Oil level ok ?
If it is and it's the STOP red low oil pressure .
DO NOT DRIVE , it's the oil pump drive issue above .
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Oil level ok ?
If it is and it's the STOP red low oil pressure .
DO NOT DRIVE , it's the oil pump drive issue above .
Hi,
Sorry only in from work. The oil level is fine, and yes the oil pressure light came up and it said stop. I got a recovery truck to the mechanics.
So at the moment he has gotten back to me with so far one of the tensioners for the timing belt has come out of its thread and there's quite a bit of metal shavings, he said I was very lucky as the belt managed not to slip and engine is still intact!
On the down side they have to put in new timing belt, tensioner and water pump and run it and hope that it hasn't done anymore damage. I won't know anymore until next week I would imagine.
Thanks for all your help. Would this problem have caused the oil light to come up ?
Thanks
There is only one tensioner on the timing belt circuit and the threaded stud it is mounted on has been known to fail often causing the engine to lose correct timing and smash itself to death internally. You were lucky.
Over cranking can put the low oil pressure warning on as the car struggling to start does not create the minimum level of oil pressure. This is a normal reaction by the car and once the warning appears stop turning the car over as the active warning shuts off the car's ability to start anyway.
A failed oil pump drive would not normally cause the car to cut out but the bad tensioner and loose belt might. Did you get the STOP low oil pressure warning while driving?
Yeah sounds like I was very lucky indeed, no the light never came on when driving only when I tried to start the car.
Thanks
Your oil pump drive may still be intact as it is very much a hit or miss scenario with some failing early and some never. The only way to know is to have the sump drained and removed. A tiny circlip holds the hexagonal pump drive bar in place inside the small hole on the pump. This can be removed and using a magnet the bar withdrawn. You can then inspect the end that fits in the secondary shaft of the balancer unit for abnormal wear. If none put it back in as whatever causes this problem is not affecting your engine. If there is wear you can source a replacement re-engineered balance shaft from KMB Parts Direct which has a) a longer drive bar of 100mm instead of 77mm so improved contact area / depth b) the right shaped hole - hexagonal not 12 point spline and c) a much tighter fit to eliminate vibration. Cost of kit without fitting is around £210. Worth doing 110%.
Hi all,
So I got the car back today, it was the water pump that had failed and the pilot from it had come away causing the engine to shut off, engine managed to stay intact.
So they replaced the water pump, pullys tensioners and the timing belt. Cost €400 including the recovery truck to the mechanics, not too bad. Seems like a lucky escape of what possibly could have gone wrong.
I asked them to see if the oil pump was ok, they said it was nothing to worry about its working fine. Light hasn't come on again.
Thanks again for all help and advice.
Unless the sump is drained and removed there is no way to assess whether the oil pump drive bar (a straight 6mm hexagonal "Allen key" bar 77mm in length) or the shaft into which it fits are wearing out. Of course they will say the pump is working fine but it is not the pump but the inferior bits that drive it around. They are all fine until they stop dead and you have ZERO oil pressure. Even before that the oil being pumped around for a month or two before failures may be half of the volume that is needed to prevent damage to the turbo and engine internals as VW diesels of these years have an inferior oil pressure warning system set way too low to be of any use.
Attachment 33202 This is a worn drive key.
What mileage is common for this to fail ? Thanks
Most common is 80-150K , my dad's old 2006 BKP went at 83K , potentially we are talking 50 - 400K ticking timebomb .
The car has 340k on the clock as it stands, it's hard to know whether it's been done yet or not, I will have to take the sumo off at some stage to have a look at it.
Will get this checked out then want to look into either changing the turbo to the 170hp and remapping or just remapping current set up.