Originally Posted by Lee Ivatt

Well as said they are FT, and also loctited and you have the crankshaft which moves. Id say they are as tight as 2wd cossie front hubs which is FFFT

Your mate tho, Thats pure cowboy

If the belt slips or worse brakes (which is highly likley as thats the reason its been replaced) then its engine rebuild time
Not to mention a potentially 100mph wrench flying across to you head or the windscreen


And also for me part of the diagnosis/reason for the work is the engine is majorly lacking power. So if the belt does slip then you have no way of knowing if the timing was out before you started, as i suspect this 300tdi is!

As said some things just need to be right. I have to admit as we all have in the past done stupid things in the past and cut corners back in the early days (i started restoring cars at 10!!) But it really is false economy, only safe way to do it is, do it right, do it once, put the bill in and everyones happy.