# Is a cambelt change a DIY job?



## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

After reading a few horror stories on here, and a reminder from my local mechanic. I realise that my cambelt is due for a change.

I am mechanically minded, enjoy working on cars, have a decent set of tools and resonably experienced with working on cars (chanded discs and pads, thermostat, oil + filter, dropped the sump, changed pick up pipe, spark plugs etc).

Would changing the cam belf myself be a bridge to far? I have read several guides on doing it, and I think my biggest worry is setting the wrong by 1 tooth.

So before i potentially part with £500 odd quid, what do you think? What are the main pitfalls? or have I answered my question lol?


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## TTQ2K2 (Jun 25, 2009)

Yes, if you're strong. Not for the timid. 

BlueTTop's How To: http://public.fotki.com/BlueTTop/mods/timing-belt-replacement/

cheers


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## Garth (Feb 7, 2012)

I changed mine along with water pump, tensioners and alternator belt recently. I did it on the driveway with just your usual diy tools. It wasn't massively difficult but it's best to take your time. There are some great how to's out there so even a relative novice can do it if they follow the instructions


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## L33JSA (Jun 30, 2010)

Yes it is.

When doing a cambelt just make sure you check and double everything until you are completely happy the timing is set right.

Mark everything up - this will help you when you come to time it up.

Always turn the engine over a couple of times by hand before you start it and make sure all the marks line back up again afterwards.


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## woodey24 (Aug 14, 2011)

£500!, ive got 2 quotes for cambelt & water pump change...280+vat from a friends garage and 200 from a friend cash on side.


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## TT225C (Nov 14, 2012)

£200! Could save yourself £80 if you learnt to do it yourself


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## st3v3 (Apr 9, 2007)

Sure its a diy job, my advice would be to read up as much as you can on the subject, get as good an idea of how to do it before you start, see where others have had problems or made mistakes then have a go, worst case senario is you have to get a mobile mechanic to come and sort out your mess,at this point you have lost nothing.

As said if youre happy with what you have done,then turn over by hand for a good couple of turns making sure all marks line up afterwards.

i wont say good luck, but i hope you do well 8)


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## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

Thank you all for the encouragement and advice guys! I think I'm going to give it a try. Now my worry is that it's starting to get cold and ill be woking outside lol - but if I can change a thermostat in the rain I should be able to get through this.

Is it best to go all OEM for the kit or will a mix of eurocarparts with discount be ok - particularly with the hydraulic damper? Also any other things you wish you knew before you started the job would be great 

One more thing, I have a 180 TT aside from the charge pipe would the procedure be pretty much the same for a 180?


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## gunner (May 18, 2002)

I did my cam belt last year using the following guides http://109.87.33.216/manuals/auto/audi/7.pdf and http://www.amp82.co.uk/tt/timingbelt/

It took me around 3 days to complete the job, though I was going slowly as I had never attempted the job before.

One of the problems with changing the TT Cam-belt is gaining access to the water pump and other ancillaries. There's a fair amount of parts which need to be removed first including coolant header tank, steering fluid reservoir, engine mount console cam-belt covers etc.

Once the ancillaries are removed, changing the belt is relatively easy but be sure to use a new water pump and tensioning damper.

After fitting the new belt, its critically importance is to ensure the timing marks line up. I turned the engine over several times and triple checked the marks align.

I used a timing belt kit made by Conti available from euro car parts. It came complete with the the all important tensioning damper which should be replaced as it can cause the belt to snap if its seized. I also used a new metal impeller water pump, new power steering belt and new stretch bolts for the engine mounting console. I flushed the cooling system and used triple x pink G12+ antifreeze from euro car parts.


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## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

gunner said:


> I used a timing belt kit made by Conti available from euro car parts. It came complete with the the all important tensioning damper which should be replaced as it can cause the belt to snap if its seized. I also used a new metal impeller water pump, new power steering belt and new stretch bolts for the engine mounting console. I flushed the cooling system and used triple x pink G12+ antifreeze from euro car parts.


Is it the hydraulic damper you are refering to? was it an original part you replaced it with or a patern part?
I ask because the Audi tensioner (from TPS) seems to be around double the price of the other makes :? I get the impression from other posts that this and the water pump are the parts most likely to cause a failure, so I'm thinking they shoud be OEM and not equivalent parts? - Not trying to go cheap, but why spend moe if you dont have to?

