadiatry sproket i`ve kept in roughly the same position and is pointing at the mark at 1 o clock. can you confirm if the notch or the 0 on the flywheel is TDC? also, i`m guessing once it starts i have to fine tune the timing by adjusting the dizzy slightly? Using my strobe gun, what should the timing be at idle - TDC or the other mark? cheers, mike
Head cover flange?? The punch mark on the back of the cam pulley should line up with the top surface of the front of the head. The 0 on the flywheel is TDC. It is a good idea to recheck ignition timing, as the intermediate sprocket has probably moved a bit. You want the V shaped notch for standard timing.
i`m pretty sure thats what it calls it in the haynes (!) but yes the top edge of the head. to recheck the ignition timeing - the v shaped notch on the crank pulley - should that line up with the punch mark on the intermeadiatry sprocket. it just doesn`t seem too accurate as the dizzy is adjustable - can i check with a strobe gun afterwards and adjust the dizzy accordingly? If so so, what should the timing be set to at what rpm? thanks, mike
