99 passat 1.8T. A friend of mine changed my T-belt sometimes ago, and I think that few teeth or just a toth went wrong way (when pulley was tightened). Also, I got P1338 error wnich is about positioning of camshaft.

How many set points are there for the positioning? As best to my knowledge t-belt goes from cam shaft (valves) to crank shaft (pistons).

Can I loosen up the t-belt and rotate the cam shaft in either direction?

How can I check if the ignition is advanced or retarded (the timing belt is just few teeth off)?

Thank you.

its not off a tooth, because if it was 4-8 valves would be bent.

Your cam position sensor could be faulty. But also if the car is misfire too much the ecm will retard the timing to help the car run better thus setting the cam over advanced or cam over retarded code.

if the car has no misfire codes than i say replace the cam position sensor. (also check for cam seal leaks because oil on the sensor can damage it)

Are you sure that if it was 1 toothe off it woulod bent valves? Anyhow, it was a 1/4 tooth off, so we placed it 1/4 tooth other way, and the car pulles better, much better. As for the cam sensor, I'll take it out, maybe clean it, or just buy a new one. And for the set points, it has two, one on cranck shaft, and other is on cam shaft. Very easy adjustment, and the front did not have to come off too.

Thanks for reply veedubmechanic.

To align marks:
1) set to tdc cyl 1
2) loosen tensioner and take timing belt off.
3) move crank so it lines up with timing mark.
4) slightly advance cam sprocket 1 tooth and put timing belt on driver side
5) pull back cam spocket to align mark and put rest of belt on.

Both marks should be dead on and then you can re-tension the tensioner. =)
Hope this helps

Thanks veedub... for reply. Even though the marks should be dead on, they are not though. Both times we tried, and both times the mark was either below the mark or above. When it was below, the car seemed a little dumb, but with above, the pickup seems much better. I am assuming that the wheel goes clockwise., so right now the timing is retarded as compared to the mark. I am happy with it. Also, I read on some other forums that it's o.k when the cam is off a little (< 1/2tooth).

I need OBDII cable to serial for my laptop for Vag-com program, do you know where can I get it? I have schematics for decoder/buffer that goes between car and laptop, so I want to try it. It seems like that program can diagnose mider area of electronics than OBDII scanner.

Hello, My dealer told me today that the entire front nose of the car must be taken off to change the TB. Is this correct?

No, I changed t-belt without taking front end off. Just take the fan out and you'll have enough space to work there. If you know what you're doing--about 4-6 hours. If not 8 to pray that someday it will come together.

Hey Will12 what do you think about flushing the tranny fluid and adding new fluid? Any suggestions? I think my tranny could be a bit smother.

I know very little about transmission because I prefer to drive manual--in which oil lasts for long long time. As far as automatic transmission, why do you need to flush it if the there is no combustion, and if there's any metal shavings, then the filter will pick them up? And for oil, the way everybody is talking--just use damn synthetic oil. Also, check prefered oil interval change in VW,and follow it, if you are not sure.