Wtf audi

[SuperAvant]

What type of bolt holds on the idler pulley? It doesn't appear to be a torx. Triple square? These cars cost so much money when new because the engineering and parts logistics makes no friggin sense. The tensioner pulley bolt is a torx why not the idler!??

[924Carrera]

The original bolts are hex drive and VERY prone to stripping out. I spent a couple of hours removing my tensioner because of it. Replacements are triple square, for this exact reason.

[SuperAvant]

Shit. What's the course of action to getting a stripped hex out?

[924Carrera]

Shit. What's the course of action to getting a stripped hex out?

Well, sometimes you can hammer a larger hex into place, but I was unable to do this because I was trying to do the job with the lock carrier in service position rather than draining the coolant and removing it entirely. You can also grab it with some vise grips and go to town. I ended up using a plier wrench to get my stripped tensioner bolt out. However, if the idler pulley looks like triple square, then that's probably what it is, so try that first.

[SuperAvant]

Yeah I'm in The service position as well. I don't think I can take the whole front clip off without draining the AC correct? The coolant I'm not worried about because I'm replacing both auxiliary radiators. With the car in the service position it is very difficult to get a look at the bolt to see exactly what type it is .

[924Carrera]

Yeah I'm in The service position as well. I don't think I can take the whole front clip off without draining the AC correct? The coolant I'm not worried about because I'm replacing both auxiliary radiators. With the car in the service position it is very difficult to get a look at the bolt to see exactly what type it is .

Oh yeah, the AC as well. I was thinking about my B5 which intelligently put the condenser inlet and outlet on the same side so you can swing that out of the way and remove the rest. I've had the front of my B6 off as well...to do the AC. I think it's a triple square though for the idler.

[emilio]

make sure it's not just triple square, versus a munged Torx. i picked up a nice set of triple squares (aka ZZY or YZZ or some other Rush reference) on Amazon and have definitely used them on several services.

i'm pretty sure the baffling mix of fastners is from a combination of separate design groups and wanting to make sure service procedures are distinct (e.g. the different fasteners around the intake manifold).

- emilio

[Concavitor]

Triple Square or 12-pt Torx are used for high torque applications.

[924Carrera]

make sure it's not just triple square, versus a munged Torx. i picked up a nice set of triple squares (aka ZZY or YZZ or some other Rush reference) on Amazon and have definitely used them on several services.

i'm pretty sure the baffling mix of fastners is from a combination of separate design groups and wanting to make sure service procedures are distinct (e.g. the different fasteners around the intake manifold).

- emilio

The current part number for the idler pulley bolt is absolutely a triple square. When I referred to the originals being hex, I was thinking that both the tensioner and idler were like this, but I believe the idler bolt may have always been that.

[AllroadMass]

Yeah I'm in The service position as well. I don't think I can take the whole front clip off without draining the AC correct? The coolant I'm not worried about because I'm replacing both auxiliary radiators. With the car in the service position it is very difficult to get a look at the bolt to see exactly what type it is .

Lucky you, my front end is off at the moment. My bolt is a mangled hex.



You should be able to loosen the entire front end, pull it out as far as possible with all the lines attached, rest it on the snub mount, and bolt the clip to the last hole on the frame to hold everything up that way you don't have to move the AC line. I did this all the time on the v6 passat when I didn't want to pull everything off. The top will have to lean forward because the lower left side has the PS lines cooler. The AC lines that connect to the condenser has some wiggle so you should be safe.

[AllroadMass]

The current part number for the idler pulley bolt is absolutely a triple square. When I referred to the originals being hex, I was thinking that both the tensioner and idler were like this, but I believe the idler bolt may have always been that.

What don't you know!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[neilpaku]

Just get a cold chisel on the circumference, and loosen it, then after undoing it, throw it away. I had exactly that problem and that's how I dealt with it - two minutes max. Don't worry about the bearing; you can replace it if necessary. I got some off the interwebs.

[924Carrera]

What don't you know!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Why I still have a random shaking at idle, haha. I've chased that for months.

[SuperAvant]

Just get a cold chisel on the circumference, and loosen it, then after undoing it, throw it away. I had exactly that problem and that's how I dealt with it - two minutes max. Don't worry about the bearing; you can replace it if necessary. I got some off the interwebs.

Cold Chisel sounds good. Just ordered a triple square set off amazon. We shall see. Also replacing this with the JHM auto tensioner so I guess I couple try to pry the plastic pulley assembly off with the bitch persuader bar and get the two bolts that hold the mount on underneath.