Ontario 04-05 Passat Balance Shaft Repairs

The TDICLub B5 (B5.5) Passat forum is full up with threads about balance shaft chain failures. The oil pump then stops pumping, and you have to shut down the engine fast.

Here's the sticky thread outlining the problem, the fix (upgrade to a geardriven balance shaft) and other info:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=233651

Any Ontario members planning to do this upgrade? I was thinking Brandon (VDubTech) would be a good candidate to ask about it. There are some special tools required ...

Since I've got the extended warranty to 160km, we'll probably wait until then and do the belt and conversion at the same time. Unless it blows under warranty, it is not a cheap repair.

That's a lot of readin right there.

I have been hearing more and more of this issue lately.

I have always lusted after the B5 wagons, andalmost bought one a while back.

I think I will continue my search for an ALH jetta wagon or B4 wagon (variant).

I hope for all B5 TDI owners that VWOC/OA steps to the plate and covers this repair, given that it happens to every car.

'spensive repair...

At least the problem is well documented and a good fix is available. MOGolf, Oilhammer and others in the Passat B5 forum put a lot of effort into this. It's just that you need a competent mechanic and the $$$ to do it. I'd hate to have to go to St. Louis, Missouri and get Oilhammer to do it.

Our old Pontiac Transport had lots of problems after 100k km (engine gaskets, air conditioner, ABS sensors), and we spent $1000's on it to keep it running to 200K km. It was cheaper than buying new, and it was easy to get fixed as there were mechanics familiar with the car just about everywhere. But eventually it just fell apart.

I'm willing to spend even more $$ on this Passat as it's a better car and I love the diesel. It's over 100K km now and I'm hoping it will go to 300K km over the next five years (or better) before it gets too unreliable. I think the main problem will be the availability of good mechanics who know these cars as they are pretty rare. But with these TDIClub forums and "proactive" repairs, we may get there. We'll see.

I just bought a 2004 Passat TDI, now I have 132,000Km on it and I will have to spend some money on it. Good think the car was cheaper than most ones available in Ontario and in very good shape, so I can spend about 3K to get it done the right way.
So I am asking if anyone in Ontario has done the BS modification and where.
I have a good mechanic, german guy (Heindrich) who works only on VW and Audi and I will bring the procedure to him to see what he says. I think a good mechanic who can change a timing belt, with such good info it would not be too hard to change the BS Module. Bad thing is that the parts cost about US$1300 plus shipping to Canada and probably some customs fees.

PS What about the glow plugs mod?

COS -

Time to take a vacation http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=georgetown,+ON&daddr=St+Louis,+Mo&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=41.095389,-85.117955&sspn=12.01633,19.775391&ie=UTF8&ll=41.14557,-84.990234&spn=12.007308,19.775391&t=h&z=6

Actually, there is one guy in New York that is reasonably close to you. Check the threads.

cos - you should be able to get the parts from the dealer - they are VW parts afterall. As for who does the job, I would only trust that job with a recognized guru, such as Brandon or maybe Gerry if he's interested. I'm sure your mechanic is good, but we've all read too many horror stories of repairs getting botched

Come on down! I'll even open the shop up for another weekend! So long as you guys bring some of that nice cool Canadian air down here with you.

We know Orangeville VW has done "a few". In fact Scott, one of their mechanics, contributed a bit to the write-up.

However, being a dealer, you may not get the best price. I'd give Brandon a call; you may be his first though. Or if you go through Heindrich, and it works out, we would all like to know who he is and how to contact him.

As for the steel glowplugs, by all accounts it's worth the switch, but up here you pretty much have to have the dealer reflash your ecu I think. See the thread about them in the B5 forum.

If you want to try a place closer to home, contact H2Sport in Georgetown. By all accounts they are good (search on them in this Forum) but are more experienced with gassers than diesels.

How many people in Ontario need the BS Upgrade???? 2005 - 145,000KM on our Passat.

How many 04-05 passat TDIs in Ontario?

Oilhammer says they will all need it eventually.

Some have failed early (and it can be disastrous) but at least then you should be under warranty. Others are still going at 150,000KM and above. I plan to do mine at 160K along with the timing belt, assuming it doesn't blow earlier. But then I have an extended warrant until then.

I am planning on having these repairs done in the next week along with the timing belt. I have been speaking to Brandon about it and he is going to do the work for me on my passat.

I will let you all know how it goes once its done.

wolfsburg said:

I have been speaking to Brandon about it and he is going to do the work for me on my passat.
I will let you all know how it goes once its done.

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This is great news. I wasn't sure if he was willing to make the investment in special tools and so on. I'll definitely be asking him as well when the time comes.

Are you purchasing the parts yourself or will he supply them?

oilhammer said:

Come on down! I'll even open the shop up for another weekend! So long as you guys bring some of that nice cool Canadian air down here with you.

