blaz
Veteran Member
Some of us think that highway rather than city driving will give us a bit more time before the BHW's balance shaft chain tensioners fall apart.
Well, no.
My passat has been driven 99% on the highway, and except for the occasional "Italian Tune-up", I drive it to minimize fuel consumption. Very gradual acceleration, and so on.
So I thought I would be pretty safe waiting for the 160K km (100K mile) timing belt change to do the geared BS change-over. But as it turns out, I was just lucky.
Brandon and his mechanic (DCB Auto Repair, Toronto) found large plastic pieces of the tensioner broken off and metal shavings all over the place. The metal portion of the tensioner was almost completely worn away. It was one of the worst they've seen.
Brandon immediately identified the increased chain noise when I first brought it into the shop, which really surprised me as I had no clue. Maybe you just get used to it, and probably my old ears just can't pick up those high frequencies anymore. It does sound a bit less noisy now, but not hugely so.
Anyway, knowing what I know now, I would take it in earlier and get it done.
Well, no.
My passat has been driven 99% on the highway, and except for the occasional "Italian Tune-up", I drive it to minimize fuel consumption. Very gradual acceleration, and so on.
So I thought I would be pretty safe waiting for the 160K km (100K mile) timing belt change to do the geared BS change-over. But as it turns out, I was just lucky.
Brandon and his mechanic (DCB Auto Repair, Toronto) found large plastic pieces of the tensioner broken off and metal shavings all over the place. The metal portion of the tensioner was almost completely worn away. It was one of the worst they've seen.
Brandon immediately identified the increased chain noise when I first brought it into the shop, which really surprised me as I had no clue. Maybe you just get used to it, and probably my old ears just can't pick up those high frequencies anymore. It does sound a bit less noisy now, but not hugely so.
Anyway, knowing what I know now, I would take it in earlier and get it done.