Packing the accessory belt tensioner bearing with grease

If you hear a whining or whistling sound coming from the passenger side of the engine, it might be your tensioner pulley going dry.

It is a good idea to change the belt and re-pack the bearing with grease in order to prevent failures and motor damage.

On some, especially earlier VR6 VWs you have to take off the airbox in order to gain easier access to the accessory belt.

        *        Always be careful when working close to the fuel lines/fuel rail!

The tensioner needs no adjustment or anything, it automatically tightens the belt and in order to remove the belt

you have to relieve the tension. You need a 8 mm bolt, and a pretty long one; it has to be threaded to the head of the bolt!

You put it in hole A (as in the photos below) and tighten it carefully until it pushes the tensioner arm so it relieves tension off the belt.





When the belt is loose you can slip it off the pulleys. It is a good idea to remove the bolt now, you can tighten it again later when putting the new belt back on.


In case you are removing the tensioner itself, the part that is attached to the head is held by three bolts only.

    *    Undo those ONLY with the belt removed!!!


In order to remove the plastic pulley from the tensioner keep in mind that it is tightened to the tensioner arm with one single bolt.

Also, the bolt is REVERSE THREAD. When you undo the bolt the pulley comes out with the bearing pressed in the center of it.

There is also a big concave washer below the bolt head, make sure not to lose it and put it back when you re-assemble the tensioner and pulley:



To re-pack the bearing with grease, there are two red/orange round seals that cover the bearing balls.

Use a tiny screwdriver to pop/pry them off/out, like in the following photo:


You can see dirt in the bearing and that it is completely dry. I used high-temperature grease to pack it well.

Spin it many times to spread the grease, then add more if necessary:



Then re-install those two washers/covers. They are plastic on top with tiny metal backing. Be careful not to bend them!

There's nothing special about reinstalling them, just position them and push firmly on the edges to settle them down.


Now that you have re-greased the pulley bearing, put it back on the tensioner, don't forget to put the concave washer too,

and tighten the bolt (again, the bolt is with reverse thread, so you need to counter-turn).


If you have removed the tensioner, I find it a lot easier to tighten the tensioner body to the engine first,

and having it secured that way you can then attach the pulley and washer and tighten the bolt now that you have leverage.


After you have the tensioner attached, you need to tighten that long 8 mm bolt in order to swing the tensioner arm.

Once the tensioner arm is pushed by the bolt, you can install your new accessory belt.

The following photo shows the proper routing of the accessory belt:



Make sure that you properly line the belt on all pulleys and double-check the routing!


When you have finished the belt installation, remove the 8 mm bolt so the tensioner tightens the belt.

Again, check to see if everything is okay!

You can now proceed to re-installing the airbox and anything else you may have removed.




Start the car and make sure that the belt is spinning okay!


Here is another photo (screenshot from ETKA) with explanation of the pulleys, routing the belt and part numbers: