Well I decided to change the serpentine belt on my 195,000 mile Touareg as I bought it 100,000 miles ago and had no idea of the history even though it looked good.
The one issue I had was the cables and plugs that have to be disconnected and the bracket that has to be loosened to get the old belt out and the new one in.
The really big thing was on the smaller plug to the street side had the release catch on the far side of the connector and very difficult or impossible to get your fingernail or a tool on the tab.
What I ended up doing was to bend a short piece of 1/8" welding wire to make a hook to reach around the plug and pull the tab in while pushing gently on the plug to get it out.
I had left the longer end bend and with a little kink so that I could control the location and keep it in contact with the tab.
I had to trim the hook to get it short enough to fit it through the gap available.
All I have to say is that the VW engineers live up to their reputation of making every job as irritating as possible.
My son the engineer for a major car company said "I design them, I don't work on them" Now that he has started working on his own cars his philosophy is shifting with every skinned knuckle.
The one issue I had was the cables and plugs that have to be disconnected and the bracket that has to be loosened to get the old belt out and the new one in.
The really big thing was on the smaller plug to the street side had the release catch on the far side of the connector and very difficult or impossible to get your fingernail or a tool on the tab.
What I ended up doing was to bend a short piece of 1/8" welding wire to make a hook to reach around the plug and pull the tab in while pushing gently on the plug to get it out.
I had left the longer end bend and with a little kink so that I could control the location and keep it in contact with the tab.
I had to trim the hook to get it short enough to fit it through the gap available.
All I have to say is that the VW engineers live up to their reputation of making every job as irritating as possible.
My son the engineer for a major car company said "I design them, I don't work on them" Now that he has started working on his own cars his philosophy is shifting with every skinned knuckle.
