Well its been a couple of weeks now since I changed the tensioner myself for the new one. Touch wood, everythings good. Whats most noticeable is how quiet the engine is on every start up, not just the startups with the death rattle.
I took a few pix so thought I'd do a little walk through. Its not hard to do really, especially if you take your time and think about what you are doing. The following should help I hope.
You will need some tools that may not be in your collection.
The first is the crankshaft pulley holding tool. Looked online and there were various ones on offer, all about £15 more than the proper VW one below. Cost me about £35. Its a chunky piece of kit, well over 2 1/2 ft long.
Showing the locating pins for the crank pulley:
The other hard to find tool is the splined driver to remove the lower engine mount. In the end i got mine from Halfords. They only come in 1/2 drive which is far too big to get in the space. I just tapped the splined bit out of the socket itself and used an 8mm spanner on the hex section to undo the lower engine mounting bolts..
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/garage-equipment/socket-sets/halfords-advanced-professional-7-piece-spline-bit-socket-rail-1-2Some sort of hydraulic jack is a must as the engine needs to be raised and lowered at various times.
This is the little blighter that needs to be swapped.
Here it is with the spring clip removed:
And here is the tiny pawl that sits on the splined shaft. Its tiny. If you look closely it appears that the serrations are flattened off which means its easier for the splined shaft to be retracted in service. That's what causes the aggro!
Anyway, here's how I did it. Took about 3 hours or so, but would be quicker next time with this walkthrough!
1/. Jack car up on drivers side and put axle stand under crossmember on drivers side.
2/.Drain oil
3/. Support engine. I used lump of wood between jack and sump on drivers side. No point in just jacking all the engine up and down, it needs to be tilted at drivers side end if you see what I mean.
4/. Move coolant reservoir and other bits such as screenwash filler neck and carbon filter canister. Its pretty clear what has to move.
5/. Remove upper engine mount.
6/. Remove lower engine mount using spline tool. There are 3 bolts.
7/. Remove plastic undertray and inner wheel arch liner. Its about 20 small torx bolts. I used a torx socket in a cordless drill to save time.
8/. Remove plastic turbo inlet pipe. There are 2 torx bolts and 2 spring clips, one at each end. They just release by flicking them out with a screwdriver. Then the whole pipe can be wiggled out. Its not a very tight fit.
8/. Remove the auxillary drive belt. Use a 17mm ring spanner to de-tension the spring loaded adjuster as shown. I have also highlighted a hidden bolt behind the adjuster that needs to be removed when taking off the timing chain cover. Once the belt is off, undo belt pulley and put bolt back in to enable access to hidden bolt by de tensioning adjuster. I wedged the spanner on some blocks of wood to keep the adjuster up whilst removing bolt.
9/. Highlight timing marks on crank pulley and timing chain cover. The tdc mark is about 4 o'clock as shown. Its a small indent in the cover. It helps when lining up the crank pulley later and also shows that nothing has moved whilst undoing the large nut in the crank pulley. It doesn't really matter if it all moves a bit when undoing as once bolt has slightly undone, you can move the pulley back into alignment before loosening off fully.
Its also a good idea to remove the small bracket bolted to end of sump as it makes it easier to remove chain cover.
10/. Remove the ally pipe attached to the turbo inlet at the back of the engine. Its 3 small allen bolts. You may need to undo a small terminal block to get access to the top bolt. There is a thin O ring between the ally pipe and the turbo, Don't lose it!
11/. Using the VW tool and a 22mm socket undo the bolt in the centre of the crank pulley. The vw too engages with 4 holes in the pulley. Its very tight. I used a trolley jack handle on my socket ratchet to get extra leverage. As soon as its 'cracked' make sure timing marks line up then remove the bolt.
12/. Carefully remove the pulley (It's not tight) and immediately replace the bolt. Doesn't have to be tight, I did mine with my fingers, but it's to stop internal gears falling out. This piccy is of the rear of the pulley. Note that it should go on in a certain way as shown by the large V shape on the mating surface. the paint blobs done earlier help here.
13/. Now undo the 16 small torx bolts that hold on the timing chain cover. Be careful with the top ones to make sure your torx bit is properly engaged as I rounded one off! Once the bolts are off, gently prise the cover off. There are 2 dowels about 1/2 way down. Best to start from there.
14/. Cable tie together the chain guides. You don't want them to move when you take the old tensioner off.
15/. Remove the 2 bolts holding the old cam tensioner and pop in the new one.
Once its in, pull the small flat retaining clip out and the tensioner shaft will spring out onto the guide rail pad. Its ok then to cut cable ties.
16/. On the advice of another guide, I bought a new chain cover which in hindsight I didn't really need at £55. Anyway, you need to remove the silicone off the old one or use the new one. Either way, a 2mm thick bead of silicone needs to be applied along the mating surface. Any more than 2mm can squeeze out into the sump when tightening the bolts.
17/. Refit crank pulley making sure the indents match up and tighten the crank bolt. i didn't have a torque wrench that went so high, so I just did it up to 'bloody tight'. Its only a bolt after all!
18/. Refit all your parts in the same sequence as you removed them, its straightforward enough. Don't forget to refill the oil. Oh, and the thin O ring that fits in a small circular groove on the turbo stays in place when reinstalling with a smear of grease to hold it there.
19/. Crunch time. Start the engine up.
Hope that helps , here's some other links I found. I didn't bother replacing the engine mount bolts as they weren't in stock and they are only bolts after all.
http://www.partscats.info/volkswagen/en/?i=cat_vag_models&brand=vwhttp://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55992http://workshop-manuals.com/volkswagen/golf-mk6/power_unit/4-cylinder_injection_engine_%281.8_and_2.0_l_engine_chain_drive%29/engine_cylinder_head_valve_gear/chain_drive/removing_and_installing_lower_timing_chain_cover_%28golf_eos_scirocco%29/