Timing belt, Water pump, idlers, pulleys, etc for 2.5tdi

Hi again,

I am looking at so many kits it's driving me round the bend, I have looked at so many now it's confusing!!

KP25557XS-1 - £192 - Gates, any good?
CT1015WP1 - £247 - Contitech

Adamss24 has posted he uses only Contitech belts (seen in a few posts) but the kit from Conti is £50 more expensive, I am also contemplating the TPS ones as they are official Audi and come to around £250 but without the crank pulley (none of the above come with the pulley but it's a painful price to pay official Audi!!).

If I am missing any parts then please advise as it has nearly 200k on her but a nice refresh would do the world of good I think!

The thermostat has gone otherwise I would happily have a day out in London and leave it with you Chris but unfortunately, I wouldn't want to put that much mileage on her as she stands!

Any chance someone can shed some light as to which kit and why?
Also, any good offers on crank pulleys anywhere?

Thanks again

Hi guys, busy Easter!!!

adamss24 said:

If you need a good crank pulley then i have a few here at the garage. Sorry, did not have much time to look at your file, the best way to see a good map is by driving it and logging a few measuring blocks ! Just looking at code and a few 3D maps does not tell me much especially if the tuner who done it modified all the parallel maps, some ECU's have thousands !

I would look at genuine timing belt kits, they use Contitech belts but have no timing belt tensioner bracket- it's available extra from dealer now !

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Chris, do you have something against Gates? I don't mean this in a provocative manner it's just that I have always used them on my previous cars and use them to date with absolutely no issues. I have found their quality to be excellent, I always thought they were probably the best that you can buy as every garage I have been to says "Gates every time", maybe just these sheep huggers down this way.

Not trying to cause a debate just not knowledgeable on this engine and weary of buying the wrong thing, a case of go with the products you've had good results with but if I am wrong then its always worth the extra few quid!!

AlexGSi2000 said:

Do you need a crank pulley? I was under the impression they dont really wear?
I have used conti-tech in the past without any issues but now using Dayco HT.
Would probably be worth doing your fuel pump, aux & air-con belts at the same time.
Are you replacing the water-pump too? I would definatley consider it.

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I am replacing everything AlexGSi2000, I didn't realize the crank pulleys didn't wear, I just had the urge to be thorough!

I am going to do every belt, all glow plugs, filters and service parts necessary including water pump and thermostat to have her up to date and running A1, hopefully last another 200k!!!

Anyone recommend Magnatec 5w40 or would you go Mobil1 equivalent or even 0w40?

AlexGSi2000 said:

Dont quote me on it, but I dont think the crank pulleys wear.
Mine has 184k at the moment, when I did the belts @ 170k it seemed fine.

Are you doing the work yourself? They are pretty good engines to work on, just be thorough and note locations of everything you remove. (I left a bolt loose on the large aluminium bracket that covers the cambelt/waterpump - ended up having to tear the thing down again to tighten up!
You will need VCDS to time the fuel pump correctly.
Probably a good idea to check fuel pump timing using VCDS before you start the work, as this will ensure the sensor on the 3rd injector is working as it should. It can be difficult to find correct fuel pump timing after removing belts.etc without the 3rd injector (needle lift sensor) working.

How are your camshafts?

A good branded fully synthetic oil is what you need, I use 5-40 as opposed to the standard 5-30 as it provides better protection at higher temperatures for the valvetrain, which can be a weak point on these 2.5's.
Currently using Shell Helix Ultra, I would definatley stick to the bigger brands, but choose Castrol Edge over Magnatec.

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I am going to check the pulley as the car has been standing for around 4 months and I have given her a bit of an "opening" over the past week, not being too adventurous as the thermostat is stuck open so don't want to do any permanent damage!!

I am a stickler for leaving bolts in their place wherever possible and being a ****** for organization (when I want to be) so I will have a fresh typ-ex pen handy to mark every single position!

I currently have VCDS-Lite, do I need to upgrade for the timing or will the lite version do? I have read in some posts that you can time the pump with the lite version but then again, no confirmation! I will do a "pre" and "post" scan of the timing, just hope the "post" doesn't attach a "mortem"!

