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Piston driven timing belt tensioner…HELP!!

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  • #451951
    EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
    Participant

      I am in the process of changing my timing belt. In fact, I’m really almost done. I took the old belt off and started routing the new belt. However, I can’t get it on because I can’t loosen the tensioner. If you’re wondering how I got the old belt off without using the tensioner, I actually just took off the tensioner pulley. It was pretty easy. Now that I got it back on, there is no more play with the belt and I have no choice but to loosen the tensioner. I know there is oil pressure and you have to move the tensioner slowly, but I can only lossen the tension about 1/4″. Not enough to get the whole belt on. I have the belt installed like 98%. It’s on the crankshaft, it’s on the left camshaft, and it’s on the routing pulleys. I have it on the right camshaft as much as possible and tried to loosen the tension, but it’s a no go. I’m stumped. somebody please help. I have a 2005 VW Touareg V8 4.2L DOHC. All I need to do is get the belt on and I’m basically done.

    Viewing 10 replies - 16 through 25 (of 25 total)
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    • #451970
      dreamer2355dreamer2355
      Participant

        The ‘pd’ will stand for ‘pending’.

        You may have those 2 codes due to the timing being off. Hopefully its something simple such as you forgot to connect your CMP connections.

        #451971
        Trcustoms719Trcustoms719
        Participant

          Make sure nothing got knocked off.
          If the codes stay away it was probably just from it being out of time the first time you started the engine.

          #451972
          EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
          Participant

            Quoted From Trcustoms719:

            Make sure nothing got knocked off.
            If the codes stay away it was probably just from it being out of time the first time you started the engine.

            Yea. That’s what I was thinking. I think the codes will stay away. The car is running like it did before I did anything to it. I’m glad.

            #451973
            twiggytwiggy
            Participant

              Any explanation on why the belt jumped teeth in the first place?

              #451967
              EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
              Participant

                Quoted From dreamer2355:

                Thats not a good sign. I really hope the engine isnt severely damaged.

                Did you align the timing marks at TDC before even removing the belt? Some DOHC designs you need a specific tool to hold the cam shafts in place.

                I would have rotated the engine by hand with a breaker bar and check for excessive resistance before trying to start the vehicle.

                Yes, I did make sure the timing marks were at TDC. I marked everything up correctly. My instructor even told me I did everything right. He is just as dumb founded as I am. Also, I did rotate the engine by hand before I started it and there was no resistance. I was able to make a complete turn.

                #451968
                EricTheCarGuy 1EricTheCarGuy
                Keymaster

                  It doesn’t sound good if I’m honest, you might try turning the engine over by hand to see if the marks line up now, hopefully they do, if not there may be some bent or broken parts inside the engine. It’s sometimes difficult to find and align the correct marks when doing a job like that, in fact I know some guys that make their own marks before removing the old belt just to be sure everything is good to go when they put on a new belt.

                  #451969
                  EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
                  Participant

                    Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

                    It doesn’t sound good if I’m honest, you might try turning the engine over by hand to see if the marks line up now, hopefully they do, if not there may be some bent or broken parts inside the engine. It’s sometimes difficult to find and align the correct marks when doing a job like that, in fact I know some guys that make their own marks before removing the old belt just to be sure everything is good to go when they put on a new belt.

                    I actually did make my own marks. I also know that I was in over my head, but one thing I learned from working with my uncle on cars is that determination almost always pays off. I took another look at my belt and turned the crankshaft by hand via a 1″ combo wrench. I lined up my cam marks (the ones that I made before starting the job) and noticed that the crankshaft wasn’t at TDC. So what I’m thinking is that originally the marks were lined up, but when I started the car they jumped teeth. My solution: do the job over. This time it only took me 2 hours to complete. I took off the timing belt only from the crankshaft. I left the belt on the cams. I re-aligned the crankshaft to TDC via the manufacturers TDC mark, and put the belt back on. I re-assembled everything and the car wouldn’t start. I determined it was the battery. I got a boost (took 15 mins before it finally started) and it was running. It sounded a little off, but I was glad it was at least running. I drove it to Autozone to buy some coolant and put a gallon in (I lost a lot of coolant when I took off the radiator hoses when doing the job). I then drove to the gas station and filled up. While at the gas station I took my scanner and scanned for codes. 4 codes came up. P0340, P0345, P0340pd, P0345pd. Now I don’t know what the pd stands for, but the other 2 are Camshaft position sensor A-Bank 1 circuit malfunction, and Camshaft position sensor A-Bank 2 circuit malfunction. I don’t know what that means, but I was able to delete the codes and there is no MIL. Now, the car runs fine and I’m happy as hell. Thank God and thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it and I’m just glad I was able to do this job. Stay dirty everyone.

                    #451974
                    EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
                    Participant

                      Quoted From twiggy02919:

                      Any explanation on why the belt jumped teeth in the first place?

                      To be honest with you, I really don’t know why. I just asked my instructor and he said that it probably didn’t jump teeth. He said that I had to have overlooked the misalignment. I have to agree with him. I probably did just overlooked it. Thank God that mistake didn’t cost me my engine.

                      #451975
                      Trcustoms719Trcustoms719
                      Participant

                        Yeah, Great job though!
                        Glad it’s good now.

                        #451976
                        EndSupremacyEndSupremacy
                        Participant

                          Hey guys. I know it took me a while to get done, but I did change my timing belt. While I was doing it, I was making a video at the same time. I just uploaded the video to youtube. Below is the link to the video. Please check it out.
                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuH8e6qy32k

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