MK5 GTI CAMBELT CHANGE BY MACMAN

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dood786
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MK5 GTI CAMBELT CHANGE BY MACMAN

Post by dood786 »

MacMan wrote:Well my car just hit 40k kms, but because it is older than 4 years I have been reading that it is a good idea to change the cambelt. So I eventually found some motivation and time to do it.

As usual, here are the pictures I took of the operation:

I changed the belt, tensioner, relay rollers and all the bolts that my Bentley manual said need to be changed. I didn't change the waterpump because I haven't heard of it really being an issue on the MK5 like it was on the MK4. Plus when I replaced the cambelt on my MK4 I also changed the water pump, but it was still in perfect condition after 78k kms.

Here is a list of all the part numbers and their costs from VW:

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All the parts:

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Water pipe to expansion tank, fuel line and pipe to charcoal filter disconnected:

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Expansion tank removed and windscreen washer bottle filler unbolted:

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Accessory / serpentine belt tensioner locked in position to remove the belt:

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Charcoal filter cannister and bracket removed:

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Accessory / serpentine belt tensioner removed. This is not really necessary but it does give you more space to work in:

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Wheel arch trim removed to allow access to the crank pulley bolts and charge pipe support bolts:

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Charge pipe support bolts removed:

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Removing the crank pulley bolts. Make sure you use a decent quality 6mm Allen key or socket to removed the bolts because they are very tight and you will strip the heads if your Allen key / socket isn't 100%:

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Engine supported from underneath using a trolley jack. If your jack doesn't have a protective rubber foot like this one, then use a block of wood or a thick piece of rubber to protect the sump:

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Getting this motor to TDC wasn't the easiest because the timing marks are in the dumbest, most difficult to see places:

Line the timing mark on cam sprocket up with the mark (arrow) inside the cambelt cover:

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The mark (cut) on the crank pulley is easily visible, but the corresponding mark on the lower cambelt cover is almost impossible to see. You can see by the white line where the mark should be. The 4 bolts securing the lower cambelt cover need to be removed too:

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Then the aircon pipe supports need to be loosened from the body so that the pipes can lift up with the engine. There is another bracket closer to the headlights which I didn't get a picture of that also needs to be loosened:

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Then the water pipe running in front of the cambelt cover, around the back of the engine can be loosened from the steel waterpipe and then moved out of the way. The engine mouting to engine mounting bracket can now be loosened and removed. The bolts are stretch bolts and should be replaced:

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The engine mount to body bolts and engine mount to body support bracket bolts can now also be removed and the engine mounting can be removed. These are stretch bolts and should be replaced:

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Now the difficult part is to get the engine mounting bracket that is bolted to the engine out of the engine bay. To do this you need to lift the right side of the engine (cambelt side) as far as you can without damaging anything. In order to do this you will need to un-bolt the downpipe from the turbo and you will need to remove the 2 front bolts from the pendulum mount underneath the engine. These 2 bolts are also stretch bolts and they should be replaced.

I didn't take any pictures of this, but once the engine is as high as you can get it, you will be able to loosen the 2 remaining bolts holding the engine mounting bracket to the engine and you will be able to manoeuvre the bracket out of the engine bay.

Once you have done that you can removed the rest of the bolts holding the upper cambelt cover and then remove the upper and lower covers. You will now see the cambelt, tensioner and relay rollers:

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Removal of the old belt, tensioner and relay rollers is pretty simple and fitment of the new belt, tensioner and relay rollers is the reverse of the removal process, so I didn't take any pics of that.

To tension the cambelt tensioner, simple put an Allen key into the tensioner and turn it clockwise until the green raised section is in the middle of the cut-out:

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New cambelt, tensioner and relay rollers:

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Once the cambelt is tensioned, turn the motor 2 full turns by hand and then double-check that the timing marks still line up. You can see the timing marks a lot easier with the cambelt cover off:

Cam sprocket:

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If you draw a line from the bottom hole, through the crank sprocket bolt, to the top hole, the line should line up with the casting mark on the crankshaft oil seal housing:

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Then the upper and lower cambelt covers can be put back and all the bolts tightened:

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The engine mounting bracket and engine mounting can be re-fitted, the bolts tightened, the engine lowered and the engine mounting bracket bolted onto the engine mounting:

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Charge pipe bolts and new crank pulley bolts fitted and tightened according to spec:

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Expansion bottle, charcoal cannister and all pipes re-fitted and re-connected:

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Then all that is left to do is replace and tighten the pendulum mount bolts under the car, bolt the downpipe back onto the turbo, put the wheel arch lining back and fill the expansion bottle with coolant.

Unfortunately that was not the end for me because when I was removing the nuts that hold the downpipe to the turbo one of the studs snapped. :bang:

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Luckily there was enough thread left for me to pull the old 2 nut locknut method, which worked like a charm:

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This happened on the Sunday, so I couldn't get a new stud and nut from VW, so I had to make a temporary plan using a high-tensile bolt, a stainless nut and 2 stainless spring washers:

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Sorted. Thanks for looking. :wink:
Noob
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