Also a bit of a cheeky favour to ask: anyone resonably near to London (or mabe Welwyn Garden City - where I work) have a Halfords trade card I could use? I need to get some new torque wenches as im tired of doing conversions to use mine. I will come to/workaround you and throw in a beer token/beverage of choice/ IOU as a thanks.


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## Garth (Feb 7, 2012)

The conti tech kit uses OEM parts and is great value from ecp ;-)


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## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

Garth said:


> The conti tech kit uses OEM parts and is great value from ecp ;-)


Thanks Garth, did you get your hydraulic tensioner and water pump from the same place?


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## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

So I think I have everything I need for this job now, except 1 thing... What thread locker do you use for this job? Some day loctite red :!: , some say blue others say none .... Or is Audi high temp thread locker completely different?


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## Gone (May 5, 2009)

Don't know about the thread locker, but good luck with it. I wouldn't attempt this one myself just yet, but that's just me.

What can possibly go wrong?

Timing wrong, hurt engine
Can't complete, end up with car undriveable and needing mobile mechanic or recovery to sort it
Resale value dropped because buyer doesn't trust your work - he wants to see a receipt from a trusted indy etc

The latter point is reasonable I think, after all it's standard advice on this forum for buyers not to take risks on cambelt service intervals.

You're saving yourself £400 now but you'll probably lose it when/if you sell up


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## poor1 (Dec 28, 2011)

On the other hand if you've got a guy doing it for £200.00 and he's competent, its not worth getting your hands dirty.

If that includes parts, there is no profit margin there for him.


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## adajason (Feb 4, 2010)

Gone Ape said:


> Don't know about the thread locker, but good luck with it. I wouldn't attempt this one myself just yet, but that's just me.
> 
> What can possibly go wrong?
> 
> ...


 :? hmmm you have me thinking twice now, I was excited by the idea of doing it myself, however, I cant fault your logic


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## aaron_tt (Sep 18, 2012)

In answer to the OP no it's not a DIY job at all. Yes some people probably would be able to fumble their way through it. But unless you 100% know your way around these kind of jobs and to be honest id say before doing a TT cambelt if you haven't already done a few easier ones on other engines definitely dont even attempt it. Cambelt on these cars definitely aren't the easiest due to the access issues. My thoughts on it but up to you.


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## gunner (May 18, 2002)

If you are reasonably competent with spanners, and have done some basic car repairs on cars before, then I believe it is possible to change the cam belt by yourself. Judging by the sound of the previous work done, I would say you are well qualified.

There is nothing especially difficult with the TT cam belt, the main problems are getting sufficient access to get to the belt itself and having the confidence to get everything spot on especially the timing.

Like I said earlier, it took me 3 days to do. I carefully studied the online guides before tackling the job and went very slowly taking photos when necessary. I made sure that the belt, tensioning damper, water pump etc were replaced by OEM quality parts from ECP.

The key issue for cam belt replacement is to get the timing spot on. You need to turn the engine over several times to ensure the 3 timing marks align (i.e. crank pinion raised mark, camshaft sprocket mark and flywheel mark all line up as shown in the guides). The other difficulty I found was getting the belt onto the crank pinion. There is not much slack in the belt and you need to guide the belt onto the crank pinion whilst turning the crank. One of the guides suggests using zip ties to help ease the belt on and this helped when I tried.

I you get as far as getting the belt on and engine timed then its simple reassembly from then onwards. If you have used OEM quality components then the chances are you will succeed and will have learn't a lot in the process.

I have done over 8k on my new belt with no issues and to be honest I dont think it would affect the resale value much especially as my car is 11 years old with 120k on the clock.

By the way, I use blue loctite as it allows for subsequent dis-assembly unlike red which is intended for permanently locked threads.


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## brasiliangringo (Mar 6, 2014)

There is a far more easy way to fit the cambelt than in the guide using cable ties to pull it on to the crank sprocket (!!!)

Fit the cambelt over the cambelt sprocket at TDC, around coolant pump then down to crank sprocket. Now check flywheel mark for crank TDC and hold belt tight down and line it up with the corresponding sprocket groove then with part of the belt on the bottom right hand side of the sprocket, wind the crank bolt clockwise with a ratchet, the rest of the belt will then roll itself around to the other side of the crank sprocket. Keep winding the crank round a few revolutions to check and the belt will naturally take the path of least resistance and centre itself.. You can verify marks still line up which they will assuming you got the belt tooth on the correct sprocket groove. You wont hurt anything if you are a tooth or two out so dont worry about the valves.

