# Need some help removing v belts on 1985 quantum td plus some timing belt questions plus some more questions



## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

Hi everyone im new to the forum as i've recently bought a quantum 1.6td... i'm changing the timing belt first time- got the bentley manual, dial gauge and other stuff... after taking the radiator fans off i don't know how to take the 2 middle v belts off-the water pump and compressor ones i believe they are(the bentley doesnt really help here)...so theres a total of 4 belts.. the left one on alternator i loosen and push down and belt should come free... the far right one same thing... loosen steering pump and belt becomes loose... but the problem is on two middle ones- i don't know how to loosen the compressor one and water pump one(do i just remove water pump pulley bolts and thats it?- belt comes off).. and how do i remove the engine mount to free the compressor belt once its loose? do i need to put wood under engine then push back engine or something to remove mount? i attached some pics, ...

as for the timing belt i have two questions- 1st... do i keep the injector pump pin locked in place in the pulley when i tighten the tensioner? or do i remove the bolt when i tension the tensioner?- im asking this because i read somewhere to not keep the injector pin in when tightening the tensioner because only half of the belt will be in proper tension not full all the way around... and the second question is should i use a skf tensioner or ina tensioner? the skf tensioner one spins more freely between my fingers and the ina one doesnt really have that loose spin to it as the skf one does. i asked a mechanic and he said he would use the ina one instead? can someone explain why he would choose the ina one as it has less 'spin' to it

thirdly i was thinking of using fleetguard restore to clean out cooling system... then should i fill it with conventional green napa coolant or the oem blue g11 pentosin? and should i run 50/50 or 40 coolant/ 60 distilled because its not too cold where im at... as for oil filter i was thinking either wix 51191 or mann 940/25 but i noticed the wix has more holes on top and man has like 4- don't know if this means anything? as for oil i was thinking either rotella 15w 40 or super tech 15w 40...

thanks if anyone can help


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## Phaeton4me (Jul 24, 2017)

The belt adjustment is a split pulley on the crank for the a/c belt, split pulley on the water pump with shims for both. Alternator and power steering each have conventional adjustment. You have to work your way in if I remember correctly, power steering first so you can remove the pulley on the crank, (4 nuts) which holds the outer pulley half for the a/c belt. Once removed (pay attention to shim placement), you can replace the alternator belt. My experience with that belt (alternator) was that it had to be the OE belt because of odd length and degree of wrap on small pulley. You alao have access to the water pump belt now which is split pulley on pump. Pay attention to shims there also. The trick is going back with new belts. May take several shim adjustments to tension correctly and you must rotate crank after each light snug on the bolts to allow belt to climb out into the pulley and tighten. Very easy to bend pulley by over tightening a bolt during this process. The worst part is after bottoming, you may need to remove or add a shim to get tension correct. Like Goldilocks, not too loose or too tight but just right. Allow for very slight belt stretch after several thousand miles. Remember all shims go back in but how many are between pulley halves is the adjustment. This is a several hour job working from underneath with the fan shrouds removed. Good luck! 
I put probably close to a million miles on Quantum TD's between my mom's, wife's, mine and spare over a 30 year span. Really good cars if you can twiddle your own wrenches.
Mark


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## Phaeton4me (Jul 24, 2017)

Just read the rest of the thread. I used Rotella 15W-40 conventional oil and replaced oil every 2500 miles for many years. The factory recommendation was 5000 miles. I eventually switched to Rotella synthetic and changed at 5k intervals without issue. You might want to replace the O-ring on top of the oil cooler next oil change because they will crack with age and spray oil everywhere. Also be sure to check that the filter gasket is not stuck to the oil cooler when filter is removed because will blow out on start up. The OE filter had 4 holes in it, that is what I used. Oil pressure on these engines will hit the pressure relief at 1000 rpm when cold over 100psi.

Regarding timing, been a while so I have to think about it because it is a very specific procedure and I gave all my books to the new owner two years ago with my fleet. Either tensioner is fine if new, bearings will have a preload that will make them a little snug rather than spin freely. 
Mark


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## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

thanks Mark, what do you think about how to go about taking off engine mount to get that one belt free stuck between it? should i unscrew the 2 near engine or 2 near radiator? or all 4? and do you know some torque specs for these screws? i don't think i found them in the manual...


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## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

also about timing i was thinking 1.00 or 1.05mm, which of these 2 do you think would give more mpg?


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## Phaeton4me (Jul 24, 2017)

All that front mount does is act as a snubber to constrain movement when starting/stopping engine and forward motion when slamming on brakes or jumping rr tracks. Should not touch on any side or front when at rest. So I would remove both chassis and motor sections when working on belts. Once again, I no longer have my reference material regarding timing. I woulsd always target the factory spec. I used to get around 45mpg on the sedan and 42-45 on the wagon. Both 5sp manuals. I believe EPA sticker on the automatic was 42mpg. My high was 52 mpg when traveling at the then speed limit of 55mph.
Mark


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## JettaGLi16v (Mar 6, 1999)

Phaeton4me covered most of it.

I've never had a Quantum, so I'm not familiar with the belts, but I can tell you the snubber mount is similar to other VAG products I've had, and you won't be able to remove the snubber mount by removing the two screws in the lower rad support. You'll have the remove the mount completely, so all screws from the engine and chassis. As Phaeton said, it's not under any tension at rest so no need to support the engine.

