oilhammer
Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
No, the chains don't, the tensioners do though. Worse on the gassers, though.
How may km's on the car? Ours was replaced pro-actively at 181k km and the chain and tensioner still looked good; the car now has 265k and the engine runs fine though I'm not so sure about the transmission. Fingers and toes crossed on that one. Not sure if we'll keep the car if that fails. Maybe manual conversion if we do. A/C no longer works, another set of CV joints going south and minor PS fluid leak. But it's no longer a daily driver, just the family winter beater. I've had two front doors, two front fenders and the trunk lid replaced under the VW corrosion warranty; I'm guessing rust is less of a problem in dryer Saskatoon than it is in Quebec.Jamie,
My oil pump chain failed this week. I shut off the engine before any catastrophic damage, and am getting the geared module installed this week by Import Auto. Did you ever get yours done?
Arch.
Correct. And that is why that is stated clearly in the instructions.Finally had gear drive upgrade done at 149000 miles.
Old chain and tensioners appeared in good shape despite the miles.
The kit came from Bora Bora and had the wrong seal the wrong air filter and wrong cab filter. The work was performed by Specialty Automotive in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada.
It was their first time to do the upgrade on a passat. Not sure if it has been mentioned before here but the shaft assembly came with gear pre installed which appears torqued down but isn't.
Sorry, did not notice a question for me here.So how much have you paid for labor and how much for parts
Posting this for anyone who is looking for someone in their area to do the balance shaft gear drive upgrade to their 2004/2005 BHW Passat TDI. I get a lot of calls, emails, PMs, etc. from all over, and while I love to have visitors from all over and welcome everyone, I know it is not always easy nor realistic for someone to visit Missouri from far away. Also, these folks would be good sources for normal PM, as many of the 'gurus' here for whatever reason seem to be frightened to death of B5s. I have no idea why, but...
I will update this list in this first post, please PM me if you would like to be added to the list with any contact info you want posted.
Midwest:
Car-Doc Automotive, Inc. (St. Louis, MO)
www.cardocautomotive.com
CoolAirVW (Kansas City, MO)
www.kansascityTDI.com
coolairvw@aol.com
Anuthee Huffstetter
Golden, CO
www.dieselland.net
Marty:
www.martinbergelllc.com
East/Northeast:
JA Autowerks LLC
193 Newman Springs Rd.
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
(732) 691-2335
http://www.jaautowerks.com/
hevster1 (New Jersey)
hevster1@yahoo.com
TDIJetta99 (Port Jervis, NY)
tdijetta99@gmail.com
k harley
KMH Motors (North Chelmsford, MA)
Keith Harley
ph: 978.766.9151
www.kmhmotors.com
Mair's Continental Motors
1455 Friedensburg Rd
Reading PA 19606
610-779-3555 Contact Jeff Baird or Rolf Mair
website www.mairscontinentalmotors.com
Mike McCann
Aka 94x
Westhampton MA
413-455-5602
TdiMike@comcast.net
Northwest:
fixumrich (Portland, OR)
Fix um haus
www.fixumhaus.com
Southeast:
VWSHPFRMN (Coconut Creek, FL)
www.gunthervw.net
ph: 954.590.3806
German Performance Auto
1227 Lebanon Pike
Nashville, TN 37210
gpotuning@gmail.com
615-248-9466
Jeff Spitzer (vwztips)
Greenville, SC
864-609-9246
jaspitzer@charter.net
Southwest/SoCal:
Harvieux (Whittier, CA)
Wild Rose Motors, Ltd.
www.vwtdionly.com
South:
runonbeer (Austin, TX)
Robby Plenge
www.runonbeer.com
mtbr297 (Fort Worth, TX)
Steve Glover
ph: 817.915.4063
Digi Sport Performance
110a Rose Lane
Suite 104
Frisco, TX 75034
214-257-8221
Canada:
VDUBTECH (Toronto)
Brandon Pilkey
DCB Auto Repairs
Ability Auto
Pickering, ON, Canada
1016 Brock Rd Unit #2
416-520-4870
Posting this for anyone who is looking for someone in their area to do the balance shaft gear drive upgrade to their 2004/2005 BHW Passat TDI. I get a lot of calls, emails, PMs, etc. from all over, and while I love to have visitors from all over and welcome everyone, I know it is not always easy nor realistic for someone to visit Missouri from far away. Also, these folks would be good sources for normal PM, as many of the 'gurus' here for whatever reason seem to be frightened to death of B5s. I have no idea why, but...
I will update this list in this first post, please PM me if you would like to be added to the list with any contact info you want posted.
