TDI vs IDI timing tools

[wolfsburged]

Hey everybody. I don't have a TDI but my dad has just gotten a 1Z motor to swap into his Vanagon. He needs to do a timing belt change. I see the TDI timing tools look very similar to what I have for my 1.6TD, including a cam lock plate and a IP lock pin.

Any chance that the locking pin and cam plate are the same and I can just let him use mine? The TDI doesn't use the dial gauge though for adjusting, it uses VAG-COM right? We do have access to that...

[Vincent Waldon]

I've got an A4 and mine are definitely different, but you have an A3 so you may be ok... here's a good post with the exact dimensions:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=148798&highlight=tool+dimensions

And yup, you'll need Vag-com to dial in the final timing settings.

[wolfsburged]

Looks like the 1Z IP lock pin is exactly the same. The cam plate is the same thickness and is similar but different in other dimensions, however I think that it will still work.

How does one set the timing on a TDI with the engine out of the car and no ECU connected? Or is that not possible at all?

[8v-of-fury]

If the pump was not removed or tampered with, it should still be staticly (??) timed, and then it is dialed in using VaG

[745 turbogreasel]

When my friend snapped the tbelt on her ALH, I sent the head to MO for a skim.
Looked the a pic of the TDI lock plate, and carved one out of a steel scrap in about 15 min with my angle grinder.
I borrowed a pump pin, but a drill bit would have done just as well.
I did disturb all the pulleys, but with everything locked, I tightened  the pump adjuster right in the old dirt track, and Vag-com said it was in spec.  Might have been dumb luck, who knows.

[Vincent Waldon]

Generally if you do things right (leave the cam sprocket loose as you tighten the tensioner, good locking tools, check again after 2 revs etc) the mechanical locks will get you pretty much bang on as far as VCDS will eventually tell you.

Certainly it's completely safe to set it up mechanically and start it up without VCDS... I generally wait a couple of weeks actually for everything to settle in before fine-tuning with VCDS.

[8v-of-fury]

The fine tuning is only changed by VCDS, so theoretically if you got it exactly back to where it was before.. it should still be dead on.. theoretically lol