Cam Belt Quandary

[powermandan 0]

Hi

 

Im changing the cambelt on my 1.9GTI today and ive just been having a look through the haynes and there are 2 things confusing me

 

how do i jam the starter ring gear (im unsure of what it is)

 

the haynes says i must fit the cambelt, run the engine up to temp then let it cool for 2 hours, then re-tension. Does anyone else do this? i have never had to do this before when i have changed a cambelt?

 

 

Thanks

 

Dan

[Tom Fenton 1,585]

The ring gear is the toothed cog on the outer edge of the flywheel. You need to jam it so you can undo the large bolt that holds the bottom pulley on the end of the crankshaft. You can get to it by taking off the tin cover plate that bolts to the lower part of the gearbox from underneath. Then you can jam the ring gear with a large flat bladed screwdriver, you may need a mate to help you do this.

 

Personally I've never bothered retensioning the cambelt after running the engine etc as you describe. Tension it so you can just about get 90 degrees of twist on the longest run and leave it at that. Whilst you have the belt off check the tensioner bearings for play and also the water pump.

[powermandan 0]

Thanks very much