[2.sloeturbo b6]

A little background on the project at hand. This was my father's passat, when he passed away my brother got possession of the car. He drove it for about a year till it went into limp mode. Brought it to the stealership to diagnose the problem. Was found that the cam follower was chewed up pretty bad. The high pressure fuel pump was also damaged. So after sitting for 5 or so years in my mom's garage I'm at a stable point financially to repair and upgrade this beast. Let the madness begin!

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

DISCLAIMER! Do not do what i did, buy the bentley manual it will be alot easier. First step of every good project, crack an ice cold beer and make sure all the parts you need are on hand and neatly stacked on your cart.(I also took 5 trips to the parts store to get everything I needed) full updated parts list will be compiled at the completion of project.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

Disconect the battery before working on the vehicle. Step two is to remove air box and all lines attached to the valve cover. Remove the two wire harnesses attached to the hpfp and bleed the remaining fuel from the shraider valve on the driver side of the hpfp. Remove the two lines attached to the front bottom of the hpfp. Remove hpfp 3 bolts t-30. I removed the battery and battery tray for more room, I'm not sure I really needed to do that but it made installation at the end much easier. At this point you can take the cam timing chain cover off as well. I replaced the cam chain, tensioner and gasket when I put everything back together. The dealership already did all this for me so no pictures of any of that part. Remove upper timing belt cover before removing valve cover. Remove the valve cover in a cicular patten starting in the middle and work from the center out to the edges. That's all for this week's update I'll be posting updates weekly probably on wensdays if you want to follow along!

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

A little foreshadowing perhaps...

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

For this project you need a couple of specialty tools. For the exaust camshaft chain tensioner you need a specific bit. I don't have it with me right now but I'll post a picture when I get the chance. A camshaft locking tool is also a must. There are plenty of options on these don't get a cheap one. I fabricated my own cam locking tool more info on that later. So on to step three, remove the exaust camshaft tensioner bolt. I did this whole project by myself, I would recommend having a friend help with this one. To break the bolt loose I used a 3 foot, half inch drive breaker bar and a 18 mil. box wrench on the exaust camshaft not ideal but it worked.( I didn't fabricate the cam locking tool yet) You really need to get on it to get that bolt out, I punched myself in the eye when the bolt broke loose it was great. Remove the accessory belt and tensioner(probably didn't need to remove the tensioner but I did) remove accessory drive pully from the crankshaft. I used a electric impact gun to remove if you dont have something like that use a 19mil wrench with a 12 point to hold it in place when removing the 6 bolts.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

I removed the wheel liner in the front and then removed the two turbo pipes leading from the intercooler. Next up is to remove the engine mount. These bolts are torque to yield and need to be replaced. Place a jack stand or engine stand under the side of the engine you are removing the mounts from. I removed the bolts that connect the two pieces of the motor mounts then the mount attached to the frame. You can leave the motor mount on the block until you take the lower timing belt cover off. I had to jack the engine all the way up to remove the two top bolts. I worked around the engine mount until I got the bottom cover off there are two hidden bolts behind exaust cam timing belt pully. Mark the timing belt at the top and bottom witness marks on the rear timing belt cover. You will see the arrow at the top. I painted the belt and the covers so it was easier to visually line it all back up when reinstalling everything.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

Step 4 is to detension the timing belt and remove it. If you are replacing the water pump this is the time to do it(put a bucket under the car before removing the water pump or you will make a huge mess) I forgot my bucket and dumped about a gallon of coolant on the floor(sorry mom) At this point I replaced the tensioner, the stud the tensioner was attached to and the two rollers for the timing belt(use the Bently manual and torque everything to spec) that's all for this week's update I'll see you all next wensday.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

Sorry everyone I was training a new guy at work last week so I didn't have time to do my weekly update.( I'm writing this on my down time at work wensday is my end off the work week) this is going to be a good update we are reaching the point where we are reinstalling parts so thats exciting.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

