2.0 PD Oil Pump

[The Good Shag]

Having read all the stories of impending doom if you have a BSS engine, I would like to try shutting the stable door before the horse has bolted. Is it an easy job to modify the oil pump drive to something more robust? I am perfectly happy with my car and want to keep it so wouldn't mind shelling out for a modification. I am thinking here of the feasability of giving it to a local machine shop and having the end of the balancer shaft machined to a proper hex or square hole rather than the round hole with microscopic splines.

[rotodiesel]

Easy enough for a well equipped machine shop (not a dealer or anyone in the "motor trade") but very expensive.

Dropping the sump and removing the balancer module is a big job but you could recoup a little of the cost if your car is due for a cambelt change. If you rely on the machine shop to design a revised coupling, you have no guarantee of alignment or concentricity - both of which are crucial.

Assuming word has not "got around" the trade that these engines are time bombs, I would sell it and get something else. It's probably too late now though, traders are not fools - just crooks sometimes. Sell it back to a VAG dealer.

rotodiesel.

You could probably take out a comprehensive aftermarket warranty for less money than an engine modification. Make sure this type of failure is fully covered and make absolutely sure, when the oil warning comes on that you drive the engine good and hard. The last thing you need is a repair job to the existing engine.

Edited 21 October, 2010 by rotodiesel

[Tech1e]

Got one apart at the moment, drive has rounded off.

[Minimoke]

Got one apart at the moment, drive has rounded off.

But what always puzzles me is why this seems to be an endemic problem on longtitudanal PD engines but not so much an issue on other PD series engines. I would have thought the PD oil pump arrangement would be identical irrespective of series. So why does this happen???????

[Tech1e]

Happens on the BKP engines which are transverse.

[rotodiesel]

I think there are far fewer unmodified transverse 2.0 PD engines around. Quite a few of the old N-S installations were fitted with 8v heads - like the later Mk I Superbs.

Thanks to VAG's openness and honesty concerning this problem we'll never know. This engine is best avoided.

rotodiesel.

[rwbaldwin]

Easy enough for a well equipped machine shop (not a dealer or anyone in the "motor trade") but very expensive.

Dropping the sump and removing the balancer module is a big job but you could recoup a little of the cost if your car is due for a cambelt change. If you rely on the machine shop to design a revised coupling, you have no guarantee of alignment or concentricity - both of which are crucial.

Assuming word has not "got around" the trade that these engines are time bombs, I would sell it and get something else. It's probably too late now though, traders are not fools - just crooks sometimes. Sell it back to a VAG dealer.

rotodiesel.

You could probably take out a comprehensive aftermarket warranty for less money than an engine modification. Make sure this type of failure is fully covered and make absolutely sure, when the oil warning comes on that you drive the engine good and hard. The last thing you need is a repair job to the existing engine.

It can be done, but as roto suggests, its not as simple as it may seem.

I know of one case where the owner threaded the balancer shaft and created a new drive shaft. He works at a high-tech machine shop and they found it difficult to get it right with an NC lathe and mill.

I think the car has now done close to 140k with the revised arrangement so it does work.

[The Good Shag]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

[skodanut]

Looking at the pics displayed, is it much of a job to actually get the sump off?....just wanted an idea of time wise....and get my car back on the road sooner rather than later

[Tech1e]

You have to drop/remove the front subframe assembly which means you have to support the engine from above.

[rotodiesel]

And get the alignment right when you've finished.

rotodiesel.

[skodanut]

So a time consuming job by the sound of it....was told it was around a 4hr job to remove the sump doing the above work listed bove..does that sound reasonable?

[Tech1e]

Skoda give you 2.5 hours to replace the balancer assembly, which tbh is a joke.

Four hours is about right I'd say.

[The Good Shag]

Got one apart at the moment, drive has rounded off.

I'd be very interested to know what the engine damage was and the cost to put right. Is this a DIY job or a professional one?

[Tech1e]

This one is a pro job at work.

