How to Replace Upper Engine Timing Cover Gasket 2010-14 Volkswagen GTI

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years!

In this video we are replacing the upper engine timing cover gasket in a 2010 Volkswagen GTI. If you need parts for this vehicle click the link in the description and head over to 1AAuto.com.

I'll remove the engine cover. Just pull up underneath. Going to remove this noise pipe. Take a flat blade tool and pull up on this clip. It'll slide out. Pull this Torx bit out. It's a T30. It's a caged bolt, so it's just gonna stay there--it won't come out all the way. And I can take this noise pipe out. You can remove these. Move these lines right here with a screwdriver. I'm just gonna push this out of our way. Pull this clip off. Pull this hose out of our way.

To make this easier and to be able to show a little bit more in the video I'm gonna pull the coolant reservoir out. But if you are doing this and you had small hands you could just pop this hose out, but it'll gain us a lot more access if we pull the reservoir out. I'm gonna put a drain bucket underneath. I'm gonna take this hose off here with some pliers. This should pop right off out of the way. Pull this wiring harness up out of the way. Disconnect this clip. Disconnect this bolt with a 10 millimeter socket and ratchet. Tip that out of the way. I'm gonna use a T25 and an extension. Take these two bolts out. Pull that wiring harness out of the way.

Now I'm gonna use some hose clamps, so that I don't lose all this coolant. Right in here. And I still have my drain bucket underneath the car. I'm gonna disconnect coolant hose right here. Use some pliers, move the clamp over. You should be able to twist. And some fluid's gonna come out. I'll put this aside. I wanna disconnect this hose below it. Move it to the side. Twisting it back and forth, you should be able to pull it off. Now we tip it up. Get it out of our way.

Next, we're gonna disconnect our camshaft adjustment valve connector. Take a right angle pick or a small flat-blade tool. I'm gonna come in here and just push down on the tab right there, and it slides right out. I gotta, with a T30 bit, take this bolt out right here. It does two things. It holds this valve on and it holds the dipstick tube in. So I wanna take this bolt out first. With the same T30, I'm gonna take this bolt out down here at the base of the dipstick tube. That'll give us more wiggle room with the dipstick. I'm gonna come over the dipstick a little more. Pull the dipstick out. Pull these other cam actuator bolts out. This is a T30. Use a flat-blade tool, flat screwdriver. Pry this out. And it come right out like that.

I'm just gonna bungee this hose out of my way. With a 10 millimeter wrench, take these bottom bolts out. Take this bolt out. Once you get those loose, those are the two hard ones to get to, they're gonna stay in the cover. Take the other three out using a 10 millimeter socket, extension, and a ratchet. This last one is down here. Take a flat-blade tool, get in behind here, gently pop the cover out. Some of these bolts you might have to unscrew a little bit more. Pulling the dipstick tube out a little bit. Have to work it back and forth a little. Pull it past the timing actuator. If you twist it a little bit and then pull out it'll come out.

Use a flat-blade tool, you pull up on your gasket. I'm gonna pull this gasket out, too. Pry in there, push it right out. Pull that out. Use some brake parts cleaner, clean this up. Get some of the oil off. Take a rag, I'm gonna wipe down the cover. Install this new seal. There's a little lip that goes all the way around. Push it on the cover. It's easier to do it now while the cover's off. And there we go.

Now take this new seal and push this on. The bolts are gonna hold the seal on, so when you push it down you push the bolt up and that will hold the seal.

Install our cover. Pull the dipstick out of the way. Slide it down, make sure that the gasket's not pulling out when you're sliding it down. This gasket popped out a little bit so I'm gonna pop it back in. And that looks good.

All right. We're gonna insert these bolts down here. Get that one in. Get this bolt. I'm not gonna torque it all the way down, just get it started. And get this one started. Use a 10 millimeter wrench and tighten these bottom ones. I'm gonna torque these cover bolts to 9 newton meters, or 80 inch pounds. You can only get the torque wrench for these top three. Those bottom two, do the best you can with a wrench.

Cleaning this up with a razor blade. There's a little bit of sealer on here. And we'll wipe it down with a rag. We'll reinstall it. There is an O-ring in here. It's recommended that you replace it. But we're gonna reuse ours. Ours still looks in good shape. Line it up, push it down slowly. Make sure you oil it up a little bit before. Put these bolts in. Put this bottom bolt in down here, the dipstick, too. Put this upper bolt in. Send these bolts down. Tighten down that bolt.

These are the bolts we're gonna torque to your T30. I'm gonna torque them down to 9 newton meters, or 80 inch-pounds. Reconnect this connector for the cam actuator valve. Pull this coolant hose over. This one goes on the bottom. I'll slip it on first. Using pliers, I'm going to squeeze the clamp.

Next we'll install our coolant reservoir and slide it under here like so. And then this one. This hose is gonna go in here. Once that is on I can pull this off. Get that out of the way. With the pliers, squeeze the clamp down. Get it lined up. Looks good. Pull this wiring harness over. Put our two T25 bolts into the coolant reservoir. With a ratchet, snug the bolts down. Remember that it's plastic, so not too tight. Move this wiring harness back into the bracket. You can connect this connector. Pull off this. Put that back in place. And slip this back down. Put the hose back into there.

Install this hose and this coolant hose back on the reservoir. With our pliers, we'll put it back on. Take the washer reservoir, install this 10 millimeter bolt back. With a socket and ratchet, tighten this down. Pull our noise pipe over. Line it up, make sure this clip is down. And we'll push so it locks it in. Take these pipes, put these on. Tighten this bolt down. Snug that down. Install the dipstick. Install the engine cover. And I'll push it down.

And take our coolant cap off. We're gonna top it off a little bit. You wanna make sure you use the Volkswagen approved coolant. And you're gonna wanna make sure you let the engine run for a while and recheck your level to make sure if there's any air pockets in the engine, that they bleed out.

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