BHW balance shaft upgrade weekend

[oilhammer]

This is a tentative feeler for what weekend(s) would work for anyone to come to St. Louis to have me upgrade their balance shaft module in their 2004-05 Passats.

As of right now, I am still waiting on upgraded parts, but assuming they come through and are available soon I would like to start planning for this.

Date now set for first weekend in February. Looks like my first choice conflicted with the NAIAS as well as the schedules of some VIPs I would like to attend. What I need to know is how many people would be interested in a weekend such as this, or another date if you prefer.

The catalyst for this thread is a referral place for all the PMs, emails, and phone calls I am getting for folks interested in this procedure. I have decided to this on a weekend because it will be easier for me to concentrate on just this and not answer phones or anything else. The shop will remain officially closed for these days, only those scheduled to come in will be expected in the shop. I of course have no problem with people watching, so long as it is an orderly crowd (which I am sure it will be).

I have arranged a discounted labor price for TDI club members for this service. Parts prices will be VW list price, provided by the shop, no exceptions. Other parts such as the timing belt and related bits will be provided by the shop, but will be sourced from one of our reputable vendors here.

I am thinking I may be able to knock out 4 or 5 of these in a weekend. Any feedback on this idea is welcome. I understand some of you may be coming from great distances, and I can provide hotel information to you if need be.

EDIT: these are the folks wanting this done the first weekend:

Rick Auffenberg confirmed
plowboy lurch confirmed
Jason McCord (loose engine on a stand) confirmed
DWeber confirmed
Lug Nut confirmed

I need the above people to please call the shop and give your information to our receptionist so that we may get you loaded into our system and on the schedule, as well as to set up a payment method. This will be done outside normal business hours and I have no way to invoice anyone until Monday morning.

Due to parts shortages and these cars breaking the chains left and right, I am limited on parts availability but am doing everything possible to get more here.

STL hotel info can be found on page 8 of this thread.

Gentleman in the DFW area of Texas has also stated he would do the service:

Steve Glover
TechnicalDieselInnovations
817 915 4063

 

[WYTDI]

I know it is hard to do at this point, but do you have any idea what price range this procedure might be in? I assume you will only be doing this procedure as well; no tranny flushes, etc.?

 

[oilhammer]

I know it is hard to do at this point, but do you have any idea what price range this procedure might be in? I assume you will only be doing this procedure as well; no tranny flushes, etc.?

The whole BS deal should be 8 hours labor. Our normal shop rate is $95/hr, however I am going to knock some off of that. Right now I am thinking $85/hr.

The parts (timing belt stuff included) should be in the neighborhood of $1900. As I get more details I will append this.

Since I know the transmission flush is not much more work, and I have to remove the cooler lines anyways, I can do those as well. That does not take much time. That will be around $250, as the bulk of that is due to how much fluid gets flushed through.

 

[KCMike]

Any chance of making this a Passat TDI GTG? My BS work has already been done, but I'd like the chance to hang out with other owners. Maybe a vendor or two could be talked into showing up. Rocketchip anyone?

 

[Sprocket]

When you say the whole procedure should take 8 hrs, does that include replacing the timing belt?

 

[oilhammer]

The timing belt needs to come off to do the balance shaft. The only thing 'extra' that would not be overlap from a t-belt job would be the water pump, but that is literally about 45 seconds worth of work at that point.

I have gotten some PMs from people about parts. I am sorry, but we simply cannot allow customer-supplied parts for this. I will however be OK with someone providing their own oil, as I know some folks are partial to a particular brand. The shop can provide Castrol Professional OE 5w30 or Pentosynth 5w40, both meet the 505.01 oil spec.

If you have already had a timing belt done, that is fine, I can reuse it however I will NOT reuse the tensioner under any circumstances. You will get a new one regardless.

