I think oilhammer hit it on the head (pun intended
)
The balance shaft interesting. It looks like a spiral bound masonry bit. It's like worm gears. It turns off of the chain from the crank, turning the other shaft the opposite way. Great to spin up the oil paddles. The "tool" to lok the shaft in place is just a cut piece of metal block. It's placed in a groove to hold it neutral while you tighten the bolts on the sprocket for the pump chain. Of course the engine is at TDC also. If not, you WILL notice vibration, and I mean you'll notice it. It means the shaft is off and actually "causing" more vibration. I had that happen. After their silly "fix" at 40k the car felt so horrible. I brought it back and asked if they checked the balancer and low and behold, they said they needed to order the "tool". Wouldn't you do that when you do the job???? Anyways, almost 1k miles later they fix it, and the entire time said I could drive it.
Don't let VW touch your crap and if you do, make sure it's fixed right, if it's not, PARK it, period. You'll end up in my shoes.
Yes, I have the old crank out and can measure the wheel. Just tell me what you want me to measure.
I'm having a seriously hard time believing the sensor wheel is shot or damaged. Here's why. (logic as a mechanic)
If the vehicle starts with the sensor kissing the wheel, spins up perfectly fine, idles smooth, and runs absolutely proper up to the 2.5-3k rpm mark and then kicks out and sputters, etc, then it's telling me the wheel likely isn't damaged and when you push on the sensor to make it touch the sensor wheel then the rpms go higher. Now, if we're logical here. That means the engine is getting the closest possible signal it will EVER get from the sensor (follow me?).
There could possibly be a ground problem? I don't know. But I'm almost certain it's not mechanical from inside the engine. If it were, then the car would act up AT idle and while revving it up to the point that it, well, starts acting up. It wouldn't be perfect, and then act up if the wheel was damaged. Again, IMO.
So getting the signal coming out to the ECU is critical I'm guessing. And there's three wires, maybe one is a ground. I haven't tested it all. But maybe a bad wire all of a sudden or truly a ground problem but I dont' know where that would be at.
Anyone following me here, am I making sense? Help me out.
Thanks!
John