Today I finished my first cambelt change!
Gave it a clean as it was a bit of a mess, (photos before and after) and also did the water pump, tensioner, v belt and tensioner, thermostat and coolant temp sensor as it was running cool on the way home.
According to the service history, the belt had not been changed since 2007, but the old belt looked in excellent shape, no cracking and not much wear, so I suspect it must’ve been changed but somehow missed in the service history, though that’s a bit odd as the previous owner got it serviced regularly and filed all the invoices and mot certificates.
For anyone else contemplating it, it took me a few days as I was going slowly and doing it all by the book, (there’s a fair amount of disassembly required) but the cambelt change itself was pretty foolproof with the correct locking tools, as long as you follow the steps in the workshop manual I struggle to see how it could be done wrong. I also had access to a lift which is very helpful but not essential.
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This was my dads 2001 TDI, I will be attempting the same on my new FSI soon.