How do you replace a serpentine belt on a 2001 VW Beetle?

Answer 1

The first thing you have to do is to be able to bend your hands completely backwards and be able to reach under the car while your arm is in the top Yes it can be that bad I just finished mine. First disconect the air intake boot and vacuum line off the intake next draw a diagram of the pullys and how the belt wraps around each one of the pullys because vw doesn't give you a diagram under the hood, at least mine didn't have one. Then take an adjustable wrench (cresent) and on the tensioner there is a tab sticking straight up place wrench on this and pull back to releave belt tension but don't slipoff the tab. Remove belt (thats the easy part) I found if you have a helping hand it is much easyer for install. Put the belt around all the upper pullys first have your helper pull the tensioner back and slip the belt on the bottom pully last i mean the Power Steering pully the one on the bottom closest to the front of the car. reinstall hoses. Good Luck I did the same thing this person did,except that I took my digtal camera and took a few pictures of how the belt went on and over the pulleys then printed the pictures out and then you had the pictures to go by when putting on the new belt.