GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

DIY: 2.0T FSI Timing Belt Replacement for GTI/A3/Jetta

S

ShawnDread

New member
Location
Fairfax County, VA
Using this guide and the Bentley manual, I changed the timing belt and water pump on my 2006 GTI yesterday. We were very careful to count teeth on the belt and mark it well, and timing marks matched up perfectly after two rotations.

The car started up and idled fine. Driving through the neighborhood however, I lost power and the engine light and epc light came on. Checking under the hood, I saw that the charged air pipe had disconnected at the front. I reconnected it but the lights are still on.

Anything in particular I should check first? I haven’t pulled the engine cover again, but all of the visible vacuum hoses and fuel lines seem to fine.
 
Briggs253

Briggs253

Newbie
Location
WA
Thanks for the DIY, it helped tremendously. Managed to get the timing belt and related components replaced yesterday. It took at least 8 hours for me working slowly. I had help but that’s sometimes a blessing and a curse for me when I’m working on a task that requires concentration .

Some things I ran into:

The motor mount engine bracket is a pain. If you have performance motor/trans mounts, I strongly recommend loosening the transmission mount. I have BSH mounts and lifting the engine to remove the bracket caused it to pitch rearward toward the firewall making the mount very difficult to remove even with everything raised considerably. I ended up taking a second jack and supported the transmission to try to stop this.

If you have an aftermarket intake, remove it.

I removed the two smaller bolts from my pendulum mount.

I also removed the two bolts that bolt the downpipe mount to the subframe.

I have the one piece cover and I’m kicking myself for not ordering a two piece.

Also, I can’t seem to run in one of the timing belt cover bolts. It’s the one right below the engine bracket and I believe it goes into the water pump. Gets halfway and stops. It’s a VW OEM pump as well. Thinking of just leaving this one bolt off or using a shorter one there.

Thanks again for the DIY.
 
B

Brigand253

Ready to race!
Location
WA
Mission Accomplished

Brigand said:
Thanks for the DIY, it helped tremendously. Managed to get the timing belt and related components replaced yesterday. It took at least 8 hours for me working slowly. I had help but that’s sometimes a blessing and a curse for me when I’m working on a task that requires concentration .

Some things I ran into:

The motor mount engine bracket is a pain. If you have performance motor/trans mounts, I strongly recommend loosening the transmission mount. I have BSH mounts and lifting the engine to remove the bracket caused it to pitch rearward toward the firewall making the mount very difficult to remove even with everything raised considerably. I ended up taking a second jack and supported the transmission to try to stop this.

If you have an aftermarket intake, remove it.

I removed the two smaller bolts from my pendulum mount.

I also removed the two bolts that bolt the downpipe mount to the subframe.

I have the one piece cover and I’m kicking myself for not ordering a two piece.

Also, I can’t seem to run in one of the timing belt cover bolts. It’s the one right below the engine bracket and I believe it goes into the water pump. Gets halfway and stops. It’s a VW OEM pump as well. Thinking of just leaving this one bolt off or using a shorter one there.

Thanks again for the DIY.
Click to expand...

Today I took on the thermostat to finally fix a P2181 code that I've been living with for the past 2 years. I did the method where you take out the alternator and access the thermostat that way. This job was NOT FUN. It's done though and I'm fortunate that I don't have leaks. Seating the new thermostat had me nervous because you don't really feel it "seat." I just got it in as far as I could then ran the bolts in slowly, alternating between the two.

I haven't driven the car yet, but I'm pretty sure I have air in the system. I added coolant and coaxed it in by squeezing the upper radiator hose. The car got to operating temp sitting there idling but the fans never came on. Not sure if I waited long enough. When I shut the car off, I could hear my auxiliary pump running but it sounded like coolant was cavitating if that makes sense. Like it was pumping fluid but also air.

I'm going to start researching, but any advice on burping the system? Or should I just drive it around town while monitoring temperature?
 
vwengineer

vwengineer

Ready to race!
Location
Switzerland
Also did the thermostat, but unfortunately I broke the metal hose gasket when reassembling. Obviously it leaked a lot. Had to do it all over again, on the bright side it only took me 1h30 the second time :)

Bleeding is not necessary on these cars. Just fill it, let it idle till temperature begins to rise, refill and go for a short drive. Recheck the level on the next drives, it will go down a bit.

Don't worry, if the expansion went empty, the car will tell you to check the level.
 
Briggs253

Briggs253

Newbie
Location
WA
vwengineer said:
Also did the thermostat, but unfortunately I broke the metal hose gasket when reassembling. Obviously it leaked a lot. Had to do it all over again, on the bright side it only took me 1h30 the second time [emoji4]

Bleeding is not necessary on these cars. Just fill it, let it idle till temperature begins to rise, refill and go for a short drive. Recheck the level on the next drives, it will go down a bit.

Don't worry, if the expansion went empty, the car will tell you to check the level.
Click to expand...



Yes, unfortunately it did go empty at one point because she drank everything in the expansion tank before I could even get my jug of coolant to pour more in.

Thanks for the advice. Tonight will be my first test drive.

I hate the feeling of you forgot to do something on jobs this large. I do know that I need to give my dogbone bolts a 90 degree turn as they are only torqued to spec for now.

I also want to replace the allen head crank pully bolts with the triple square design. There was no way I was going to get 90 degrees of rotation on that allen head without stripping them. I got 45 degrees at most, used Loctite, and she seems to be fine.

Also, I went back and tried to fasten the last timing cover bolt that goes into the post on the water pump. Stripped it [emoji22]

Fortunately the timing cover is being held fine by all other fasteners. I’m guessing that will be good enough. My car had 10mm timing cover fasteners. At some point I think they changed to T-30. Maybe the water pump was threaded for the newer style, assuming the threads even are different.
 
S

Salvador

New member
Location
San diego
Has someone buy this one before.?


Enviado desde mi SM-G9600 mediante Tapatalk
 
J

Justin_DeSilva

New member
Location
MA
Wow thanks Zach, I was looking to discover this very image comparing the two cover styles.

10-12 teeth on my 2.0T BPY timing belt sheared off and I'm replacing the belt and water pump and need to reset the timing.

My engine was equipped with the cover shown right. What I'm confused by is the crank pulley timing marks between the two lower covers.

Cover left shows "OT" with arrow but cover right shows a flying bird. Both are in two different positions. The crank pulley wheel covers the flying bird. Does the nose of the flying bird align with a particular tooth or notch on the crank gear?

I don't know how else to set the timing except buying the covers shown left.
 
B

bowhuntvaGTI

New member
Location
Virginia
GTI 2.0 FSI Timing Belt replacement

Thank you so much for the post. It helped me change mine this weekend. 2007 GTi... I am sure you have helped many without a praise in return but i wanted to make sure to do just that.

Thank you ZACH L !!!!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top