They dont teach you this in the manuals im afraid


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## reza_q (Oct 17, 2010)

Not sure where you are based my friend but if you are close to Chelmsford in Essex I recommend Auditec.

They complete a belt and waterpump change using genuine Audi bits for £389 fitted with 2 year warranty.

Sometimes its just not worth doing especially when the consequences would be catastrophic!

Good luck if you give it a go though.


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## John Stratton (Jun 20, 2010)

reza_q said:


> Not sure where you are based my friend but if you are close to Chelmsford in Essex I recommend Auditec.
> 
> They complete a belt and waterpump change using genuine Audi bits for £389 fitted with 2 year warranty.
> 
> ...


But are they replacing the Hydraulic Tensioner for that price , probably not !! All well and good if it's included but without the component to keep the belt tight it may be false economy.


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## Otley (May 15, 2013)

Check out the date of OP!
It's safe to say it's been done by now.


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## radddogg (Mar 15, 2014)

Did mine today. If you class yourself as a DIY mechanic then yes its a DIY job. If you don't then its not :mrgreen:

I found the guide here (2 of the 3 guides are dead links) useful but quite long winded. I'm not convinced marking the belt is entirely necessary as the flywheel and cam sprocket are marked for a reason - line it up, remove belt, check marks are lined up, fit new belt, twirl crank, double check marks, pull pin on damper.

Also didn't see the need for the zip ties. I fitted the belt around the cam sprocket first then worked back around the tensioner to the crank then easily slipped over the water pump. Checked timing marks. Jobs a good un.

The hardest thing was the back engine mount bracket bolt.

I would say the most important thing when working on cars is having a good enough tool set.


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## brasiliangringo (Mar 6, 2014)

Otley said:


> Check out the date of OP!
> It's safe to say it's been done by now.


Maybe but the link still gets hits on google and two years of bad advice isn't so good, so if i can save someone else some ballache and cable ties, then that's no bad thing 

A good analogy to winding the cambelt around the crank is like how we would wind a bicycle chain around the sprocket when the chain comes off.

Also you need to completely remove the right engine mount (lowering the engine on a jack supported on sump) and to replace fit the belt between it, fitting coolant pump AFTER.


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## brasiliangringo (Mar 6, 2014)

Marking the old belt before removal and transferring those marks made on sprockets and belt to the new one serves as a reference point and useful way of double checking the new belt goes on correctly (assuming all was in TDC before) so handy to verify you are not a tooth out and have the belt correctly in place.


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## poor1 (Dec 28, 2011)

Despite the fact that many owners do change their own cambelts and make light of it, it is quite an involved job for anyone who has not tackled a similar job before and in addition to the restricted access it needs a lot of care and understanding of what you are doing and it's a fight all the way. To do it properly need a comprehensive set of tools, a floor jack, stands and torque wrenches to suit. The consequences of not getting it right are disastrous. The advice is if you have not got the equipment and unsure get it done professionally, it might save you a lot of money in the long run..


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## roddy (Dec 25, 2008)

I notice that the OP never came back to say if he was successful !!  
good on all you who have done it yourselves


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## radddogg (Mar 15, 2014)

I come from a great Rover enthusiasts site called rovertech.net. I had a reasonable mechanical experience prior to joining rovertech but the community is very close knit so when we ran into trouble the community would always lend a hand. I helped a fellow member change the dash in his car and when my waterloo failed and cooked my head another user helped me change the head gasket. I in turn passed on this favour to another member when he overheated his car on a track day.

So I'd hope this community could work in the same way. If someone wanted to attempt such a job I'd gladly spend my afternoon offering guidance, reassurance and any tools needed in return for an endless supply of tea and a good chat!

If anyone is in the Lancashire area and ever needs a hand twirling spanners give me a shout and if I'm free I'll help out of i can. Spanner twirling isn't difficult, but sometimes you need a bit of reassurance.


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## dopeyonspeed (May 17, 2012)

Never over with a rover . I had 3 vvc tomcats before the tt and also was a member of rovertech forum and very helpful.


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## radddogg (Mar 15, 2014)

I had a few including three tomcats, one being a jap spec turbo.

Plenty of bang for your buck and very moddable


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