Camshaft Change

A job you can do on your driveway, if you are reasonably competent

Tools required:

Parts required:



Step one.

Support front of car on axle stands and remove off-side front wheel (Not necessary if you only want to change the cam). Make sure the gearbox is in neutral.

Step two.

Remove the:

cam cover

pulley side spark plug

timing belt upper cover

alternator belt

crank pulley - be careful, mark the orientation of the notch of the crank sprocket on the pulley

And then the lower timing belt cover.

Refit the crank pulley on it`s correct orientation.

Look for the timing mark on the camshaft pulley, there are two so be careful, you are after the one on the "inside" of the pulley facing the camshaft. Using a 17mm socket on the pulley bolt turn clockwise until the mark meets the same level as the cylinder head at the rear (the manifold side). At this point the lobes of no. 1 cylinder on the cam should be in the open position. Check the timing marks on the crank pulley and intermediate sprocket are meeting, see diagram. And for a further check poke a screwdriver down the no. 1 spark plug hole, you should feel the piston top just below the hole.



At this point the engine is known as being at "top dead centre" We can now change the timing belt and camshaft, just be carefully not to move the sprockets, the intermediate sprocket will be very "loose" in comparison with the other sprockets.

Remove the crank pulley and the timing belt. To remove the timing belt loosen the 15mm nut holding the tensioner in place, no need to remove it unless you are changing it. The belt is then free to be removed.

If just changing the belt then scroll down a little..... or click here

If changing the cam but reusing the pulley you need to loosen the bolt holding it on, lock the cam in place by wedging a large screwdriver or similar through the cam pulley against the head and using a 17mm socket on a long bar undo the bolt.

*BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE THE HEAD, IF DEEMED NECESSARY USE SOMETHING INBETWEEN THE LOCKING DEVICE AND THE HEAD*

Remove the camshaft by loosening the nuts in a logical order. (Undo each nut just half a turn at a time going from one to it`s diagonal until the cam is loose, it will meet resistance as it`s being pushed up by some of the valve springs)

Step 3

Right, now as Mr Haynes would say, refitting is the reverse procedure of removal!

This is the easy bit which always makes me think "Have I missed something?!?"
OK so, if you are changing the cam pull the woodruff key out of the old cam and insert into new.
Fit the new (or old, whichever!) pulley onto the cam and tighten the bolt as much as you can, if using a new pulley line up the old pulley with it and mark on the timing marks.
Fit the cam, try and get the timing marks close to where they should be, again as with undoing the cam do it up bit by bit and diagonally to reduce the strain on any of the studs. Use a torque wrench to tighten to 15Lb/Ft or 20Nm
Using the same method as removal, tighten the cam pulley bolt up to the specified torque of 59Lb/Ft or 80Nm

This is the bit that I find difficult.... Put the new timing belt on! Sounds easy.... It needs to slide onto the sprockets without disturbing their positions which looks easy until you pull it tight and the intermediate sprocket moves. Keep on trying until it goes on right. It will probably help to temporarily refit the crank pulley with it`s timing mark to aid keeping everything together.
Once the belt is in place push the tensioner upwards to tighten the belt, if you are lucky enough to have access to the proper VW tool for tensioner tensioning - great! Otherwise I find that pushing a small screwdriver or pointy thing into the lower hole in the face of the tensioner will allow me to rotate the tensioner enough while tightening up the 15mm nut up to 33Lb/Ft or 45Nm.
When the belt is tight enough you should just be able to twist the belt through 90 degrees.

The rest is a simple case of putting it all back together:

the lower and upper timing belt cover and the cam cover, the crank pulley and alternator belt.
Refit the road wheel and drop the car back down.

Now make sure that everything is back together properly and that no tools are left anywhere they shouldn`t be and turn the key!



Good Luck!