Help! Cam-Crank timing, VW 1.9 diesel

[mark_in_manchester]

hi Folks

This is off topic a little - my diesel bike is off the road with a blown head gasket. And now my car (Skoda Felicia 1.9 diesel (VW), no turbo) has a head gasket failure too.

So - I took the head off this afternoon, cleaned things up and put a new gasket on. But when I put the timing belt back on, the marks I had made on the belt and crank / inj pump sprockets could be made to line up (of course) - but they no longer aligned with the marks I had made on the rear plate which forms part of the timing belt cover.

I guess when I had moved the belt out of the way it had become very, very loosely spooled around the crank sprocket - and on taking up the tension again, I guess it must have found a 'new mesh'.

REALLY STUPIDLY I cranked the engine a little by hand on the camshaft pulley - head is not yet torqued, only located on two loose bolts, so not much compression - while in confusion, and stopped as soon as I felt a gentle clunk, since I was alarmed that valve-piston contact might be about to happen. I then backed off to SOMETHING LIKE (AAARRRGGHHH) the position I had started from.

So now the marks on belt, cam and inj pump are 4 sprockets anti-clockwise from the marks I made on the back plate. Or should that be 5, or 6...ARRRGHHH, of course I don't know.

So now...what? I guess if I can recover cam-crank relationship, marks on belt, cam and inj pump sprockets will let me sort this part out. But how to do this? Find TDC on one pot, and have a guess (AARRRGHHH) at where the valves would sensibly be on this pot???

F***kity F**k F**K F**k

[Redkite]

Sorry Mark, can't help you with the specific info needed, but don't the cam pulley, pump pulley, and possibly the crank all have a hole that aligns with their respective backplate for that purpose (with a pin or bolt) ? No haynes manual for that engine?
I needed to change the cambelt on my VW T5 a few years back, with no Haynes manual in print, I went to Volkswagenforum.co.uk, donated a few quid to the cause, and got sent the cambelt replacement details. Hope this is of some use!

[coachgeo]

hi Folks

This is off topic a little - my diesel bike is off the road with a blown head gasket. And now my car (Skoda Felicia 1.9 diesel (VW), no turbo) has a head gasket failure too.......

Best bet for all things TDI is TDIclub.com

Pretty good folk there and the discussion form is FULLLLLL of great info.

[mark_in_manchester]

Thanks for your replies folks. Well, panic over - it runs.

Mine is not a TDI - it's an older IDI - but I found some info on the web about marks on flywheel and camshaft. I guessed how many teeth I was 'out', set it to that in the hope pistons and valves would no longer meet, and hand-cranked it around to TDC on pot 1 using flywheel mark. Then I was able to re-set to the 'right' sprocket (I was still one out) and also fine-adjust the cam sprocket - it's on a taper with no key way. In all this messing I was really lucky not to lose the cam-inj pump relationship - phew!

If you ever do one - camshaft sprocket had to come off to get the head off. To break the taper, I wasted ages with various pullers. In the end I found that by undoing two small M6 bolts which attach the sheet steel rear-part of the cam belt cover to the head, I could push it over on to the back of the sprocket and then tap it hard with a drift. Don't forget to mark the end of the camshaft and the sprocket first, so you know roughly where it came from, or your belt-sprocket marks are useless!

[coachgeo]

Thanks for your replies folks. Well, panic over - it runs.

Glad you got her figured out and running. Congratulations

Mine is not a TDI - it's an older IDI - ...

when it comes to VW diesel...... does not matter if its Naturally Aspirated Diesel injected or Turbo Diesel Injected AKA VW's TDI. Does not matter if it is IDI or DI..(all VW diesels are DI aren't they?) .... odds are you'll find what you need at TDI Club discussion board.

[mark_in_manchester]

Maybe I'm confusing my nomenclature - mine injects into a small chamber (wherein the end of the glow plug sits - coincidentally I was down to one working glow plug, no wonder it was tricky to start!) which communicates with the cylinder via a small aperture.

Its surprising how many variants they've made of their 1.9 diesel - I was following a rather good youtube guide of someone taking the head off a VW Caddy van (which is quite similar to my car - or at least the Mk2 is) but the procedure turned out to be different in a number of ways.

[gilburton]

Don't know if this is any help but it's a link to the locking tools which also has instructions how to use them on VW engines.
I can't comment on the VW engine but I've had some experience of the Peugeot 106/CitroenSaxo/ Rover Metro 115 1.5 diesel.
All that engine needs is 3 drill bits of the correct size.
You rotate the engine by hand until the flywheel hole lines up and insert the pin.
You then go to the pump and cam(single cam) and insert a pin in each as they now line up because you have locked the crank.
You shouldn't have to mark anything and most diesel/petrol engines are similar.

http://www.ccw-tools.com/uploads/images ... VS4840.pdf

[gilburton]

Don't know if this is any help but it's a link to the locking tools which also has instructions how to use them on VW engines.
I can't comment on the VW engine but I've had some experience of the Peugeot 106/CitroenSaxo/ Rover Metro 115 1.5 diesel.
All that engine needs is 3 drill bits of the correct size.
You rotate the engine by hand until the flywheel hole lines up and insert the pin.
You then go to the pump and cam(single cam) and insert a pin in each as they now line up because you have locked the crank.
You shouldn't have to mark anything and most diesel/petrol engines are similar.

http://www.ccw-tools.com/uploads/images ... VS4840.pdf