Oil pump chain smashed thru alloy case and discussion on replacement oil pump conversion kit for BLB engine

[Crasher]

I took one out of an engine we were doing preventively, I feel sure it would have gone soon.

[JMR1]

So even now, with any of the 2.0 engines...its still possible to have an oil pump failure.......for the life of me, I cannot understand why any engine designer worthy of the name, would even think about putting a hexagon shaft into a splined bore....or if it had to be done like that, at least to extend the hexagon shaft the full extend possible into the bore. On the positive side, on this forum at least...there are no ( at least I have not seen any up to now) reports of recent ( from say 2012 onwards) oil pump failures ( I am open to correction on this though... )
So I will wait awhile before making any decision about changing my beloved 2003 A6.....
All the Best, Jim.

[Crasher]

ANY engine can fail, it is a 140 year old design spun into the 21st century and all that has really changed is lubricants and electronic control, the rest is history. The people who design these engines have to make them fit a huge range of targets, cost for the buyer, profit for the maker, emissions to satisfy bureaucrats, longevity, noise and God knows what else. If it goes suck squash bang blow, at some point it is going to go wrong.19k miles between oil changes is not going to help....

[JMR1]

Agreed Crasher, especially about the 19'000 oil change intervals and the design " Envelope" that engineers have to work within. Still....fitting a hexagon shaft into splined drive.....find it hard to understand the thinking behind that !!!! But I have to say that generally speaking, engines of all shades and hues are more reliable now than they were in times past, and cars are better built too, even if the use of electronics has gone stratospheric.
Jim

[Crasher]

Part of me craves points and a carb but I have converted my Beetle to Magnatronic hall sensing for idle stability and the larger part loves all the electronics gadgetry such as the AEM FIC8 I am fitting on an R32 turbo conversion, it is a classic love hate relationship that is only bearable because I get electronics and love wiring. I think the BIG mistake in the oil pump drive was 6mm, it should have been at least 7mm and also the broaching of the balancers internal hex is a little baggy which promotes wear, perhaps a little diagonal drilling into a journal for a direct oil feed would have helped. Looking at the drive method it is basically the same as has been used since God was a lad, I remember working on a Cologne V6 in a Grandad where the dizzy was driven from the cam and the oil pump out of its base by a long hexagonal stick down into the sump, the VR6 uses an almost identical system and it never fails.

[gebbel]

Looks like my dear A4 has had this failure just today. Have a red oil pressure light that came on near home. Wasn't feasable to stop straight away so freewheeled downhill as much as possible towards my estate. Light went off but then back on again. Parked her up, then checked oil level.....it's normal. One thing I noticed before switching the car off....it was as smooth as I'd heard it for a long time. As in no rattle which was becoming more noticeable of late. The car has just under 240,000 miles so a good innings many would say. I'll investigate whether it could be a sensor or some other less serious issue but surely now it's curtains isn't it?

[Gazwould]

Well you did say last year..


Re: 215K miles on a 2.0TDi BLB A4 – 02-05-2016,01:06 PM

"Thanks Sinny. I intend to drive the car until failure of the oil pump and the ultimate scrapping of the motor. It does not make economic sense to invest in this preventative measure. The car is only worth about €3000 on the open market, that's assuming you are mad enough to purchase a car with a ticking time bomb inside."

[gebbel]

Well you did say last year..


Re: 215K miles on a 2.0TDi BLB A4 – 02-05-2016,01:06 PM

"Thanks Sinny. I intend to drive the car until failure of the oil pump and the ultimate scrapping of the motor. It does not make economic sense to invest in this preventative measure. The car is only worth about €3000 on the open market, that's assuming you are mad enough to purchase a car with a ticking time bomb inside."

Correct. Not too upset as the car has been very reliable and lasted longer than most predicted.

[Desmond0313]

Don't know if this is a "tell your story" kind of thread now, but here I go:

I have a 2005 B7 A4 with the BLB engine. In August 2016, we ordered a chain replacement kit from powermaxengineering.com because the factory chain was making this horrible high-pitched whining sound when revving the engine (it was worn af). Sprockets, chain and tensioner were all changed. Whining sound gone, everything seemed fine. Fast forward to April 2017. I'm casually driving home in my town, then suddenly I hear a big "THUNK" coming from the engine bay. I had no idea what it was because I didn't get any warnings on the dash. I just heard that the engine's sound has changed. It sounded something like the old chain used to, kind of a metallic sound, and also, the basic engine sound became much more like a tractor than a diesel car. I drove home (about 2-3 km) with my foot barely touching the accelerator. Looked into it at home, everything was covered in oil. We were looking at everything for a good 30 minutes and just couldn't see anything. Then suddenly, when I looked down again, I noticed it. The bloody crankshaft sprocket was staring at me. Through a hole in the housing. And there was no chain on it. The metallic debris from the obliterated metal case were everywhere in the timing assembly, and the bloody belt didn't snap on me, I have no idea how it survived. We decided that we're ditching the whole chain thing. Took us 2 months before we found a reliable and affordable source for a gear-driven balance module with new gears. Also the balance module was converted to a thicker hexagon shaft (10mm thick instead of 6mm), so that will also have no issues. Then it took us another month to find a damned front housing second-hand, because all parts stores quoted ridiculous amounts for a new one. But we finally did, and the conversion was done. Through some miracle, the engine suffered no damage at all, despite driving 2-3 km with no oil pressure. Crankshaft and rod bearings showed no visible damage at all, same goes for the turbo, works fine, boost is ok, no smoke. The very first thing I noticed with the gear driven module is how much nicer the engine sounds. Because even with a new chain, the chain system has this kinda "sssssss" sound when the engine is running. That is all gone and now the only thing I hear is the pure diesel engine sound. So this was my story with the BLB engine, and I consider myself the luckiest man on the planet. This could've gone waaay worse so many ways. I will upload some pictures of the old metal housing and timing belt tomorrow, it's worth a look.

[Gazwould]

Who does the 10mm hex drive key as I'm only aware that Poland does oversize