2012 VW Tiguan problems

My daughter is replacing her serpentine belt. It's a tight space to reach the various pulleys. She has a socket, extension, and ratchet on the tensioner pulley.

But, now the stupid thing is stuck. The back of the ratchet is up against another immoble structure and she can't access the release button nor the direction switch.

There is a slight amount of wiggle in the ratch turning back and forth. The socket and extension are solid on the nut on the tensioner pulley.

I can't get to her to physically help as she is across the country. I'm looking for recommendations for ways of getting this ratchet/socket off.

Thanks in advance!

Second question: what would cause a serpentine belt to suddenly shred? Unknown how old the thing is but it looked ok in January when it was removed to get to the alternator. If it was routed incorrectly wouldn't the engine not function properly immediately rather than waiting for my kid to be 1300 miles away from her parents' help to fail?

You didn't say what car it is, but a lot of vehicles have more access through the wheel well. You'll have to pull the fender liner probably but that can give you a better view of the situation.

Thats awesome to hear. I love to see parents teaching their kids how to not be helpless with relatively simple repair jobs like this.

Good on her and you!

Nice work. The classic ratchet bind trap. Backing the bolt out backs the ratchet into something that then binds it up or prevents the reverse mechanism from being activated before the bolt is fully out. You learn to watch for this and never get to that contact point again.

Sometimes you have to grab the socket with a tight Vise grip and tighten the bolt back in a bit to free the bind.

I was about to say turn the extension with another wrench or by hand. The ratchet will free spin but you should be able to turn the socket, thus the l turning the bolt and freeing the wrench!

ME92 said:

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Thanks all!
She worked on tonight and got it off in two minutes.

No idea why the ratchet and socket decided to cooperate tonight.

She also got a loaner tool from O'Reilly's and got the belt on in under ten minutes.

The right tools make easy work.

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Honestly, sometimes taking a break helps.

ME92 said:

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2012 VW Tiguan problems


Second question: what would cause a serpentine belt to suddenly shred? Unknown how old the thing is but it looked ok in January when it was removed to get to the alternator. If it was routed incorrectly wouldn't the engine not function properly immediately rather than waiting for my kid to be 1300 miles away from her parents' help to fail?

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I've done work on the 1.8T that family owns... Similar I would guess.
1) Radiator fan hitting and shredding the pulley (unlikely, spin fan check for play)
2) Belt tensioner bearing locked up/failed (Most likely)
3) Failed water pump impeller caused WP pulley to sieze (unlikely)
4) Failed alternator pulley, belt wrapped itself around the pulley and then shredded itself (possible)
5) Belt slipped off (possible, you said didn't know how much it had been on there).

Take the belt off and rotate the idler pulley + tensioner pulley by hand. Make sure there isn't belt debris in the gears and you(r daughter) haven't jumped time.

Thanks for the help everybody.

My daughter is definitely on the start of the car repair learning curve but she's a good student!