Nut found in scuttle

JohnCalifornia · Jun 1, 2023

Just washed my Cali and found this nut on the scuttle at the bottom of the windscreen. The Cali had the DSG service and the cam belt done 2 weeks ago and I haven’t washed it or opened the bonnet since. I rang the VW commercial centre where the works got done and sent them a pic of the nut. They assure me it’s from the cam belt tensioner when they do the cam belt change and it gets replaced as part of the cam belt change so nothing to worry about as it’s got a new one fitted. ( never mind that it could have been rattling around in my engine bay or even come out of the scuttle and cracked my windscreen) Does this seem right of has it been missed and there is a nut missing from somewhere. I’m starting to mistrust this dealership already. When I collected the Cali from the DSG and cam belt change my new light grey floor mats had big oily boot marks on them. This was under the paper mats that were still in the Cali when I collected it so didn’t even notice the oily boot marks until I got home and removed the paper mat. I let this go as there was nothing they could do as the car was already at my home. Grrrrrrrrr

RockinNRollin · Jun 1, 2023

If they have given you a firm assurance (on email, not over the 'phone) that the nut was a consumable and the new one(s) are on the vehicle, I wouldn't worry about it. It's unlikely to have ever caused an issue sitting on the scuttle; it wouldn't crack your windscreen. The worst case scenario is it'd fall somewhere and create a rattle.

I would, however, be firmer about the oil on the new mats! Explain the situation and request them to pay for them to be cleaned, chuck them at a local car detailer and send the dealer the bill. Or get them to buy you new mats.

Edit: am I the only one opening this to expect a story about a squirrel residing under the bonnet?

Nik_campervan · Jun 1, 2023

All diesel VW ive worked on since 2002 2.5tdi T4 replace the cambelt tensioner plus the stud it spins on and its securing nut as standard. VW fear the stud which is threadlocked into the head coming loose due to the losening of the nut to remove the old tensioner pulley, hence they replace all 3 parts, pulley tensioner, stud and nut every time. Tbf it seems overkill as every time you need to double nut the old stud to get it out of the head. Nut id expect to be 13mm from memory.

Nik_campervan · Jun 1, 2023

Tensioner pulley stud replacement info

the pulley being held in place by what i expect to be a 13mm nut like youve found.

JohnCalifornia · Jun 2, 2023

Nik_campervan said:
All diesel VW ive worked on since 2002 2.5tdi T4 replace the cambelt tensioner plus the stud it spins on and its securing nut as standard. VW fear the stud which is threadlocked into the head coming loose due to the losening of the nut to remove the old tensioner pulley, hence they replace all 3 parts, pulley tensioner, stud and nut every time. Tbf it seems overkill as every time you need to double nut the old stud to get it out of the head. Nut id expect to be 13mm from memory.

It says 10 on the nut. I’m assuming it’s 10mm?