Doing a A3 cambelt

Started by BB, April 18, 2012, 11:43:03 AM

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BB

Well I'm struggling away doing my first A3 1.8t cambelt and ive got to the point where I have supported the badly shaped sump with a block of wood and a axle stand and managed to undo the seized bolt (as they do on Vags) holding the two bits of the alloy mount together  ::) and struggled away undoing the half that bolts to the motor and now that part won't fit out!
There is no room!
I have rung the pros and the guy says to jack the crap out of the motor but even then they don't come out? Bit hard to swap my axle stand for a 3rd jack (I use two at either side on these piles of crap as there is no center place and then I just put axles stands under but don't lower onto them.
BUT he said sometimes you can't get them out and you have to just work around them!
Unbidamningleiveable.
Its right in the way of the water pump and the gas tensioner etc.
He just started laughing as he was telling me.
Oh we laugh.
Could they make a worse car?
Hans is a Audi designer "Hans" says the mechanic "How will we work on that once you have installed it in the car"? "With great difficulty" replied a grinning Hans
Better get back to work some poor Audi owner has to pay this poor mechanic.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

BB

You muck around and take the gas tensioner offand wriggle it out then the belt drops off and you can get it out then the mount comes out so you can get the second bearing off and the waterpump out easy enough.
Just have to make sure I do the fiddle the right way to get it all back together.
I'm glad I went the way of just trying to do it with the mount in rather than thinking I needed that mount out before I went any further.
The engine is not held in by much :( A front and rear mount and a crappy dog bone by the looks :( :o
Oh well, its getting done I guess.
Will have to get the mount thread cleared at my machine shop.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

RS ZWEI

Gee Jem, you dont even need anyone to reply to keep a thread going.
1980 VW Golf GTI Track Car
1995 Audi RS2
2003 Mini Cooper S (Written off - rear ended)
2005 Mini Cooper S
2006 Skoda Octavia vRS Combi
2009 Renault Megane 230 R26 (Written off - rear ended)
2013 Renault Megane RS265 Redbull RB8

slowmo

Quote from: RS ZWEI on April 18, 2012, 01:42:02 PM
Gee Jem, you dont even need anyone to reply to keep a thread going.

ROFL  :laugh:
Current: 2004 MK4 R32 3-door NZ New DBP

Past: 2010 MK6 GTI / 2013 Nissan Leaf LOL / 2007 B7 RS4 / 2006 MK5 R32 / 2005 MK5 GTI / 1998 MK4 GTI / 1997 B5 A4 MTM

5-pot

?The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.? - Thucydides (Ancient Greek historian and author, 460-404bc)

- 1990 Coupe quattro - R.I.P.
- 1988 90 quattro project... Sold
- 2005 Golf 2.0 TDI

the phantom

when I used to do a lot of work on my own Citroen GS I was convinced that the primary motivation of the French design engineers was racial hatred of the Morrocans and Turks who assenbled the things!
Land Transport New Zealand, taking the fun out of driving since August 2008

BB

Quote from: 5-pot on April 18, 2012, 02:11:16 PM
is it a silver auto 5-door?

That's the one :laugh:
Oh well I have the mount hole retapped and I have pretty much all the bits I need now bar a small plastic connecting tube that snapped off that goes right in front of the cam cover.
They couldn't identify what it is and it is probably sold as a complete hose which would be ok if I knew which one it was, its a pain to pull off the other ends of this hose to look for numbers etc.
I would just find a small bit of copper or alloy pipe to use but of course they have made one end bigger than the other ::)
I could find a thicker walled bit of bigger pipe and lathe the other end smaller but what a dick around. ::) ::)
I have also been told pipeline in Rosebank road are a goldmine for such things so I may visit there tomorrow.
Everyone say's just charge the customer more but you can't really.

  Thank god for the jap cars in between the Euros eh.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

RS ZWEI

Surely the A3 Turbo is just the same as a Mk4 GTI?
1980 VW Golf GTI Track Car
1995 Audi RS2
2003 Mini Cooper S (Written off - rear ended)
2005 Mini Cooper S
2006 Skoda Octavia vRS Combi
2009 Renault Megane 230 R26 (Written off - rear ended)
2013 Renault Megane RS265 Redbull RB8

BB

Well apart from the little plastic connecter this is all back together.
Its actually not so bad.
I mean its not good and did take a lot longer than a well designed car but hey you can do it and then they may well be a nice car to drive.
I just have to always view cars from a mechanics perspective, and that is  a drag really :P

In the end the main thing to do is not get obsessed with getting that mount out of the way. You just keep going and remove the gas tensioner and then you can get the mount out to do the rest.
Yes it was a bit of a pain fitting it all back in with that mount flopping around but we got there.
Make sure you lube all the bolts that go straight into alloy or they can ruin the threads like that mount did.