Remove the camshaft cradle the same way you remove the valve cover in a cicular patten starting from the center. There was one little hiccup with removing the cradle there is a stud that's attached to the block to support the air box I just bent it slightly to get it out of the way. (reinstall was a little bit more difficult but it is possible with out removing it) I have a parts cleaning tank at work so I scrubbed everything I removed before reinstalling. I couldn't remove the exaust camshaft timing belt pully until I removed the cradle. 1/2 inch impact took it right out though. That bolt is torque to yield so it needs replaced. The bolt came with the washer as well.( a good rule to follow is if the part comes with the kit replace it if you can. That goes for seals as well) I replaced the exaust camshaft seal as well when I reinstalled everything. If you see the pictures above the exaust cam is tapered so it only goes on one way. It is also keyed so don't lose that little piece when removing and don't forget to put it back before reinstalling.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

Welcome back to 2.sloe's nightmare wrenching party this is your host speaking hope everyone is doing well. Lots of fun this time around, only a small amount of crying took place for this update. So everything is now removed and time to reinstall, had to break out the burbon for this update it gets rough. All the timing components are in place and bolted down to spec, on to the fun stuff. I didn't get as many pics for this half of the journey sorry. Grab your go to assembly lube and lube up your camshafts and place them in the head. Grab your new bolts for the camshaft cradle and get ready for some fun. Everything dropped right into place and the timing will be slightly off until you get your timing belt back on. Follow the proper sequence for installing the bolts I snugged down the bolts in the proper sequence in several stages making sure not to mess up my gasket material when placing and tightening down the cradle. I counted out the teeth on the new belt from my timing marks on the old belt just to be safe and slapped that bad boy in place. Make sure to have the slack of the belt on the tensioner side and tension the belt lining up the arrow on the tensioner to the slot on the front and torque to spec. Now getting the cam chain to pop back into time was a pita so take your time because the tension needs to sit flush with the exaust cam. If the cam locking tool I had fabricated fit this would of been much easier. I ended up using a 11mm box wrench(i stuck a 6 inch 3/8 drive extention in the end of the wrech for leverage) in the slot that the vacuumed pump sits in to slightly push back on the intake cam to pop it into place. I already replaced the oil fed tensioner bolted to the block before installing the chain.(when removing the old tensioner make sure the small screen comes out with the old one) torque the exaust cam chain tensioner to spec and torque to yield. Make sure your marks line back up on the intake cam to verify you didn't jump a tooth. I turned the engine over at least 5 times using the 19mm crankshaft bolt and made sure everything was playing nicely. Reinstall the plastic lower timing cover and the engine mount at the same time. Replace the bolt for the engine mount as these are also torque to yield. Reinstall your engine mount to the frame and torque to spec. I did a full coolant flush and filled er up with g12evo because it is pink and it looks cool. I left the upper timing belt cover off to see the belt and verify everything was ok before reinstalling the top timing cover.reinstall the valve cover and attach all lines that were removed in the beginning. Reinstall the battery and get ready to cruise the streets! I left the air box off to verify the work before reinstalling.

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

I threw some gas in and prayed to the vw gods that I didn't jump timing when reinstalling everything. I proceed to try and start the car and I get crank but no start. (This is when the crying took place) so now what? What are we missing? Air? Spark? Fuel? Fist things first I didn't hear the tell tail sign of my low pressure fuel pump priming the system. (I verified that by checking the pressure with vag-com) I already had the rear seat removed for another reason I'll get to that later) the only fuel related codes I was pulled were fuel pump relay so I ran to the local auto parts store and grabbed a new one and popped it in. Still no priming( I lied I also cried after this too) so I fabricated a fused jumper to test the fuel pump and she popped right on.so not the low pressure fuel pump or the relay! On to the next diagnosis. I also pulled a ecm open ground fault as well so that was the next guess. So I spent a hour or so removing and cleaning all the ground points I could find and clearing all the codes.(I'll grab pictures of all the ground points and where they are located in the engine compartment for next week's update) make another prayer to the vw gods and give her a crank. Fuel! So I have fuel pressure now, the ground for the ignition coils was pretty rusty. Cranked it over for a good 30 seconds and it started and ran for a total of 5 seconds before stalling out. Proceed to repeat that for about 20 minutes and have another good cry. So now I'm looking at the alternator thinking that's the problem. Removed and tested the alternator at a local parts store and it was bad.(replacing the alternator was terrible, getting it in and out was a pita. When everything was reinstalled I grabbed the keys and went for test number two. Now I'm getting crank and no start and I begin to cry again for the 1000th time on this project. That's all for this week's update stay tuned for next week's update I'm sure there will be more crying involved!

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]

 

[2.sloeturbo b6]