Timing belt time

[Mihnea Cotet]

Bernie,


My post's initial meaning wasn't "let it as loose as you can".... but more
of a "take care not to tighten it too much"....

And I'm 100% with you as for the oil pump bolts, the dumb*ss who last did
the timing belt on my coupe quattro's former engine forgot to tighten them
well and to loctite them and the resuls was a pretty damp oil pan (on the
outside of course! :) )

I hope this hasn't confused Brian too much :)

Mihnea


At 13:21 1/08/2002 -0700, Bernie Benz wrote:
>Mihnea,
>
>My advice would be contrary to yours in some respects.
>
>Realizing that belt tightening is a qualitative judgement, I would recommend
>that it is better to error on the tight side than the loose.  Relative to
>valve train torsional vibration resonant frequency, the belt must be tight
>enough to insure that it is operating at its maximum spring rate.  Water
>pump failures, IMO are 95% caused by seal failure, not directly by bearing
>failure, and I'm all in favor of wine, any time.
>
>Bentley's advice is all inclusive; "Reinstall all components in reverse
>order of removal", meaning that it is a trial and error jig saw puzzle.
>Don't forget to tighten all of the oil pump bolts.  I did, and a once dry
>engine exterior now has a minor oil leak.