Have the crank out of a 97 AAZ engine right now for nose repair. The rod bolts are the kind that thread into the rod, not the press in kind that have a nut on the end to hold on the cap. If I reuse the bolts is the engine going to explode in a nooklear fireball? Anyone ever reuse theirs?
I've reused the 1.6 stretch bolts on the con rods. I just torqued them to spec, and then went another 1/3 to 1/2 turn. No problems.
Having said that, I probably would not do it again, and don't usually recommend it.
No experience with the AAZ bolts, but I imagine they are the same for 1.9TDI, so should be readily available from aftermarket sources.
I used my rod bolts again on my aaz block that I converted to a tdi. I have put a massive amount of stress on this engine with no issues. Mind you if a rod cap happens to break free it's bye-bye engine for sure! I wouldn't recommend reusing rod bolts but it has been done I'm sure quite often with no ill effects.
Technically speaking they are designed for single use only... and I think I paid maybe three bucks each the last time I bought some at the dealer.
I'm a belt-and-suspenders kinda guy, so the 25 bucks was super-cheap peace of mind.
