04Allroadguy

So I replaced my timing belt and all the other components that go along with the service at 100K miles with Blauparts service kit. Now I am 30K miles further down the road and I am pretty sure my timing belt tensioner is failing. Not the hydraulic cylinder, but the pulley part of the tensioner. I hear a grinding/knocking noise from the front of the engine inside the timing covers. I have pulled off the two outermost timing covers, and accessory belt, and ran the engine to inspect the noise and it seems to be one of the timing belt idlers, other than that I don't know what could be making the noise. The timing belt is tight and visually all the pulleys seems to be tracking straight. I listed to the water pump with a stethoscope and it sounds fine. I am wondering if anyone has tried to replace just this component without putting the car into service position and locking the cams/crank and all that junk? Or if anyone has had any experience with a noise like mine? Could it be another component I am overlooking?

thejulex

Extremely common for non-audi timing parts to fail prematurely I am afraid. Swap immediately as you don't know when the part will seize and cause your belt to snap in short order.

I wouldn't attempt to swap it without putting into TDC and cam bar, the pulley can jump on you very easily if you stop in wrong spot....which is most of crank travel and there are always some valves opening in this engine.

Sorry for bad news.

GTA_Driver

Replace the tensioner with Audi OEM part. Aftermarket parts - it's a gamble.

jamesm0913

I did my first TB job with the Blau kit because they were the only place I could rent the tools from. After 40k miles, the thermostat and waterpump seals leaked and when I removed the lever on the hydraulic tensioner it had a groove in it from the peg on the back of the tensioning idler.

I have zero confidence in any of their parts now, and that's too bad because they are only 45 minutes away from me. I went with the ECS kit, and I hope I don't have the same results. I'm about 15k miles into this kit now, and no problems so far.

ivonius4.2

Ditto. I used their kit and tensioner pulley failed within 10,000 miles (on 2.8). I now go all-Audi for the timing belt and associated parts.

04Allroadguy

It was the tensioner pulley! Turns out that the pulley itself was separating and working forward until it actually cut a hole in the timing cover (grinding noise) and started to rub on the harmonic dampener (metal ticking sound).

I disassembled the serpentine belt pulleys, got the timing covers off and was able to replace the tensioner assembly without putting the car into service position.

The timing belt looked fine, as well as the idler and water-pump. I just got the engine to TDC, marked the timing belt on the cam and crank sprockets then clamped the belt to the cams so it couldn't move. This kept the timing while I replaced the tensioner components. All in all it only took about 2.5 hours this way. Didn't even have to remove the fan clutch.

Now the only issue I seem to have is that when I take off from a stop the first time after starting the car, around 3k RPM in second gear it stumbles a little, like loosing power for a split second. Then everything is fine. Works great the rest of the trip. Then when I stop and restart the car it will do it again. I am going to scan with vag-com and see if anything comes back. Maybe a sensor? I pulled my MAF sensor to inspect it while I had the car apart and it looked fine, could this have something to do with this stutter?

arcticdriver

I had tensioner dampener issues twice. I eventually isolated the problem by replacing different components with the Audi parts I had pulled off originally.

It is possible to swap out your tensioner pulley without placing front end in service position; however, I did still use the cam locking tool and crank lock pin. In my case, the belt had come loose and I had to be certain the belt did not jump a tooth on any of the sprockets.

To be honest, the sound you describe sounds like a loose belt. When the belt is loose due to tensioner failure the belt still feels tight everywhere but from right cam sprocket (left if facing engine) to tensioner roller it will be loose so have you checked tension of belt between all components? If its a loose T-belt then you might see a extra wear along a portion of the width of smooth side of T-Belt. This would be where it is slapping against the covers.

A failing tensioning roller seems like it would make more of a bearing failure noise, eh?

It is also,possible it's the idler pulley but again seems like you would get a bearing noise. In both of these instances, you might see some even scoring on non-tooth side of T-belt.

Keep us posted.

Bergelvis

I've used two of the Blauparts v6 timing kits and have had the same problem with both of them. Tensioner pulley sheave wheel slides back and forth on the bearing. Both of them made it about a year and less than 10k miles. I'm now very concerned. The Blauparts' tensioner pulley is made in Japan. I got two new ones from the dealer... guess where they are made... not Germany... Japan!!! Are they the same part? Am I going to have the same problem in a year? I guess I should always have a couple of these on hand. If I go on any long trips I should bring what I need to replace it. I can see it now... Whole family, somewhere in Iowa, Late June, 106 degrees, Me, Daddy out in a hotel parking lot trying to change this piece of **** part while the family says "are you Done yet Daddy?"