Timing Belt Detatils

[C H A I N S A W]

I'm in the process of purchasing parts for my first timing belt job on my new to me 2000 C5 A6 2.7T (83k mi, TIP) and after doing some research I have a couple of questions.

• I'm eyeing the Europa Parts T-belt kit and plan on getting most of what they offer. Is the crankshaft pulley a high wear item that has to be replaced?
  
• I've heard it mentioned that plastic thermostat housings were only used on the A6 after 2000 and that the stock housing on my car should be aluminium. Any truth to this?
  
• In the how to video done by Edge Motors on YouTube they mention that they replace the water pump with the OEM plastic impeller variety due to concerns about leaking (link). Have any of you run into this?
  
• Europa's cam bar, crank pin, and sprocket puller from Metalnerd coast an additional ~$225, will something like this make a good substitute?

Finally, besides the wrench for the fan any other specialty tools I should pickup? Any other "while you're in there" parts not mentioned in the kit to replace? Any general advice/tips?

[4rings2turbos]

• The Europa kit is a good kit, no need to get the sprocket though. You don't even need to remove it unless you're changing the crank seal.
• Your 2000 will have the aluminum housing so you're good there.
• Most all water pump impellers have been updated to metal, the Europa wp included, so you're good there too.
• Didn't click the link but any ebay/amazon type bar and pin work great. I recently found some for someone that asked for help, they were on Amazon and I think about $40 total.
• No real need to get the clutch fan tool, you can easily place a long flathead in a strategic location to keep it from spinning.

Good luck! Feel free to ask any more questions. It's pretty easy. Be sure to set the timing belt tensioner upright for a day before you start and pretension the tensioner before tightening the sprockets. That's the only odd thing about it. Great time to change all seals etc. The chain tensioner seals take a bit of finesse. If you decide to do that we can help with that too.

[Kaane]

Don't bother with a sprocket puller, unless you will be doing this a lot. Rent a 3 leg puller from Autozone for free. I would always do the valve cover gaskets and tensioner gaskets when I am doing a timing belt, unless recently replaced. Camshaft seals as well, those are cheap.

[julex]

I used cheap-o three prong puller in past but once of twice that resulted in mangled sprocket gears. It is usually very hard to pull the sprocket with very limited room there as the universal ones tend to slip and take chunks of metal along with them...

Get dedicated puller, it makes the job a breeze with about what seems 1/10th of an effort needed to pull them off without any damage at that.

[C H A I N S A W]

Be sure to set the timing belt tensioner upright for a day before you start and pretension the tensioner before tightening the sprockets. That's the only odd thing about it. Great time to change all seals etc. The chain tensioner seals take a bit of finesse. If you decide to do that we can help with that too.

Can do, why does it need to be set upright? By pretension you mean pull the pin on the tensioner before tightening the sprockets? I'll poke around and see if I can spot any oil leak, if so I will probably get a seal kit along with the TB kit.

Appreciate all the help guys!