No further engine damage on his one as far as i can tell.

[skodanut]

Would be interesting how much the cost of the job actually entails....i dont know if the oil pump if purchased new would contain the balancer assembly, or whether it can be purchased seperately?...i'm just trying to work out roughly the cost of the work that needs to be done on my car. that was one of the reasons i turned down suk's offer of the goodwill, as there was now way i was going to pay 85 quid an hr, when the independant i use is far less, and with his experience, a better mechanic, and he isnt the type to put a new item in , if it can be repaired or scource a reconditioned part. Still gonna be pretty expensive tho, unless i can persuade him to pass on the discount for trade in exchange for £ notes lol

Keep us informed tech1e on how the repair is going

[samson1]

I'd be very interested to know what the engine damage was and the cost to put right. Is this a DIY job or a professional one?

[samson1]

how many miles has this engine done ?

[skodanut]

Well my oil pump failed at 38k miles....in just over 3yrs from brand new....but if i manage to get the car back on the road with engine repaired it will be relegated to around 80 miles a week....and assuming it lasts another 38k miles, it will last me another 10yrs, and if it lasts that long, i will will consider the car run into the ground....so finger's crossed, the damage wont be too servere and it will once again be on the road where it belongs. Of course there are the other problems the superb has inherited from the passat, plus the usual modern dpf issues, but hopefully it will stand the test of time mechanically when repaired.

[rwbaldwin]

I've seen an Audi (with the same engine as skodanut) with an oil pump shaft failure at just 26k miles

[skodanut]

Makes sad reading doesnt it.....here we are with an audi at 26k miles with oil pump failure.....prob costing half as much again than my skoda !! Makes you wonder if anybody from VW or SKODA themselves read these forums and report back to quality control, and say this makes sad reading about their vehicles dying before they have a chance to actually run in!!

Will be interested to see how the motability superb greenline fare's over the next 3yrs, and see if it has inherited any problems from the previous superb.....epecially mechanical reliabilty...time will tell. If we do get issues it will be goodbye skoda and onto the next manufacturer.

[Supurbia]

If we do get issues it will be goodbye skoda and onto the next manufacturer.

You should've done that this time let alone next time, they should be falling over you to repair that car, the fact they aren't says it all.

[rotodiesel]

I'm afraid there's no sentiment involved - VAG know exactly what the problems are, how many defective engines they've built and have developed a strategy to minimise the cost of this problem to them. They don't give a toss about their customers.

Models such as the Golf are very much more profitable and important to VAG than oddball big Skodas that very few people buy - so if you were VAG where would you put all the defective engines? They're not going to throw them away or rework them. That's why fewer transverse units have failed.

Whilst I can understand why they might consider doing this, to actually make a calculated decision to sell these engines to customers puts them on my list of "people not to do further business with". Toyota are saints by comparison.

rotodiesel.

[skodanut]

Believe me i did try to get suk to up their offer for repairing the engine on my superb...but they simply wasnt going to budge. The goodwill was purely for being a valued customer for the number of cars i bought and absolutely nothing for the engine in question. They are tuned in order to fob the customer off full stop....the car was just out of warranty by a few mths, and it was on that basis they weren't going to budge, despite my questioning on diesel reliablity and the fact the car was basically not run in !! The fellow handling my case wasnt interested....kept pushing me to take the car to skoda for them to investigate and then he said he would work out goodwill. When i asked him what the amount of goodwill i would recieve he would say no more than 30-40%, and on those figures i decided that the offer was derisory and a joke and told them to expext me to shell out money for a bodged up engine supplied by your parent company and end up paying around £1500 upwards was simply not on.and told them in not so many words ...to get lost.

[cheezemonkhai]

Seriously, the car was less than 6 years old, just see them in court.

From what we see around here I don't think it should be hard to get evidence such that the balance of probability is on your side.

I mean how many others have failed in the same way, sounds like a design to manufacturing problem, just from that.

Anyway.. best of luck and amazed you gave them more money after that.