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Hi Oilhammer. Could you please send me a mess how much you charge to replace the TB, BS module and water pump? Parts and labor. Any taxes? Canadian $ is low now and it would cost us a lot of money to do it down south. He, He, I wish we had now last year's exchange rates.
As for the weekend no need to open, I could come down there any day of the week.

Hey fellow Passat owners....thinking of bringing Oilhammer up to Ontario for a weekend to work on our vehicles instead of us all traveling to St. Louis. Any thoughts on this??? Brandon looks like he might be doing the BS installs at his shop so this might be an option as well.

This job runs just shy of $2900 US. Most people get extras like mounts, alternator pulley, and ATF flush which puts it around $3400 US.

I spoke to the service manager at VW Windsor and he said that they have a regional VW service meeting on April 8th, he promised to bring this issue up, but I don't really have large expectations from this.

I think it would be a good idea to bring OH up, it looks like most people are located in the GTA region, which is only 3.5 hrs from my home. We need to consider how many people will participate, how many cars OH is willing to do (1-1.5/day??), that way, we can determine his airfare and hotel. I think we can get a good deal on hotel and airfare from priceline.com. We also need to consider the location which should have a lift, I am sure he can bring some of his tools, but we need to consider everything else he would need (ie having the new BS assemblies, other parts, fluids etc). My concern is that he needs to work on behalf of Car-doc (his shop) so that I can use my extended warranty.

To bring him up here for a couple of days sounds like a good idea. This way he can train a few Ontario mechanics. First we have to ask him to see if he wants to do this. I would love to go to US but the $ exchange rate is so bad for us Canadians right now.

You find me a shop with a lift, and I will come up.

Because I'm under extended warranty still, I'd rather make sure there's somebody here who can do it in a year or so (assuming it doesn't blow up before then).

If Brandon's willing to do it with the really comprehensive guide put out by Oilhammer and Mogolf, then that's the road I'll go. I'm told he's a very competent mechanic.

I'd also like to encourage a local independent to work on these beasties so I can have him do other stuff. The 04-05 Passat TDI is not that common.

OK, we better start making arrangements. I might be able to get a good price on a direct flight.

I would drive up, since it would be really tough to get all my tools into a plane .

It might be tough at the border with the tools if you have to bring a lot of them. Since some of our mechanics are going to do this job, I assume they would want to get their own tools. I think the best way is to do a group buying of the kits and tools. As for driving or flying it is up to you. A direct flight to Toronto takes only 2 hours. Price of a return ticket is about $1200 but I should be able to get it for about C$600.
First let's see who is REALLY serious here in Ontario. You can count on me.

Well, I could come up and supervise too if you like. I am planning to do something like that soon in California.

oilhammer said:

Well, I could come up and supervise too if you like. I am planning to do something like that soon in California.

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Let's see who is really serious here and what the other people say.

cos said:

It might be tough at the border with the tools if you have to bring a lot of them. Since some of our mechanics are going to do this job, I assume they would want to get their own tools. I think the best way is to do a group buying of the kits and tools. As for driving or flying it is up to you. A direct flight to Toronto takes only 2 hours. Price of a return ticket is about $1200 but I should be able to get it for about C$600.
First let's see who is REALLY serious here in Ontario. You can count on me.

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Flight should be even less thru priceline especially if you choose at least one stop. I am in as long as OH's shop can still work with my extended warranty company or, if we can negotiate with a local shop that will have OH supervise as was mentioned, that would solve many issues including processing warranties, they can coordinate getting all the parts, OH would not need to bring all of his tools, etc.

You are right maktas, i just checked priceline, prices are great right now, under $500 flight and hotel for a couple of days.

cos said:

You are right maktas, i just checked priceline, prices are great right now, under $500 flight and hotel for a couple of days.

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It would be even less if you did "choose your own price". I have stayed at 2-3 star hotels near Pearson Intl for $30/night using priceline. I flew to Phily from Detroit once for $150 roundtrip too.

If we do go the "OH supervises" method, he only needs to stay over one day and one night to train the local guy, but, we as a group will need to compensate OH not only for airfare, hotel and car rental, but also his time for being up here. I still think it will not be that bad especially if 5 or 6 of us are willing to sign on.

blaz said:

Because I'm under extended warranty still, I'd rather make sure there's somebody here who can do it in a year or so (assuming it doesn't blow up before then).

If Brandon's willing to do it with the really comprehensive guide put out by Oilhammer and Mogolf, then that's the road I'll go. I'm told he's a very competent mechanic.

I'd also like to encourage a local independent to work on these beasties so I can have him do other stuff. The 04-05 Passat TDI is not that common.

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Blaz,

Perhaps we can form a group and bring our cars to Brandon's shop ,fly OH in to supervise and train... good idea?

Only problem is I do not speak Canadian, eh?