I have seen that the camshafts do go on these and make a hell of a noise but I would like to see (or hear even) a clear video of a slightly failing camshaft as mine sound absolutely fine to my non-professional ears, I really have no quabble with how they sound as the engine is really quiet and smooth as it stands, maybe this one has been so well looked after it hasn't erupted in CamNokenShlachen (or whatever they call it lol)!

I think I am actually going to go with Mobil1 0w40 (unless stressed otherwise) as I did put some in the Mrs' Scenic 1.5dci and the thing sprouted a new life, 12k on and it's due a good overall service but it starts first time, runs 72mpg long distance and 54mpg round town (I know, the thing will not die, and I have tried to kill it but it's just too ****** stubborn!).

adamss24 said:

Hi, Gates are good- i used them before and had no problem with their belts whatsoever, however i had a Dayco belt break on me a few years ago and stopped using their belts ever since on larger engines that do loads of torque !

As Alex mentioned, crank pulleys do not wear but i have had a few which de-bonded from the metal core and they made a right old chatter on idle and part load. If there's nowt obvious with it then i would leave it alone and concentrate on the other ancillaries- please pay attention to the aux. belt tensioner as it wears with high mileage and it's a pain to repair if not experienced...

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Chris, I hear you, something about the join line on the Daycos that doesn't do it for many people!! I don't understand though, I watched Wheeler Dealers a while back anf they bought a Lambo (Old School) and I saw the belt "Dayco", I thought, "WTF?" must be different manufacturing for high class motors and not to mention the price tag, I can just imagine some sweat shop in little china skipping quality control on the stitching, lol!

I have actually bought the Gates kit KP25557XS-1 as it seems more appealing than Conti and comes more complete, we shall see in the future if I will be proven wrong but after doing about 20 belts on cars over the years, Gates have never failed me once so I feel I must "stick with what you know" although I do appreciate the comment highlighting their "goodness" , now for the Aux belts etc ...

All I can say is it's probably going to take me longer to do it than a lot of others on here to make sure I do everything "by the book" so I can really enjoy her as she drives like a dream, I had an S4 before this and it was a rattly bag of spanners in comparison!

Chris, any chance you can enlighten me as to the "aux. belt tensioner" procedure? any guides online I can follow to the proverbial "T"?

Many thanks for your time guys and I hope you had a great Easter, I spent it working and clearing my garden, only 4 more trips to the tip to do!!

First of all, a massive thanks to @adamss24 for your help via telephone, made a huge difference on time!!

Well, it took just under 2 full days and me helping a mechanic friend to pull it all apart and slap it all back together!! (it was the first time he had done a 2.5tdi so we took our time).

Turned over smoothly after placing the belts on, started first time and sounded a bit "cam"y???? Maybe they are worn after me using it for so long without giving it a good service first.

All together I have replaced the Timing belt, Guides, tensioners, Auxiliary Belts, Thermostat, Water Pump, Ram and even a new expansion tank as the one on it was just too used and ugly, £15 from ECP, bargain! I used all Gates belts and what came in their kits like the water pump, idlers, tensioners, etc.

She's all back together now with the EGR fully blanked (3 plates) but I do still have a few issues after replacing all that could be replaced:

1 - I experienced a sudden "second boost" whilst driving home from the mechanic's, it almost felt like it hesitated then gave be a whack of boost and wanted to really take off!

2 - Loud cams and vibration still coming from somewhere after checking all the drive shafts, prop, middle bearing and diff.

3 - Idle vibrations (although I may have diagnosed that as flywheel) intermittently!

4 - Smoke coming from the oil filler cap (this has me wondering if I have caused something due to blanking the EGR off???)

Maybe (silly error) the boost issue may be down to me plugging the EGR back in (vacuum hose) so I shall experiment blanking that tomorrow and take it for a run to see if I can replicate the issue.

The cams and engine are now louder, so much so I cannot hear someone talking from a few meters away if I have my head anywhere in the engine bay, normal?

As for the vibration on idle, well, will have to see but it had a new clutch around 50,000 ago, maybe the flywheel was fine then?

I think that if I have to do the cams then I would go for better heads, maybe BDG? Any opinions?

Also, has anyone remapped this model as Blacksmoke look quite good via their "request a file"???

Thanks again!