mgmarceau

Hi Jetsfan101, thanks for replying. Have you done this install?

I read that he said "he didn't have enough clearance from up top" but he didn't removed the bumper, radiator and condensor. So I was wondering how he actually did it.

jetsfan101

Yea he did it 6 years ago. I have not gotten around to it yet, stripped the bolt on the bottom that holds the coolant lines in place. There is one screw on top and one on bottom. This MUST be done to give the coolant lines some play. And this must be done because those coolant lines run right next to the tensioner 17mm bolt, which you have to turn to release tension on the belt.

I was looking at it yesterday, and it also wouldn't hurt to take off the plastic trim piece for more wiggle room.

In addition, you will need the long thin serpentine belt tool. It's basically a long thin wrench that you can squeeze in there to do what you have to do.

Keep in mind, not sure what A6 you have, but if it's the 3.0t, to change the serpentine belt, you need to remove the supercharger belt also. But that one is very easy to get to in comparison.

Once i figure out a way to take out that stripped bolt i will proceed with changing both my belts.

mgmarceau

All good jetsfan101 Thanks for help

I was considering removing the fans to give me more room this might cause a lot of pain just to get to the belt so your idea of the long serpentine tool wrench is actually pretty good.

I have a 2007 A4 3.2 FSI. They aren't fairly common, those motors were found in A6.

jetsfan101

Quick update.

If you have a 3.0 supercharged A6 and you want to change the accessory belt tensioner, you're in for quite a treat.

There are two belts on that engine: One for supercharger and the other for accessories (alternator, ac compressor, power steering pump, water pump)

You have to take off the supercharger belt to access the accessory belt. That part is easy, as the tensioner bolt is easily accessible and you have some room to work with.

The problem you're going to have is taking out the accessory belt from the front. You can reach the tensioner bolt by using a serpentine belt tool and release tension, aka take off the belt from the pulled. You WILL NOT be able to take out the belt from the idler pulley. Directly over it, sits ANOTHER idler pulley. It's shiny silver and it serves the supercharger belt.

I tried taking it off, but there is just not enough room. I would need a super short torx socket, which i have yet to find. That would perhaps loosen the idler pulley where you can pull it out a little bit and get the belt past the millimeters of space between the two pulleys. I decided to quit while i am not behind, and just put it back as was, which was a pain in the *** too btw. There is virtually no room in there to work.

I think the mechanics pull the front bumper off and pull the radiator out into "service position" to do this task. Otherwise it's just too difficult.

I am going to end up paying a shop to do this. Not cool Audi, not cool.

mgmarceau

Not cool! Thanks for the update! This is valuable information that should be shared in a 3.0T thread. I'm sure a lot of people would like to know about this ... uhg!

jetsfan101

UPDATE: Got the serp belt and tensioner replaced by putting the car into "service position". Just no other way around it folks. Around 3 hours labor.

Thank you Audi once again for making an easy job difficult. I still love you though

mgmarceau

same here, had to pull the front bumper off my audi A4 3.2L V6 and put the front carrier into "service mode" or as they call it "lock carrier". "I like quotes".

Then I found this video which would've helped a lot

You do not have to drain the entire coolant to do the serpentine belt. Follow the video and stop at the 6:35 mark. Observe how the belt is router and draw it on a piece of paper. Get a 17mm socket and turn clockwise to remove the belt. Re-install the new one routing it through the pulleys. Get the 17mm socket and turn clockwise again, and with your other hand, slide the belt on top the of idler pulley. Took about 2 hours to do.

raaizin

Two questions: 1)To change just the belt do you need to put it in service position on a 2007 A6 3.2.

2) Jetsfan101 to put a 2007 A6 in service position is it much different than the A4 in video. Are there any special tools like a triplesquare needed.

jetsfan101

If you own any Audi, chances are you will need to have triple square bits.

It wasn't too different to put the A6 into service mode. Same principles

I am not 100% sure, but for the 3.2L engine, you may be able to change the belt without doing the service position. The reason this is needed on the 3.0T engine is because the car has 2 belts, and to remove the serp belt you need to remove the supercharger belt, and then supercharger belt tensioner. And there is simply no room to remove the supercharger tensioner. It's the tensioner removal that is the problem, otherwise it's doable.

SchwarzS6

You can change the belt on the 3.2 without using the service position. I just did it and it took less than 30 minutes.