What I will be replacing:

balance shaft module
gears and hardware associated with the new design module
front crank seal
oil
oil filter
timing belt
t-belt tensioner
idler roller
water pump
coolant
accessory belts

I will try and have on hand if needed:

engine mounts (common problem)
alternator pulley
viscous fan clutch
accessory belt tensioners
air, fuel, cabin filters
VW ATF

If there is enough interest, and someone thinks they may need these, and we have enough time depending on the amount of cars for the weekend, I may have:

outer CV boots
rear brakes
upper links
cam/followers?

But as of right now, I really want to concentrate on the BS issue and try and service as many folks cars as I can.

Someone PM'd me about intake cleanings...the BHW intakes do not seem to get gunked up much, much the same as the other PDs. But the intake manifold on the BHW looks to be a real bear to get off anyways, do to the strange turbo arrangement. That is most likely something we will NOT be doing.

 

[senez]

Oh my gosh..

This sounds incredibly tempting, given I'm at 80k now, putting on about 1.5-2k/mo.

So we're talking a total bill around $2800 (not counting hotel, etc.). Temppppppting. Especially considering I could motor for another 100k with a big smile on my face.

 

[Lug_Nut]

Does this gear driven B-S module re-use the hex shaft driven oil pump?
Is there a chance of any (Metalnerd, or other) hex clearance modification to the geared B-S module?

As mine is still quiet in comparison to some, I'd prefer to have both of these identified issues addresses at one time, rather than have a geared B-S installed only to have that improved one get 'hexed' and be rendered useless.

 

[oilhammer]

Honestly, I do not know. The other gear driven BS modules use the same hex shaft to drive the oil pump, and I assume this one does too. However, there may be an issue that the reason the hex shaft gets beat out is due to the oscillations of the chain, and if that is gone, the shaft won't get beat up.

Metalnerd's work will be able to be applied to this new design if the hex shaft setup remains, however.

But until I have the new parts in my hands, I can only speculate.

 

[Rick Auffenberg]

I am in on this deal, I can stay with my dad in west county please confirm date so I can make plans. Thank You for this offer!!

Rick A.

 

[oilhammer]

OK, update on the new parts:

Volkswagen says there are currently only 12 sets of parts allotted for all of North America initially. If you want to 'red order' something direct, it is done by VIN, and they will charge extra freight to that order. The freight is a percentage of the cost. In this case it could be $100 to $200 worth of freight costs alone (which is really silly, IMHO).

I have an order in through my dealer for 5 sets. I figured any more and they [Volkswagen] will think I am nuts and not send any .

So that goes along with what I was wanting to do for at least this initial weekend, 5 cars.

I will forego my own car for the time being (I am only at 80k) and would like to first help those folks who are at/near 100k and/or have some confirmed noise in the engine. This will be a first come first served deal, except we will be doing a 'preorder' of sorts. I do not want anyone to drive hundreds of miles here only to find out there are no parts here at the shop for their car. Anyone is welcome to come and watch, however. I would ask that we limit this event to the B5 crowd.

 

[owr084]

Oilhammer -

I only have 55K miles so far and am not ready to have the work done. But, if you need a guinea pig to do a seminar at the 2009 TDIFest I'll volunteer!

Also, if there is a "hat" going around for the folks doing the legwork on all this, please post it. I know your time is worth a bit

 

[Lug_Nut]

I will forego my own car for the time being (I am only at 80k) and would like to first help those folks who are at/near 100k and/or have some confirmed noise in the engine.

I haven't jumped all over this because I'm in a similar situation.
Well, that and I need to rationalize a 20% of purchase price, not-yet-needed upgrade after just 5 months of ownership.

 

[maktas]

I am also in a predicament. I just did my TB change and I still have extended warranty for another 18k miles. I want to figure out a way so that the extended warranty could work for me. The noise is not that bad on my car, I have 82k miles on my car right now.

 

[vw4life]

OK, update on the new parts:

Volkswagen says there are currently only 12 sets of parts allotted for all of North America initially. If you want to 'red order' something direct, it is done by VIN, and they will charge extra freight to that order. The freight is a percentage of the cost. In this case it could be $100 to $200 worth of freight costs alone (which is really silly, IMHO).

