Thats dammed annoying my post vanishing, never mind I will do it all again.

Quote Originally Posted by B5NUT View Post
The balance shaft is not the main problem with the blb engine, its the chain driven oil pump that is the offender, you need to get the gear conversion done first
Sorry but that is completely wrong. The chain is driven from the crank pulley (obviously) and these do occasionally fail, normally due to the tensioner falling off and the whipping chain wears the sprocket



The chains driven sprocket drives the primary balancer shaft (what was left of the tensioner I had already removed here) and this is a Passat which is the same.



Broken tensioner



This then drives the secondary balancer shaft via a helically cut gear and this secondary shaft has a broached 6-mm (ish) hex hole in its middle



which then drives the 6-mm hex key (two different lengths depending on date)



Worn hex key and new



Key being removed from oil pump



and this drives the oil pump, you can just make it out in the dead centre of the pump with the circlip around it. This is the spur gear system, the early versions of which also fail in regards of the hex key and some have even suffered spur gear failure.



This is a Passat 3C set up but it is the same and has the same problems.