a44mark

Just wrapping up the last of my 55k service items by replacing the ribbed belt that drives the supercharger. I haven't read up enough about what it takes to put the front end in "service position", so I ended up doing this without opening up the space between the engine and radiator.

You do need as much "reaching space" as you can manage though, so after removing the engine cover, I removed the cover over the radiator and then removed the first section of the air intake. 2 Torx screws hold the intake opening to the back of the radiator bulkhead, but there's a third Torx on the right side that holds a piece of molding in front of one of the screws that also needs to be removed. The intake simply wiggles out after that.



Then you get a decent look at everything...



The belt is looped around the 4 pulleys as seen here:



#2 is the supercharger pulley. #1 is the tensioner, and is shown by the arrow in this picture. Note, I used a belt replacement wrench I picked up from Harbor Freight. The tensioner bolt is a 16 mm head. I was able to get the wrench onto the bolt by pushing the radiator fan assembly towards the front of the car to make a little more room. It's plastic and flexible enough to just barely squeeze it on there. Push the wrench to the right (clockwise turn of the bolt) to relieve tension on the belt.



But wait! Don't remove the belt yet - you'll need to insert a locking pin (I used a 3 inch framing nail) in the tensioner locking hole (red arrow in diagram) once you've removed tension on the belt. It's easier to "pre-insert" the pin/nail in the hole from underneath the car and then push it in from above when rotating the wrench. Once the tensioner is locked in place you can remove the belt (you'll have to remove the wrench as well).



Installation of the new belt is just following the numbers in the diagram above. When it's in place, squeeze the wrench back on, remove the locking pin, and reapply tension to the belt.

As always, this is what I did - I'm not responsible for your mistakes, yada yada yada... but I hope people find this helpful.

BTW, I was going to replace the accessory belt at the same time (blue arrow/text in second picture), but you need to remove the idler pulley (yellow arrow/text; #3 in diagram) in order to remove the belt. It takes a 10 mm triple square (which I have), but there just wasn't enough room for the bit and a wrench in the tight space. I think I'll have to open it up further in order to do that job... At least I have another 20,000 miles before that's necessary and I can read up more about what to do...

Good luck!

-Mark

BillBoost37

When I looked into replacing the SC roller aka idler pulley, the manual says you can do the belt w/o putting the car into service mode. However the bolt on the pulley is very long. Service position is required for the pulley.

I did a little write up on the C6 forum.

Bartenderfloyd

Just changed mine today (and the plugs). I skipped the pin part and just used the wrench. A little harder but I'm lazy and didn't want to get under the car. Your write up was fantastic, thank you. All in, the belt and plugs took about 2 hours.

Worldwidebeagle

Great DIY - really appreciate it.

I have seen several posts where people are (or are thinking about) doing the acc belt at 55k miles. I cannot figure out why so soon. People here mention that Audi lists the ACC belt as a 75k replace. i think that is wrong. Audi scheduled maintenance shows it as a 75k mile CHECK and replace if necessary. When I spoke to a Conti Tech rep, he said the OEM 6 rib accessory belts for VAG are rated for 150 000 kms (about 93k miles) and should easily go 100,000 miles. A belt is a belt - not a performance item. Visual wear is often not apparent unless the belt is fraying. Much better to use the cool rib measuring comb device that Conti give out.

still in school

Do you have a link to that belt wrench? I can't find it for some reason on Harbor Freights website

tenspeed

Search results for: 'Serpentine Belt Tool'

r1racer

Did this yesterday...literally took me less than 5 minutes. No need to get under the car, to use a nail or take off the intake. All you need is a crowbar and the serpentine belt tool (the long version). I used the crowbar to make room to get the socket on and off by gently pressing against the idler pulley and the back side of the radiator fan. When you put the new belt on just make sure you remember to put the wrench through the belt.

Also, for anyone wanting to replace the air filter disconnect the flexible part of the air intake from the front portion of the air box. Disconnect the intake hose on the other end. Pull up on the air box to make space to pull the filter out. Pull up on the locking tab and rotate the circle cover counter clockwise and remove and replace filter.

parryj

"I removed the cover over the radiator"

Maybe a dumb question but how do you remove the radiator cover?

Thanks.

a44mark

There are 2 two-piece plastic "rivets" holding the cover in place, near the hood latch. Gently pry up the head of the inner "nail" and pull it out. Use a wide flat tool like a plastic trim removal tool or a putty knife. Be careful and work around the perimeter - I suspect that these will eventually break as the plastic ages... Remove the center pin completely. That unlocks the outer part of the rivet, which can then be pried up (again, carefully) and pulled out separately. Do not attempt to pry the outer ring first!

-Mark

Lifestooshorttodriveaslowcar

Thanks for the write-up. I was able to replace my belt in about 15 minutes.

I too was lazy .... I did not need to remove the air intake (but removing it is simple and a good idea). I used a Harbor Freight belt tensioner "wrench" I have had for years (the simple flat "breaker bar" style) and I did not need to lock the idler back in the un-tensioned position. Easiest serpentine belt replacement I have done.