I have an order in through my dealer for 5 sets. I figured any more and they [Volkswagen] will think I am nuts and not send any .

So that goes along with what I was wanting to do for at least this initial weekend, 5 cars.

I will forego my own car for the time being (I am only at 80k) and would like to first help those folks who are at/near 100k and/or have some confirmed noise in the engine. This will be a first come first served deal, except we will be doing a 'preorder' of sorts. I do not want anyone to drive hundreds of miles here only to find out there are no parts here at the shop for their car. Anyone is welcome to come and watch, however. I would ask that we limit this event to the B5 crowd.

Does VW's fix address only the chain drive replacement or does it also address the sloppy hex shaft to BS module drive?

If so, I haven't seen discussion on the update. If not, are the harded shaft and socketed BS that the community has worked on going to be ready in time to compliment the VW chain/gear fix?

 

[oilhammer]

Does VW's fix address only the chain drive replacement or does it also address the sloppy hex shaft to BS module drive?

If so, I haven't seen discussion on the update. If not, are the harded shaft and socketed BS that the community has worked on going to be ready in time to compliment the VW chain/gear fix?

See post #9 of this thread

 

[tdireader]

If I can make it that long before 100k, count me in.....

 

[Tetraptous]

I may be interested. My Passat is at 93k now, but with no noticeable chain noise. By February, I'll almost ready for the TB change anyway. The big problems are the cost (which is unavoidable, I know) and that your shop is 13 hours away. I'll have to see if I can free up time to head out there that weekend and let you know. I definitely feel like the new VAG parts are the way to go, and I'd hate to merely replace the original flawed parts and run into problems further down the road.

 

[Smokerr]

Not to be too much of a smart alack, but his shop is 5 days away from where I live! Drats. Good news is only 30k and the details fully known by the time I need it. Nice if warranty but will not hold my breath.

 

[VEGmech]

I posted some concerns with this fix on the engine noise thread, do you think this might be an issue with driving the oil pump backwards? Also, I am in Kansas City and wouldn't mind coming up any weekend to help, observe, or have my own car done. 2004 Passat 120k

 

[oilhammer]

I posted some concerns with this fix on the engine noise thread, do you think this might be an issue with driving the oil pump backwards? Also, I am in Kansas City and wouldn't mind coming up any weekend to help, observe, or have my own car done. 2004 Passat 120k

And I posted a response to your post. Study up some on what we are doing and you'll learn all about it. There is an idler gear involved, the pump will not spin backwards.

 

[VEGmech]

Thanks for the response. I offer my assistance but am an industrial mech, not certified auto mech.

 

[oilhammer]

One set of new parts are in.

 

[senez]

Really interested in some pictures...

Are you taking one apart now? Side-by-sides would be awesome.

Nevermind, they're in the other thread.

SWEET!

 

[LoneLIPumpeDuse]

Are these M or Q sets you just got in I'm only at 63K (and no chain noise) but St. Louie is in my future, OH U da Man

 

[oilhammer]

So far I just have ONE upgraded BS module and related pieces. I am trying to get 5 total before the February weekend event. I am putting confirmed people for that weekend in my first post. There are already 3 there. I suspect 5 will be my upper limit. So please, if you are PMing me or emailing me, tell me you want to be added to that list. If you want to be on that list and your name is not there, I need to know so you can be added!!!

There are only 2 spots left!!!

 

[cspeter8]

I just finished reading this entire thread, and found answers to my questions about cost and more details about what failures will occur, so I edited my original post.

 

[mikes tdi]

cspeter8-the first thing is to inform the tdi mechanic that
your car has been converted to run on grease.
several expert tdi technicians on the tdi club no longer work
on tdi cars that run on grease.
hope you find a good tdi mechanic that is willing to take care of your car.

 

[oilhammer]

Please folks anyone wanting to be slated for the February weekend please let me know. The confirmed people are in the first post of this thread. You can PM me if you like.

 

[oilhammer]

OK, all 5 sets are accounted for. This will be February 7th and 8th (the first FULL weekend in February).