[acna_pcc] timing belt tensioner damper

[urq]

I'm not at all familiar with the A4 1.8T ... but it seems to me you're not 
going to pop the *timing* belt back on the tensioner ... I'd imagine this 
person is actually talking about the accessory belt ... probably a 
serpentine belt.

... and then of course a belt coming off a 7 year old car *has* to be a 
design flaw ... parts like dampers do live a rough life ... I wouldn't 
complain too much about having to replace one after 7 years ... *but* the 
first thing to do is to see if the belt doesn't need to be replaced ... bet 
it is probably original ... and if it has been replaced recently, make sure 
it is registered on the pulleys correctly.  I had a squealing problem on 
occasion on one of the V8s which I traced down to having the belt one tooth 
off on one of the pulleys ...

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)


> How in the world does the pulley come off the tensioner without the
> timing belt skipping and all hell breaking loose under the valve
> cover?
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
>
>> The other day, the timing belt tensioner pully became disconnected
> from the
>> tensioner damper on my wife's '99 A4 1.8T.  I was able to easily put
> them
>> back together but it continues to pop off after an hour or so of
> running at
>> city speeds.  has anyone else seen this problem before?  The car
> only has
>> 70K miles so this seems very early for these parts to start failing.
> The
>> damper seems easy to replace but i'm not convinced that is the
> problem, it
>> seems more of a design flaw.
>>
>> Any ideas?