Midwest:
Car-Doc Automotive, Inc. (St. Louis, MO)
www.cardocautomotive.com
CoolAirVW (Kansas City, MO)
www.kansascityTDI.com
coolairvw@aol.com
Anuthee Huffstetter
Golden, CO
www.dieselland.net
Marty:
www.martinbergelllc.com
East/Northeast:
JA Autowerks LLC
193 Newman Springs Rd.
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
(732) 691-2335
http://www.jaautowerks.com/
hevster1 (New Jersey)
hevster1@yahoo.com
TDIJetta99 (Port Jervis, NY)
tdijetta99@gmail.com
k harley
KMH Motors (North Chelmsford, MA)
Keith Harley
ph: 978.766.9151
www.kmhmotors.com
Mair's Continental Motors
1455 Friedensburg Rd
Reading PA 19606
610-779-3555 Contact Jeff Baird or Rolf Mair
website www.mairscontinentalmotors.com
Mike McCann
Aka 94x
Westhampton MA
413-455-5602
TdiMike@comcast.net
Northwest:
fixumrich (Portland, OR)
Fix um haus
www.fixumhaus.com
Southeast:
VWSHPFRMN (Coconut Creek, FL)
www.gunthervw.net
ph: 954.590.3806
German Performance Auto
1227 Lebanon Pike
Nashville, TN 37210
gpotuning@gmail.com
615-248-9466
Jeff Spitzer (vwztips)
Greenville, SC
864-609-9246
jaspitzer@charter.net
Southwest/SoCal:
Harvieux (Whittier, CA)
Wild Rose Motors, Ltd.
www.vwtdionly.com
South:
runonbeer (Austin, TX)
Robby Plenge
www.runonbeer.com
mtbr297 (Fort Worth, TX)
Steve Glover
ph: 817.915.4063
Digi Sport Performance
110a Rose Lane
Suite 104
Frisco, TX 75034
214-257-8221
Canada:
VDUBTECH (Toronto)
Brandon Pilkey
DCB Auto Repairs
Ability Auto
Pickering, ON, Canada
1016 Brock Rd Unit #2
416-520-4870
It is a chain, same as the non-balanced engines (alh, bew, brm). Without the load of the balance shaft the chain typically lasts 500000+km. I have never seen one wear out.
Finally had gear drive upgrade done at 149000 miles.
Old chain and tensioners appeared in good shape despite the miles.
The kit came from Bora Bora and had the wrong seal the wrong air filter and wrong cab filter. The work was performed by Specialty Automotive in Innisfail, Alberta, Canada.
It was their first time to do the upgrade on a passat. Not sure if it has been mentioned before here but the shaft assembly came with gear pre installed which appears torqued down but isn't.
Correct. And that is why that is stated clearly in the instructions.
Last week I had my 2004 Passat delete kit installed by 41 Auto in Oconto WI, they did a good job for much less $. Labor was $800 including a transmission flush.Sorry, did not notice a question for me here.
Price from Dell's was $1800. That was labor including $249 for a rebuilt torque converter from ZF and antifreeze. I purchased the other parts from IDParts, deluxe timing belt kit and BSM delete kit. I also provided Amsoil Trans fluid, Schaeffer 9000 5W40, and MANN filters.
Ed
Ours has gone 90k km since going chainless. Since then mostly "old-car" stuff. Most recently, just had a leaking PS pump and hose replaced. Found a good local garage to do it (no point paying $105/hr labour rates on a 10 y.o. car with 270k km on it). Really eclectic place. The guy used to be, of all things, a British Leyland dealer and anybody with a vintage British car in the area goes to him. An eclectic yard full of Rovers, Triumphs, Jags, MGs. But he's also a TDI fan and has a ton of those too, mostly ALHs, and come to think of it a few Mercs and other European cars.Well if you are going to try and hang the job on an extended warranty, then they'd decide what to do, and they likely won't do anything not authorized by Volkswagen. That said, getting Volkswagen dealers to acknowledge the problem even exists can sometimes be an issue.
Not sure why you'd get rid of the car for this, though. Mine has been great, nearing 90k miles since going chainless!
But that's the beauty of a competent mechanic & a VW. If done correctly then there is very little chance of something going wrong. I say drive it to St Louis & then back home for a long happy motoring life.I don't particularly want to have it done long distance in case something goes wrong after the procedure and have no recourse.
So you had the upgrade done? How is it so far? There is no one in AZ that does this as far as I know. If these guys can and do it well. I will take it here or I will drive back to Diesel Land in CO and have Anuthee do it. What was your cost?Independent Automotive
3800 N. 7th St
Phoenix, AZ 85014
(602) 234-9783
I had my 05 BHW unchained during my timing belt service after seeing some positive tdi reviews on yelp and kudzu. Steven and his staff are the somewhat rare honest & competent tdi shop.
Welcome to the TDI-Club!!I'm new here and am thinking about a TDI. I like the passat wagons. I've been scared about the TDI with the factory chain. It seems everyone says it will eventually fail. I've looked locally and not one car has gone chainless. These cars are 10 - 12 years old now and many have close to 300,000 km (185,000 miles). If these cars have made it this long factory, will they continue on for another 100,000 miles? What percentage of cars have actually had the chain fail?
Yes I am aware. Thanks. I like the wagon, but it's not available in a diesel in newer models.Welcome to the TDI-Club!!
Just making sure that you're aware that we're only discussing the 2004/5 Passat TDIs in this thread... There's no similar problem with the other models and years.
Yuri