Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

So with the weather getting nice I was finally getting to do my timing belt/water pump in my 96 TSI. I was doing pretty good today till I got the lower timing cover off.

When I pulled the cover off, I found the balance shaft belt was broke and just jammed in there. And when I went to turn the balance shaft, I had to use some leverage, not bad, but I couldn't turn it by hand. It does not feel as free as other ones I have messed with.

Now that I have freed up the balance shaft, it does turn ok, but still not by hand.

I have only had the car a little while. Bought it with a bad fuel pump. Replaced pump and the car ran. Only thing I seen that was odd when I started the car up before doing this tear down was that the oil pressure was either not working, or there was no pressure.

I have never encountered this problem, so kinda looking for advice on how to proceed. Do I just replace the belts and try it, or do I need to pull the motor and go into it.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Bse kit

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

I dont wanna have to pull the motor out if I dont have too. I tried doing the BSE kit in car one time, I didn't do so well.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

No real choice now. It does not spin by hand easy. Low no oil pressure. Time to pull the engine and check the bearings,crank and if still good install bse

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Well. the thing is I dont have the space to pull the motor. No garage and no cherry picker kinda limit me.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Fix it right and not just to try to patch it and have the full engine taking a dump.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

i agree with fixing it right. I have no problem doing that. Just honestly no more money to really put into it. Saving to put a down payment on a house right now, so thats priorities.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Store it till you have the money or sell it. Hell I had my Spyder in storage for 10 year before I put it back together.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

That is true. I have been trying to buy this car back for over 2 years now. So I doubt I will let it go. But sounds like I need to dig deeper into it. So that'll probably be what I do now and see what I find.

I should be able to pull the pan to take a quick look at the balance shaft stuff right? Than if its bad I can just wait.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Yep just pull the pan and look and you can pull the main to look and the bearings and crank.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Dump it, not worth the time or headache.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

To quote your very own sig:

"DSM....Because broken timing belts, cheap interior, transfer case leakage, and crankwalk is to weed out the weak."

:)

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

That is a very valid point. lol. I guess I for some reason was just hoping this car wold't give me too many issues. But I should have known better.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Well, I was able to borrow an oil pressure tester and yep..no oil pressure. The gauge didn't even try to move. So I will be ordering BSE kit, but also worried about main and rod bearings.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Pulled the oil pan off today and found some bearing material in the oil. But both bearings are still in their spots on the balance shaft.

Even though its still there, can it still be the cause of my no oil pressure?

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Bearing parts in the pan. Pull for a full rebuild no patching it now.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

I was afraid of that. There wasn't much, but it dont take much to mess things up.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Yep, full rebuild time. If you do it right its not expensive at all. I did mine for ~$400

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

At least this motor is in good shape. It did run just fine. With no noise, so at least it has that going for it. Should be an ok rebuild than.

Re: Balance shaft belt broken, balance shaft doesn't turn easily
 

Sucks to hear that man, well now its time to put together a little build :) nothing wrong with that