Regarding the timing, I'm very familiar with that. You'll want to rotate the engine to TDC, and install your cam lock (or an inside door hinge), and IP lock pin (or a 1/4" drive 5/16" socket), check your TDC mark on the flywheel, and remove the belt. When you re-install the belt, you must have your cam lock and IP pin installed, and make sure you're still on your TDC mark on the flywheel. The tensioner will take the slack out of the back side of the belt. It takes a little practice, but your cam and IP are fixed, and you don't want to pull the crack pulley off by a tooth. So you can bump the crack pulley forward (towards the IP pulley) so that when you pull the tensioner in, it takes up the slack and makes the belt taut across the front plane. I've always tensioned to being able to twist the belt 90 degrees between the cam and IP, and it's worked great for the decade plus I've been driving IDI VW cars.

Regarding timing, I think 1.0MM is the spec, but go with the Bentley on that one unless you have a modified injection pump. Then you go with the spec of the pump builder.

Good luck! It's not hard at all, just have to take you time and be detailed.

And as always, turn the engine two full rotations of the cam by hand before starting.


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## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

As i understand its best to keep ip lock pin when tightening... and move crank engine back a little off tdc a hair, then when tensioner is tightened it moves crank back to exactly tdc... the only thing thats troubling me is what phaeton said about v belt installation: 
''Pay attention to shims there also. The trick is going back with new belts. May take several shim adjustments to tension correctly and you must rotate crank after each light snug on the bolts to allow belt to climb out into the pulley and tighten. Very easy to bend pulley by over tightening a bolt during this process. The worst part is after bottoming, you may need to remove or add a shim to get tension correct. Like Goldilocks, not too loose or too tight but just right'' 

as im waiting on my v belts to come in the mail im still researching v belt installment...
i don't understand specifically this process of replacing v blets that much...''Very easy to bend pulley by over tightening a bolt during this process'', you may need to remove or add a shim to get tension correct''? i thought i just put the shims back in the way i took them off then just tighten the bolts to torque spec?


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## JettaGLi16v (Mar 6, 1999)

DriftBoy0 said:


> As i understand its best to keep ip lock pin when tightening... and move crank engine back a little off tdc a hair, then when tensioner is tightened it moves crank back to exactly tdc... the only thing thats troubling me is what phaeton said about v belt installation:
> ''Pay attention to shims there also. The trick is going back with new belts. May take several shim adjustments to tension correctly and you must rotate crank after each light snug on the bolts to allow belt to climb out into the pulley and tighten. Very easy to bend pulley by over tightening a bolt during this process. The worst part is after bottoming, you may need to remove or add a shim to get tension correct. Like Goldilocks, not too loose or too tight but just right''


You are correct. That's what I was trying to say. Let the tension on the belt pull the crank into perfect alignment - the IP and cam don't move.

Re: V-belts, have you ever replaced a belt on an old aircooled upright engine? Same thing. Check some YT videos on that, and it will make sense. Super simple.

The shims set the width and diameter of the pulley's contact area to adjust tension. Extra shims should go on the outside of the pulley where they don't affect the alignment of one pulley to another. More shims in between the halves of the pulley will be less tension, and less shims in the middle will be more tension.


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## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

so far so good, took off main crank pulleys, was sticking in all sorts of pipes and wooden sticks to stop rotation, one screw started getting stripped, luckly I got it out, now I need to remove water pump bolts to remove bottom plastic cover… can anyone give a tip how’s the best way to stop the pulley from rotating? im gonna try to wrap the old belt around the pulley and pull it upwards with a pipe for pressure as I try to remove bolts


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## JettaGLi16v (Mar 6, 1999)

I bought one of these years ago, and they are quite handy.
I don't usually go for specialty tools, but I like this one:

Water pump pulley tool.

In lieu of that, I always used a long flat head screw driver wedged across two of the bolts. Just keep it in place to crack each bolt loose, and then they will come out by hand from there.

Or, pop each bolt loose before taking the belts off..


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## DriftBoy0 (1 mo ago)

thanks for the tip, i tried using the flat head but only was able to get the first bolt off, it kept slipping out for the other two so then i wedged a thinner combination wrench handle through the screws and got the rest off. i noticed the bottom cover has severe rubbing from the water pump belt and water pump pulley... i'm debating whether i should take a razor and cut out the plastic areas where its rubbing along belt and pulley or to just not use this bottom cover at all? now when im looking over putting things back i notice there's a little point sticking out at about 6 o'clock under the crank bolt, then when looking at the crank pulley i notice in one of the holes there's a cut out notch- so i suppose this part goes back in to match the little bottom point that sticks out under bolt. 

i also notice that there is some sort of gasket maker thats caked in around metal on pulley, should i scrape this off and apply a new gasket maker or just bolt it back on without doing anything?


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## JettaGLi16v (Mar 6, 1999)

The wear on the cover is because it was not installed correctly before, or because of a belt failure. You should run T-belt covers. Some don't, but in my opinion that's living dangerously for no benefit. just remove loose material and put it back on.
No idea what that crap on the pulley is, but it's obviously not gasket maker... ? It's a metal pulley. No gasket needed.


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## QuantumSyncro (Apr 28, 2000)

Is the crank pulley a damper and not just a pulley? I had an Audi 4000 D and it was just a pulley IIRC but yours looks like it's thicker, like it might have a damper section to it in addition. If you post up a picture of the other side it might reveal more.

I'm not that familiar with what VW did on the longitudinal diesels (or specifically the TD) but on the VW cars they used a damper pulley for Mk2 cars on the TD engines vs just a plain pulley on the naturally aspirated models.

The other thing, that lower belt cover could have been installed incorrectly like JettaGLI16v mentioned, it happens a lot, or it could be that the old plastic just warped. I've seen that happen on old plastics before too.

Steve


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