2.0 tdi Leon (184) timing belt, 2014

woody_02g40

Full Member
Feb 7, 2005
14
0
whitwell
Has anyone changed their own timing belt on these or is there a guide available anywhere?

Just worried about the 3 coolant circuits, presuming I will lose some coolant when I remove the water pump so I want to get the levels topped up correctly

Anyone done one on their drive?

Tia!


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SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,320
580
I'm planning on doing my own timing belt/water pump this year.
You should be ok with drill bits to lock the cam/fuel pump (TDI) but you need a crank locking tool T10490.
I believe you are supposed to use diagnostics to properly bleed the 3 coolant circuits.
I don't know if you do a vacuum fill it negates having to use diagnostics to activate/bleed the circuits?
I also want to to a full coolant flush while i'm at it - to try and remove the left over casting sand which keeps blocking my heater matrix!

Tom.
 

arg

Active Member
Dec 13, 2016
18
4
I've done it on my drive. Its quite hard, need to follow the procedure exactly especially concerning the fuel pump and I'd recommend you buy the correct kit, I used the Laser Tools kit.
You don't need to use diagnostics to properly bleed the 3 coolant circuits. I just checked it regularly, like after each trip, until it stopped requiring a top up.
 

woody_02g40

Full Member
Feb 7, 2005
14
0
whitwell
I've done it on my drive. Its quite hard, need to follow the procedure exactly especially concerning the fuel pump and I'd recommend you buy the correct kit, I used the Laser Tools kit.
You don't need to use diagnostics to properly bleed the 3 coolant circuits. I just checked it regularly, like after each trip, until it stopped requiring a top up.

Arg, where did you get the ‘procedure’ from?
Cheers, Paul.


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SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,320
580
I've done it on my drive. Its quite hard, need to follow the procedure exactly especially concerning the fuel pump and I'd recommend you buy the correct kit, I used the Laser Tools kit.
You don't need to use diagnostics to properly bleed the 3 coolant circuits. I just checked it regularly, like after each trip, until it stopped requiring a top up.

I spoke with a mate the other day who used to be a master tech for BMW (and also VW) and he was saying he used to see lots of BMW's coming in for new coolant pumps - BMW's use electric coolant pumps for their main pump and they have a self priming feature, something like holding your foot on the throttle for 10 secs and it will power up the coolant pump to prime. Problem was that if the coolant system was filled incorrectly (air in system) so the pumps would run dry which apparently ruins them (using the coolant for a lubricant)

I don't know if this also applies to VAG EA288 TDI engines with 2x electric & 1x electo/mechanical coolant pumps? but there does seem to be a rather 'thorough' official coolant fill/bleed procedure!

Obviously nothing adverse seems to have effected your car.

Thinking out loud! -
I think its probably important to make sure the pumps are full of coolant before they run and don't run dry. I don't have 'easy' access to VAG diagnostics to do the pump priming sequence, so my plan is to pull a vacuum on the small return hose to the coolant tank, keeping the header tank full of coolant, and clamping of alternate hoses to isolate the multiple coolant circuits.
Even with the diagnostic priming routine you are required to vacuum fill before the routine is started.
 

Charliemonkey

Active Member
Jun 30, 2020
15
2
Just done mine including the water pump, the manual is a nightmare to follow and not much detail. The job was fairly straight forward apart from:

I couldn't see how to split the fuel connectors at the quick connects - guess you need a tool so I took a hose off at the engine which was enough to move the filter out of the way.

You have to remove the exhaust gas temperature sensor in the top of the exhaust casting behind the cam belt upper cover - this was a major pain, it 19mm AF, a crows foot should do it, I did it by disconnecting the harness at the bulkhead, the connector will pass through the ring of a 19mm combo spanner, I then put the ring of a much larger combo spanner in the open end of the 19mm spanner to get enough leverage to break it loose. Bit fiddly but it works.

I didn't drain the coolant, I just pulled the pump out so I only drained the minimum necessary (had to knock the pump back and forth several times to loosen it off as it was very tight in the block)
Spoke to local independent here about bleeding and he said brim it, leave cap off, heater on max heat and idle until engine hot (takes ages), you should have hot air from the vents, if not then you have air in the system. I topped up a couple of times with a small amount after this and mine is OK.
 

SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,320
580
I didn't drain the coolant, I just pulled the pump out so I only drained the minimum necessary (had to knock the pump back and forth several times to loosen it off as it was very tight in the block)

Roughly how much coolant did you loose out the block?

Thanks,
 

Charliemonkey

Active Member
Jun 30, 2020
15
2
Hard to say as I lost some of it and din't measure it as I was putting fresh coolant in (mine looked a bit weak), 3 to 4 litres at a guess maybe a bit more.
 

Woody_72

Active Member
May 10, 2020
502
251
Northwest England
I'm planning on doing mine myself, there are a few very thorough videos on YouTube showing the entire process. A particularly good one shows a couple of Austrian lads doing it although they do use VCDS at the end to refill the coolant which looks fairly involved.
 

woody_02g40

Full Member
Feb 7, 2005
14
0
whitwell
I'm planning on doing mine myself, there are a few very thorough videos on YouTube showing the entire process. A particularly good one shows a couple of Austrian lads doing it although they do use VCDS at the end to refill the coolant which looks fairly involved.

Have you got a link to their channel?
Cheers


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woody_02g40

Full Member
Feb 7, 2005
14
0
whitwell
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