Cambelt + Water Pump Replacement - Official guidance

[Ayjay]

I let them give mine a wash for the first couple of services but at the third oneI I was hanging around for the 'while you wait' and saw the bloke on wash duty drop his sponge onto the yard floor, pick it up, give it a quick dip in the bucket and start washing again. After that, I went inside and told them that I needed to get going so would do without a wash. To be fair though, I never had any problems with the washing on the couple of occasions that they did do it.

 

[Ayjay]

The same is true of many independents.

That's why I especially said a 'good' one!

 

[fax001]

Our 2016 T6 has developed a water leak.
My local garage has diagnosed that it requires a new can belt, but cannot source the requisite parts ! No stock at their supplier apparently.
Can anyone recommend someone in the Bath area who might be able to undertake the work?
Thank you

 

[DaveD]

Our 2016 T6 has developed a water leak.
My local garage has diagnosed that it requires a new can belt, but cannot source the requisite parts ! No stock at their supplier apparently.
Can anyone recommend someone in the Bath area who might be able to undertake the work?
Thank you

I just looked on Euro Car Parts website and they've got a selection of cam belts and associated parts, water pumps, etc all available for my 2016 T6.
Maybe yours is a different engine variant and there isn't such a selection available but you might wish to check.

 

[fax001]

I just looked on Euro Car Parts website and they've got a selection of cam belts and associated parts, water pumps, etc all available for my 2016 T6.
Maybe yours is a different engine variant and there isn't such a selection available but you might wish to check.

Thank you.

 

[Chippie1]

Our 2016 T6 has developed a water leak.
My local garage has diagnosed that it requires a new can belt, but cannot source the requisite parts ! No stock at their supplier apparently.
Can anyone recommend someone in the Bath area who might be able to undertake the work?
Thank you

Can you get the van to Bristol?

 

[fax001]

Can you get the van to Bristol?

I could, but following a search on the forum I have found VASS in Bath, who have quoted what appears to be a pretty fair price for a cam belt and water pump.

 

[Chippie1]

I use Streetwise in Bristol ex main man at vw heritage started up on his own. I’ve used him for 10 plus years now very knowledgeable and never let me down.
Hope all goes well and you get it sorted

 

[fax001]

I use Streetwise in Bristol ex main man at vw heritage started up on his own. I’ve used him for 10 plus years now very knowledgeable and never let me down.
Hope all goes well and you get it sorted

Thank you for the recommendation. Much appreciated. Will make a note in case I need them in the future.

 

[catfood12]

I've had a squeaky squeal noise from the front of the engine for the past couple of weeks. Defo a dry ball race type of squeak. It has to be the aux belt or cambelt. I did suspect the latter as aux tensioner was done under recall a few years ago.

The forecast rain never appeared today so it took about 45 mins to get to here. Undertray off, air filter and housing out of the way. Aux belt off;





Squeak still there. The cambelt is coming out. New aux belt too I think. Neither of the belts looks too bad. A fair amount of rubber dust inside the cover though and the cords are visible on the cambelt teeth. Not a bad thing in itself, just shows it's a bit worn. This shot shows it's stretched a bit too, if the tensioner was set correctly when it was installed.




Another 45 mins or so to get it timed up, marked up and the cambelt off and idlers out. I always mark cambelts and pulleys. Can 't possibly get it wrong then on a reinstall;




I've finally put some blue paper cloth in the inlet in case I drop anything...

All out.




The larger idler pully has quite a bit of play in it, as does the tensioner. No play in the water pump and no leaks.

Off to TPS in the morning for bits. Not inclined to change the water pump at the moment. I may regret that in 24 hours....

The locking pins were stiff to get in and needed jiggling to fit, so I suspect the belt has stretched a bit in 5+ years and 40K or so miles.

 

[catfood12]

Collected a 04L 198 119K kit from TPS this morning. Didn't take up the water pump option. The kit comes with belt, tensioner, two idlers and new nuts/bolts. Also picked up a new aux belt;



Old and new bits for comparison. Play in bearing of larger idler & tensioner, and they spun very loose/freely. Smaller idler seemed tighter. Odd as that would spin faster, but I wonder if there's less load on it. No play in water pump pulley, no evidence of leaks. Timing pin kit was a cheapy Chinese one from Ali Express I bough a couple of years ago. All fitted very snugly though. Quality was good.




Transposed my white marks onto the new belt.



It went back together very quickly. All timed up and tensioned. Didn't need to move the HPFP or cam pulleys, they were spot on. I guess all genuine bits, you'd expect them to be exactly the same size as the old ones. Would have been a different matter if I'd had the head off or perhaps even changed the water pump.

Most fiddly bit was getting the new aux belt back on.



The squeak is gone. That's the main thing. I can relax again now. I was thinking I'm on borrowed time. If the noisy bearing started to break up or seize it would have doubtless been a lot more serious.