[Vwdiesel] Timing belt and tensioner change

[Erik Lane]

First time I went looking for the mark on the flywheel I had a heck of a
time. I eventually did find it, but it took a long time. If you want to be
really sure you can always pull the #1 injector and use a piece of fairly
stiff wire to feel for TDC. Then you will have it darned close.

For lack of power it could also be just that the injection pump is not put
back in the same place. How careful were you about making sure that the gear
is in exactly the same spot? That would get you close, but without the tool
to check prelift of the piston in the pump you're not going to get it just
right. (There's also a way to do it by the sound of the engine, but you need
to have a good ear and already know what to listen for.)

Erik

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 9:20 PM, Craig Osborn <cosborn at epix.net> wrote:

> Today I changed my timing belt and tensioner.  After the job was done, I
> started the truck and it ran but not as good as before.  It ran fine (while
> it was running) but acted like it was starved for fuel and kept stalling.
>  I
> looked around and noticed a split in the fuel line that goes from the fuel
> pump to the top of the filter.  It was brittle and I guess that it got
> cracked when I moved it around while I was working.  I will but some fuel
> line and see if that fixes the stalling.
> I am concerned about one thing.  I never could find any kind of mark on the
> flywheel that looks like the TDC mark that is shown in the manual.  I went
> around and around and never found it so I ended up locking the cam with the
> cam lobes pointing up - TDC and then locked the fuel pump and changed the
> belt and tensioner.  I also made another mistake and set the tension on the
> belt while the locking pin was still in the fuel pump.  I only realized my
> error after looking at the manual  after I put everything back together.
> I plan to open it back up to check the tension but I want to know what I
> should do in case my tensioning error made the belt jump a tooth or two.
> How can I conform correct timing if I cant see TDC on the flywheel.  Is it
> possible to have a flywheel without any markings?
>
>
> Craig
>