Some other mechanic had been in there and not done up all the bolts he had mucked around with ??? He had replaced the dip stick tube (wonderful aren't they) and not done it properly or done the bolts up. He also left the drive belt bolts completely loose :P

The gearbox needs a service now but it is a strange one with no sump at the bottom. Vag make so many different gearboxes!

Hope this thread helps any people wanting to do there A3 cambelt :)
Or entertains you listening to me have a whinge ;)
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

BB

Quote from: RS ZWEI on April 19, 2012, 09:27:20 AM
Surely the A3 Turbo is just the same as a Mk4 GTI?

Quite possibly Nik. I have only done the A4 belts so far.
In the end as I say not so bad really just as long as you don't go mad trying to remove that mount before you remove the gas tensioner.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

5-pot

Heh. I think you might be working on my brother's car
?The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.? - Thucydides (Ancient Greek historian and author, 460-404bc)

- 1990 Coupe quattro - R.I.P.
- 1988 90 quattro project... Sold
- 2005 Golf 2.0 TDI

BB

Yes I am :) I got vexed at that mount but its all going ok now.
Have even found a nice little copper piece for the hoses.
Just have to do the trans fluid and its done.
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

jared18t

My mk4 was a breeze, must be different.  The v8 was annoying how much crap had to come off but still logical.
99 GTI Stage 2
Audi quattro V8.......

And I am now on first name basis with my BP attendant

80 Vert

Jem hates VAG  ;D
I don't find them a problem to work on, A3 is the same layout as a MK4 GTI.
2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

BB

So does that mount get in the way on the mk4 gti?
Its a pain, but I must admit when I did this post I thought it was going to be a worse problem than it was. I was thinking how the hell do I get that out and the first shop I rang said move the motor around and that was not going to be that easy I thought, but I'm glad the other guy said just work around it, which turned out pretty easy really to be honest.
Is how I described the way you do them Vert?
I also just left the fuel hose on and worked around them.
I hate the sumps and the fact there is no central jacking point.
This car has had a whack on its gearbox but its ok, has got a chunk out tho.
Hard to get the plastic top camcover out.
If you run this car for a min even when cold it runs the electric water pump for ages.
I don't really like all those gas tensioners and that small bearing
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

80 Vert

you remove the engine mount, dogbone mount and loosen the bolts on the trns mount and that allows the engine to slide over to the left a little while raised on the cambelt side making it pretty easy to get the bracket out leaving tons of room to change the cambelt.
2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

BB

I suggest it actually would be easier to do it the way I did it then.
To be honest it was quite easy to unbolt the gas tensioner and then the mount came out easy and it was not really hard to put it back that way either.

The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

80 Vert

Why complain about it so much then......... ::)
2010 T5 Transporter TDI  Tuned by Superior Tuning NZ
2003 Jetta Coupe soon to be R36TT
1991 Golf GTI 2.0 TSI swapped
1963 Type 34 Karmann Ghia, turbo 2.0
1990 Porsche 964 911 Carrera 4
1980 1303 Beetle vert, under restoration

BB

Well, at the time I thought how the hell am i going to get that stupid thing out of the way.
The japs would do it better they always do but yes I think I have admitted that maybe I was a little harsher than the reality :)

I can be a little like that.

Drama queen..........
The end is nigh, but the end of what is the question?

RS ZWEI

Why wouldnt you research the job before you went in all guns blazing? Then moan that its a POS?
Also, if Japanese cars are so much easier to work on why dont you turn the European work down and/or refer is elsewhere?
1980 VW Golf GTI Track Car
1995 Audi RS2
2003 Mini Cooper S (Written off - rear ended)
2005 Mini Cooper S
2006 Skoda Octavia vRS Combi
2009 Renault Megane 230 R26 (Written off - rear ended)
2013 Renault Megane RS265 Redbull RB8