Low oil pressure light came one

Was running down the highway at 70 mph and suddenly the "STOP engine" warning came in due to low oil pressure. Turned it off and coasted to roadside. Checked oil level and it was good. No leaks also. Couldn't help myself and restarted it. She started just fine and idled great with no smoke and no oil light. As soon as I applied a little throttle, the oil light came on again, but quickly went back off once she settled back down to an idle. Never did start smoking and temperature gauge never increased beyond normal.

Noticed that engine made a random "popping" sound at idle and increased somewhat in frequency as throttle was applied. Appeared to be coming from turbo/passenger side.

Towed to my regular TDI guru/specialist mechanic who did a quick diagnosis. Said he had never seen or heard a TDI make that noise before. First impression was maybe the oil regulator, if not the balance shaft assembly.

Has 160K miles. Geared balance shaft and t-belt put in at 80K (2009), cam replaced at 100K. 505.01 5W-40 oil and fllter replaced every 10k and just replaced less than 1k ago.

Will post results once problem is determined.

Update:

Finally got mechanic to take a look at problem. Haven't talked to him in person yet; only via a few texts.

1. Zero oil pressure when a gauge was connected
2. Tear down found that hex shaft was worn
3. He hasn't put it back together and drove it yet, but is not expecting any more damage. Hoping all is well.

Has 160K miles. Geared balance shaft and t-belt put in at 80K (2009). I guess the hex shaft finally wore away to the point it wouldn't turn the oil pump anymore. Going with a BSM delete this time, along with a t-belt change (it was due anyway).

Hate to say it, but she is getting sold after this. Not gonna wait around for the tranny to crap out on me next.

Really enjoyed driving it the last 10 years and will miss it. Was a solid highway car that drove and handled great.

rparnel1 said:

not expecting any more damage. Hoping all is well.

Click to expand...

Sorry for your troubles... FWIW give yourself a big pat on the back, as many folks just keep driving with the red light on and the engine quicky becomes an expensive hunk of junk. You pulled over immediately... very good odds all is well.

I too am sorry to hear what happened.

I've have been curious about these hex shaft failures.
What I gathered is there have been two hex shaft length designs.
Yours most likely had a 77mm hex shaft. Late 2009 and newer had the 100mm hex shaft installed.




If you can possibly get the size of the hex shaft, that would be great.


.

I went thru the same at the same mileage with mine, except that failure occurred right after I started the car and was pulling off my driveway. I decided to not run the engine to measure oil pressure as I pretty much suspected what it was. Total 20 or so seconds engine running time after the "STOP ENGINE" warning including engine restart. Rolled the car back on the driveway and pulled the oil pan off the coming weekend. Shaft rounded of course. Got new shaft from the dealer. Surprisingly (or not) they had stock! The shaft actually isn't B5.5 TDI part - comes off an Audi A3 TDI due to the geared BSM upgrade. Car is ok now.
Hopefully yours will do too - good luck! Expect turbo issues if you have ran the car too long with 0 oil pressure.

Do you have the part # on the shaft, and was it the 77mm or 100mm?

Turbo is also toast. Has a broke shaft. Guess I ran it too long. Good news is that motor holds oil pressure. Don't have any part numbers or pics.

Anybody have a used turbo?

Seeing the somewhat numerous geared b/shaft failures I"m glad I went delete on the two that I have done.

rparnel1 said:

.... Good news is that motor holds oil pressure. Don't have any part numbers.....

Click to expand...

That's great it holds pressure.
Any chance you can look at the old BSM and check for the shaft length?
Anytime I ask this question, nobody seems to answer it.... Except maybe two ....with a 77mm hex shaft.

I'll ask the mechanic when I pick it up. Don't know if he can or still has old parts. Wont be until next week at earliest. He is trying to source a used turbo, but I may just bit the bullet and get a new one from ID parts for $799. Seems like used ones are only $300 to $400 cheaper at most and their condition is suspect.

Check with Frans at www.dutchautoparts.com He sells excellent rebuilds.

Mechanic found a new one for $500, so I told him to make it happen. Anxious to get her back on the road. Hell, I may even keep her now. Wife said I've sunk so much money into the car that we are gonna drive it til the wheels fall off.

I've put 3500 into a car that's worth maybe 4000. Just hope the transmission hangs in there

Please make sure that this turbo, which your mechanic "found", isn't coming from this guy. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=320500 If it is a Prothe/Rothenbacher deal, DO NOT install it on your car. Do not even open the box. Send it back and get a refund.

That's a good point. He is one of the recommended mechanics on the list for the DFW and only works on TDI's. Been working on my car for 10 years. He does frequent this site every now and then. Hope he knows about Prothe.

I will ask him where he is getting it from.

