# Replaced serpentine belt and antifreeze DIY. V6



## Treggone (Jun 18, 2005)

Just replaced serpentine belt and coolant at 100k miles, never replaced. On a V6 Touareg
Got Gates belt from OReilly auto parts next day free delivery $71, dealer at @180.
Idle pulley at autogeek parts for $51, dealer at $110.

One Hex M8 about two inches long bolt at lowes.
One gallon VW coolant $24 at dealer and two gallons of distilled water.

The serpentine belt took about twenty minutes. 

Just insert the hex bold on the belt tensioner and slowly reduce the tension to loose the belt.
Remember the diagram or write it down.
















To remove the idle pulley just remove the plastic cover with a small screw driver and remove the bold, install the new one and insert new cover.

















Install new belt and look for the direction of the belt. follow the diagram and route it, it took a little work to get it on the tensioner. 

Once in place unscrew the bolt to apply tension and guide the belt for proper alignment. 









-To remove coolant with a warn engine temp to have thermostat open.
-Remove reservoir cap.
-Remove the skid plate and place a container to properly dispose of old coolant since it is very poisonous. 
-Remove clamp for the Hose located on the passenger side that goes to the bottom of the radiator. 
-Loose Hose and release old coolant, if you bend the hose down more coolant will be release.
-Put hose back with clamp and fill out with distilled water and run engine with heater on and repeat process twice to clean the system. I did not wanted to use a flush cleaner due that it was not that dirty.








-Once all water is out I did use a shop vacuum with very low suction that fit on the hose and took about one liter of water with coolant.
-Fill out with VW coolant 50/50 mix, run engine with heater at max for twenty minutes and refill.

Took about half and hour. Saved a lot of money from what I was quoted at the dealer.


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## Jxander (Aug 5, 2008)

Great post. I have a V8 and have done the serpentine belt but have not replaced the idler pulley nor done a coolant renew. Your writeup would also be useful for V8 owners. Good technique on fluid replacement. Lots of people ignore the heater core trapping old coolant.

Thanks.

Jim X


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## rob64jeanne (Apr 25, 2019)

Treggone said:


> Just replaced serpentine belt and coolant at 100k miles, never replaced. On a V6 Touareg
> Got Gates belt from OReilly auto parts next day free delivery $71, dealer at @180.
> Idle pulley at autogeek parts for $51, dealer at $110.
> 
> ...





Treggone said:


> Just replaced serpentine belt and coolant at 100k miles, never replaced. On a V6 Touareg
> Got Gates belt from OReilly auto parts next day free delivery $71, dealer at @180.
> Idle pulley at autogeek parts for $51, dealer at $110.
> 
> ...


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## rob64jeanne (Apr 25, 2019)

I realize this is a reply to an old post, but has anyone gotten a recent quote from VW for changing the serpentine belt. I have a 99 Rialta 12V VR6 and VW says it's $380 to replace just the belt for a VW dealer in northern VA. With the Rialta you do have to drop the belly pan at least part way and work from the bottom but this seemed high. Anyone have any recent quotes for the VR6 12V engines? I would be tempted to change the belt and tensioner pulley my self, but have about one foot of working space in my garage once the Rialta is pulled in.


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