So a buddy of mine drives a VW Gti and his alternator is dead.......it looks easy as hell to get off but the belt tensioner looks a little complicated...i did some research and everything that comes up is for a vr6 tensioner which requires you to use a m8x1.25 bolt to move the tensioner....i dont see any spot on his tensioner where you would thread a bolt...on the other forum they had pics which look nothing like his belt tensioner....i also read up on some stuff and it said that some late model vw's and audi's need a special tool to mess with the tensioner.....any help?

 

yeah, its called a wrench. there is a set of flats on the tensioner arm that a wrench fits over, or if its the earlier version of the AEG it has a round steel arm that goes through to the backside of the bracket, which works the same way, but you have to come off the nut on the pulley.

 

So does your friends GTI have a VR6? 1.8T? or 2.0?

 

1.8t

 

Just use a 16mm wrench and pull towards the front of the car to relieve tension. There are 2 little holes that will line up, either pop a nail or an allen key in there to hold the tensioner in place. Then you can pop the belt right off. Before you pop it off, make note of how it's sitting so you can put the new one on correctly.