Otay Mountain Truck Trail view point

A couple of weekends ago, we took a short trip in my Touareg on the Otay Mountain Truck Trial east of Chula Vista in San Diego county.  The trail in located in the San Ysidro Mountains.  We took a couple of pictures at the top before decsending down the mountain.  Take a look.

Below you can see Otay lake just beyond the lower hills.  Just beyond that is East Lake community (where I live) in Chula Vista.

This shot below is looking towards Mexico.

The picture below is the towers that are at the top of mountain.

I thought this shot was very nice looking south east.

Just out for a fun afternoon.

Drive belt tensioner for my Touareg

I have been have a screeching noise coming from the engine compartment in the recent couple of weeks.  I figured that the noise was due to some pulley or tensioner for the drive belt (serpentine).  I was hoping that it would die a slow death but it started to die sooner than I hoped.  You can see the bearing is coming apart.

VW says to use a special pin tool to hold the tensioner in a compressed position, however you only need a bolt.  The bolt must fit through hole of the hex molded into the body of the spring while turning it clockwise with a wrench to fit the bolt or pin into that is molded in the body to the right of the hex.  You can see this in this picture.

To remove the tensioner from the engine, it is easier from the bottom.  At least it was for me.  Also you can see that there is a  hex socket bolt that it is mounted with to the engine.  Just the one bolt holds it.  

Here is the new part compared to the old.  I bought Gates brand for both parts.  The tensioner was made in Germany but the belt was made in the USA.  The interesting thing is the new tensioner is the exact same part and brand (Gates must repackage) as the old stock one.   Anyway, you can see below where the dust cover for the bearing on the old tensioner is completely missing.  I don't know where or when it fell off.  

A side shot of old and new.

This side seats against the engine block.  If you look closely, you can see where the old tensioner pulley is off center.  The shaft the it rotates on is bent but it still rotated, kind of.

Below is the belt from Gates.  Looks good to me.

This is the box the tensioner came in.

crankcase ventilation valve replacement for my Touareg

Well, I had an engine warning light on my dash recently.  The following codes came up; 

4.2L V8/5V      G    0010

P/N: 4D0 907 560 DB

Coding: 0007875, WSC: 31414

*P*

17546 P1138 097

Bank 2, mixture adaption air (add.): system too lean [static]

16558 P0174 228

Fuel Trim, Bank2: System too Lean [static]

These codes mean that there is vacuum leak somewhere in the intake system.  I checked all of the hoses and found nothing.  Eventually more codes came up which were the other bank now.  I kept hearing an air noise towards the back of the engine.  The crankcase ventilation valve (ccv valve) sits just under the "VW" sign on the center engine plastic cover.  There is vent hole on the top of the ccv valve which was sucking a lot of air.  My research found that this should not be so I removed and disassembled it.  After disassembly, I found that the diaphragm was torn.  This was my vacuum leak.  I replaced the ccv valve and then cleared the code and it stayed gone.  Here are some pictures of the old ccv valve disassembled.

Below is not supposed to be two pieces.  

To remove and install the ccv valve, remove the two tubes that are connected to the two ports you see below.   I threw away the hose clamps that were stock and replaced them with worm screw type.  Works just fine.

This is a borrowed picture from Rock Auto showing the top of a new ccv valve.  You can see the vent on top.  This is where the vacuum leak could be felt.  There should be little to no sucking happening from that vent hole.