Thanks gsxr. I was wondering what size that allen bolt was and now I know. I also realized that there are 4 10-mm bolts that apparently hold the fan in place. Today I bought a very short socket and tomorrow I'll see if I can remove the fan that way. I already tried with a slightly longer socket and I was almost able to do it. The nice thing about this is that you don't have to struggle to hold any pulley in place, instead you just hold the fan in place which is easy. BTW, I did have to remove the belt tensioner because I didn't see any other way to get to the bolts on the right side of the vacuum pump. I'll report on my progress...

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL