Engine / body vibration at idle

Id use a 20 dollar eBay bore scope to send up the oil drain to look for a balance shaft chain before id pay to have the oil pan dropped.

Proper spec oil wont help keep the hex shafts from shearing on that balance shaft assembly. When it goes your oil pump and turbo go. Next are your internal bearings if you dont cut the engine off in time. It's not something I'd risk. If your mechanic made that recommendation it's because he's not familiar with the BHW balance shaft issues or doesnt want to do the repair or doesn't think youll pay for the repairs so why bother coming up with the estimate.

As for delete vs geared upgrade, I've driven many diesels and this one with the delete is still one of the smoothest diesels I've driven. If i wanted sewing machine smooth id drive a civic. Cost is a 100% behind my decision making when doing repairs to my passat, this is my daily work commuter, my beater. The 35+mpg are my sole reason of ownership. This isnt a vette, an early bronco or any sort of rare vehicle that appreciates with time.


Go penguins!

I have called another vw tech I know and he quoted me $2600 and $3500 respectively for both options. I definitely want to do it. He told me this is the only major known issue on this passat. Will post back when my Passat is stripped..

$2600 for the delete is a bit steep. It's about $400-$500 cdn for the parts and 12-14 hours labour - add $300 if you are (you should) doing the timing belt system at the same time.

2600 USD would sound about right for a delete locally. 125 hr for labor, cost on parts plus 40% mark up.

The additional must haves are the rear coolant flange and temp sensor as well as any swollen hoses replaced. Thermostat and thermostat housing. Gasket for tandem pump and water pump/timing belt as mentioned

If you do the repair(as a shop) and a leak develops water or oil or that coolant sensor fails or thermostat fails you'll have a customer screaming you botched their repair. It's best to just do it all while easily accessible and have a trouble free transaction with the customer.

Received another quote for $2400 cash. He will remove the balance shaft and replace with a 1.8t oil pump. Not sure if this includes timing belt but I may want it done as well. VW quoted me 5 days labour at 10 hrs a day plus parts !! Unreal..

Not a 1.8t, a 1.9t alh oil pump. Maybe a 1.8t splash guard?

Yes will definitely confirm all this when we meet up with him. Maybe I heard wrong or he got mixed up. Thank you for the heads up.

Update to my research. Another tech on this forum told me to go with the 2.0 pd oil pump European geared model as the 1.9 oil pump swap does not supply enough oil pressure at idle. Kerma tdi telling me the European geared oil pump has it's own issues? Now this is getting confusing.

An alh pump doesn't provide the same volume of oil as the brm or bvr or whatever code the other motor has. Unless youre going to go compound turbo, high rpm build the 1.9t alh pump has no issues and will be plenty for 99.99999% of all daily driver balance shaft delete vehicles.

Thank you gentlemen. I have spoken to several techs and most of them are telling me to just drive it and dont worry. I purchased this vehicle already knowing the issue because this is the vehicle I want. I think my mind is now set on the delete kit using the 1.9 oil pump system. Will report back..

engine vibe

Do you know when last timing belt change was done? IIRC the timing is +/- .5 degree from TDC. I set mine @ -.25 degree and vibration went away.

Hello again gentlemen. I have come to a final decision- I hope!! I have done some more research and have found a company in the UK- power max engineering. They rebuild the balance shafts with an upgraded version. Total price is $730 British pound shipped to Canada. He claims he has done over 2000 with no returns. Anyone else have one from power max ? Cheers.

@bruca003 . Did you ever order that upgraded BSM version? I’m interested in how that has worked out for you.