Turbo is coming from an ebay seller called turbochargerpros out of San Diego. It is not Prothe (Mechanic knew about him). They have been on ebay since 2005 and have 1943 feedbacks with the vast majority being positive.

Sad to hear your turbo bite the dust! Mine makes a slight 'owl booing' sounds now, not too noticeable, but certainly started after my oil drive shaft incident. I guess my turbo will follow suit, though it's been 10K+ miles since then, no change in noise or engine power/etc.

The geared BSM has 77mm oil drive shaft. You can't put longer shaft unless you modify the BSM. I guess just replace the oil drive shaft every time timing belt gets replaced. At least that's what I heard A3 TDI owners are doing.

leobg said:

...

The geared BSM has 77mm oil drive shaft. You can't put longer shaft unless you modify the BSM. I guess just replace the oil drive shaft every time timing belt gets replaced. At least that's what I heard A3 TDI owners are doing.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that length info. Do you know when your BSM was converted? Obviously you have an early version BSM, so I am curious as to when this particular supply would have been exhausted.


Here are a couple of European outfits that modifies the balance shaft to the longer hex shaft.
http://www.kmbpartsdirect.co.uk/products.html
http://www.motortec.biz


.

So we've seen multitude examples of the hex shaft (male) rounding off the corners. But what about the slot in the BSM that the hex shaft is fitted into (female)? I remember reading speculation that the geared BSM could also get rounded off inside on the female side, so replacing the hex shaft itself at regular intervals (e.g., timing belt) would only be 50% preventive/preemptive maintenance.

Any more to that theory? Just curious only, as i already went the delete route.

Zambee500 said:

So we've seen multitude examples of the hex shaft (male) rounding off the corners. But what about the slot in the BSM that the hex shaft is fitted into (female)? I remember reading speculation that the geared BSM could also get rounded off inside on the female side, so replacing the hex shaft itself at regular intervals (e.g., timing belt) would only be 50% preventive/preemptive maintenance.

Any more to that theory? Just curious only, as i already went the delete route.

Click to expand...

I think the wear on the shaft is much more than the wear on the socket. I took some measurements (provided in another thread here, need to search it out for reference), the worn part on the hex shaft was almost rounded which would mean socket didn't get much wear. Certainly not as reliable as direct oil pump drive as with the BSM delete solution, but if I can get another 100+K from the car before having to drop down the oil pan, that would be ok (I do 20-25k annually, so that may outlast the car for me).
I wouldn't do delete route as I am concerned 1) it would cost too much money, 2) may cause increased vibrations at idle (torn mounts/etc) and 3) might be unnecessary (given the age of our cars..).

@DeliveryValve, I did my BSM very long time ago (within 3-4 months of that concern appearing here on the forum), so definitely one of the first ones. I regret I threw out the old chained BSM - now I wish I could check the wear on the hex shaft with the chained BSM. I guess later down the road they converted to 100mm shaft when the wear to this part become apparent.

The two I converted, 1st to geared bsm at 115000 had very little wear on the shaft. The second deleted at 144000 also very little wear on the shaft but the idler bracket came out in two pieces. It makes me wonder if excessive wear comes from a slight misalignment in the oil pump drive.

Anyone have the part # for the 77mm hex shaft?

Well, all repairs are done and she is back on the road. Runs about the same, but engine is quieter at idle with the BS delete than it was with the geared BS. Go figure! Maybe vibrates a little more. Hard to tell. Looks like the loss of oil pressure from the rounded off hex shaft did not do any lasting internal damage to the engine. Broke turbo shaft was the only secondary casualty.

She white-smoked like crazy until all the oil got burnt out of the exhaust. Nice and clean now.

Repairs were:
-- BS delete
-- timing belt replace (all the belt path components; it had 80k on it and was due anyway)
-- new, used turbo (thanks to user bobby95 for a deal on a gently used one!)

Good to hear. Track your MPG too. I find it improves with the delete.

rparnel1 said:

Well, all repairs are done and she is back on the road. Runs about the same, but engine is quieter at idle with the BS delete than it was with the geared BS. Go figure! Maybe vibrates a little more. Hard to tell. Looks like the loss of oil pressure from the rounded off hex shaft did not do any lasting internal damage to the engine. Broke turbo shaft was the only secondary casualty.
She white-smoked like crazy until all the oil got burnt out of the exhaust. Nice and clean now.
Repairs were:
-- BS delete
-- timing belt replace (all the belt path components; it had 80k on it and was due anyway)
-- new, used turbo (thanks to user bobby95 for a deal on a gently used one!)

Click to expand...

Yeah, I bought an '05 that already had the 5-speed swap and BS delete, so I don't know how much vibration there was prior to the delete but compared to my B4 sedan and A4 wagon, the engine seems smoother and quieter. So I can't understand why everyone keeps talking about excess engine vibration after BSD...

Ditto