This whole process spawned from a noise which i took my car in for a check up hoping for a warranty repair. well after taking it down to chattanooga, and leaving it the people at volkswagen could not hear the noise, so i had to take off work drive down there wait 20 minutes then show them what was going on.... the next day i get a call and i have to go pick up my car it was wrote up as needing a timing belt change... well of course i didnt have the 1200 dollars to get that done there at the dealer. taking TDIs to the dealer is not always the best idea anyways. so i decided to take it on my self with a helping hand of course. Luckily i had the Vagcom to do all the computer parts, but still droped 650 on parts, and tools.  probly could have saved a bit on the tools, but i wanted to do it right. So here we go!

First step is to get everything ready, lots of tools, and parts!


Pretear down


Turbo intake pipe removed, and pluged, timing belt cover removed! that belt really needed to be replaced!


valve cover removed


removing accesory belt.


Removed timing belt and compaired to new one.


no belt, and cam sproket removed


timing mark on flywheel...


new belt going on with new pullys around, also changed the waterpump. didnt take to many picture due to nasty hands.


Fuel pump locked into place.


crank locked in place


old water pump... plastic...


mostly back together


there is lots of stuff i didnt get pictures due to how nasty my hands were.

the engine is back together.... turn the key... nothing...  turned out  the cam was 180 out even though we triple checked. after a long battle we got it running, adjusted the fuel timing. and off she went. With more power to boot. im guessing when the dealer had to replace the crank seal they didnt adjust the fuel timing.  just a guess. so i saved 600 dollars and my car is running better than ever, and have seen no signs of wear over 2000 miles... but of course it didnt cure the noise. so now im outta warranty, and screwed, the belt needed changing anyways, but now i just gotta figure where the noise is coming from.

my beetle had around 92000 when this happened. the warranty was from another dealer which i had bought the car from.  i took it in wanting to know what the problem was hoping that it would be covered... i knew a timing belt wasnt covered and i figured my self that was probly the problem, but figured the dealer would be able to tell me for sure.  the noise sounds like a bad bearing, grinding rattle at only certain rpms. and i belive taking it to the dealer woud be considered asking for help advice.

no starting issues at all, one turn and it fires up.  noise is made all the time, in gear, park, neutral. sometimes with the AC turned on it changes the rpm range of the vibration, so im leaning toward somthing on the accecory belt, maybe the tension pully.  seems to be a comon issue around 100k from my research.  i supose i can pull the accesory belt off for a few minutes while i run the engine of the battery...  turbo has only 25,000 on it, and it was replaced at the dealer.