Timing Belt

When should the timing belt on a 2000 VW Jetta GLS w/ 2.0 Liter be changed.
Manual shows Diesel and 2.8 only.

Personally I would say at 80K miles. VW reccomends 105K but they dont last that long. Also have the waterpump and tensioner replaced.

Between around 60-80k. When you're in there take a look at the water pump too. They last around as long as the t-belt and it will save a lot of labour down the road.

I have a friend who wants me to help him replace a water pump on his daughter's 1998 2.0 GLS as it is leaking, is it a hard replacement? Do you have to remove the alternator or anything else? I see that there is a smaller belt other than the timing belt, do I need to remove the timing belt or just the smaller one? Appreciate any advice

T-belt/water pump replacement is kind of a big project, one my dad and I are working on atm.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled/msg/4063ec544928044d?&hl=en&q=water+pump+replace+2001+jetta

You won't have to remove the alternator, but you will have to remove the passenger side motor mounts, which means you'll have to jack up the engine and transmission, so have a friend or two on hand and be careful. also, make sure you follow the directions for marking and replacing the timing belt very carefully because an incorrectly timed belt could be disastrous. One more thing, you should most likely replace the timing belt along with the water pump, because if not you'll have to replace it later which means doing this all over again, and that's not too much fun ;)

on a 1998 you need to remove the belts and tensioner wheel and engine covers. IT helps to remove the timing belt and idler pulley to get the water pump out but its not necessary. If you are replacing the entire waterpump assembly than you need to remove the alternator and ps pump and compressor and bracket but its not necessary unless you want to. Just replace the front portion and gasket.

on a 1999.5+ you must remove the timing belt because its run off the timing belt. And you dont have to remove the engine mount if you dont want to, you can sneak the pump out just spin, pull, spin and it comes out.