mr_fusion

Ok, exhaust manifold came off pretty easily. Nuts were not too tight at all. After much swearing and knuckle scraping I managed to retrieve the shaft with gear from the engine. There is some wear to the teeth of the gear (helical?) and the 90 degree gear that is on the intermediate shaft in the block is showing a small amount of wear too. See pics. The shiny edges you can see should be flat, but have been worn almost to a point, so maybe the other gear is slipping of this gear? Not sure if this amount of wear would cause the noise though, although it could be due to it not meshing recently, will see what the part i receive tomorrow looks like. Second pic is for reference and shows how it connects down the drive shaft into the sump to drive the oil pump. Main thing is that the hexagonal hole is NOT worn / rounded out. Thoughts?

Well I have ordered the gear, will be here tomorrow Sanburn Autos in Coventry, very friendly and helpful. Will defo use them again I think. However, the guy I spoke to said that 20psi was really good oil pressure for that engine at idle.... maybe he thought that was a warm reading.

Well pump and shaft are both new now, so only that gear left to swap. As long as the intermediate shaft isn't busted then all is well.

Had a quote from partsgateway.co.uk for that "shaft with gear" for £28.20 all in which is 1/4 of the price from VAG, so I will defo be buying that one if it turns out to be the culprit..

Just checked on http://www.vagcat.com and the golf / corrado vr6 part numbers are the same for all these bits.. so it should be worth a go. Only downside is that I would have to keep the engine at my parents in shropshire and go up there and strip the bits I need and bring them back to london in a box as I live in a flat on the 2nd floor with NOWHERE to keep an engine.

I think most of the ancillary parts are identical, and just the pistons and bore are smaller. Bits like cooling parts, alternator, starter etc are going to be the same and pretty handy to have as spares.

I don't have an oil pressure reference before this happened, but there will inevitably be bottom end wear due to the age of the motor, so i'm hoping this has made it worse! At least the noise is very specifically coming from that area now and if I can take that out of the equation I can then think about any side effects of the damage. Car was running very well before this happened, so will have to see what kind of oil pressure I have after this is sorted (if its sorted that is!). There is an OBD1 Golf VR6 engine on ebay at the moment for £99 with no bids, so I may consider getting this and stripping it for parts if necessary. Only down side is it has 118k on the clock, but this is 20k less than mine.

right. word on the street is that the exhaust manifold was removed recently sooo.... i might have a go at taking that off tonight to get a better assessment of the problem. Will I need to disconnect the downpipe from the manifold as well, or is it flexible enough to just push out of the way?

I think that you may be right and the hex shaped hole (that the shaft I just fitted slots into) has been rounded out inside and is slipping every revolution... Bad news is that part (021 115 116 A) is £94.20+vat and is on 2 week back order according to the dealer... bum

I will find out if they took the manifold off when the head was done recently, as this should mean it will come off easily and not shear any of the studs/bolts in that area. I will probably soak em in wd40 tonight so they are ready to come off on saturday. I have taken that cover off a couple of times now, but can't get much more access or even see properly unless I can get that manifold out of the way. I am guessing that taking the entire intermediate shaft out (if it is the bearings or related to this) would be a ball ache of a job? Bit scared of touching anything related to the timing chains / cams etc!! but really want to sort this out DIY-style

right.... plan B then :-( Quite possibly a bad decision to try and fit the oil pump in the dark in the freezing cold with only a torch for light.... that was a right pain in the arse with some pretty colourful language thrown in. I turned the crank over with a socket to get the oil pump primed and also turned the engine over with the main HT lead disconnected but sadly their is still a noise even after letting the car idle for 30 secs. It now sounds like two gears not meshing correctly or something similar and I am beginning to think it is the gear on the intermediate shaft that drives the oil pump driveshaft. Kev, when you said about removing the cover, did you mean the cover with two 8mm bolts (M10 heads) that sits at the top of the shaft, or are you referring to another cover. It looks like I will have to unbolt the exhaust manifold to gain any better access to this area as it is in the way and I can't see the other gear that drives the oil pump shaft. Any tips on gaining acess to this area? Oil pressure was also reading less than 20psi, but seemed more stable this time. ARGHHH!!!

I'm thinking thats what has happened in this case. Some foreign object has ended up in the oil pump and jammed the gears and hey presto, all that torque on the shaft has snapped it. Bearing in mind I have a lot of major head work done recently, this is entirely plausible / probable.

I am thinking at may have pushed right up into the shaft that holds it above (with the cog on it that is driven off the internediate shaft) and is just stuck in there as it is hollow all the way to the top. I will try putting a piece of stiff wire in from above and see if it falls out into the sump before I fit the new pump. I think its unlikely that it has been ground down to metal dust, but I could be wrong.

Got the new driveshaft for the oil pump. So will be fitting tonight all being well. Could do with finding the end of the shaft that has broken off too! Old / New comparison below...

Yeah the 109 relay is right at the top row and may be obscured by hanging wires etc. If you can kneel down next to the car and stick you head under where the fuses / relays are (a torch is helpful) you will see where we mean. have a look at this pic (kindly borrowed from vw vortex forums) http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/ ... before.jpg You can see it on the top row, 3rd from the left, as Crasher said.

If you disconnect the plug to the MAF does it behave the same way? Also have you cleaned out the ISV? as it may be stuck shut. What year is it i.e is it OBD1 or OBD2?

80mm is the size of the inlet to the MAF and is 80mm right up to the throttle body.

Ok I got the cover of the geared shaft that connects to the intermediate shaft. I was expecting to see chewed up gears, but everything seems fine inside. I couldn't pull the gear out all the way as the exhaust manifold is in the way which is a pain. Here are some pic of the old oil pump. Internally it seems fine, very very simple mechanically so not much to go wrong here. Externally is a different story as you can see how the pickup is damaged (and this is after some straightening from last weekend). Just need to track down a replacement shaft then. Must be a dealer only item (021 115 279). Anyone got a spare one???

Ok, i have found the problem! I pulled the oil pump off and the shaft that drives it fell out. One end has sheared off! (see pics) I can't find the other end of the shaft. so either it fell out as well, or its is still up in the top of the engine. If you look at the attached ETKA diagram, part 11 (shaft with gear) may also be damaged / siezed and is causing the noise. In fact it may have broken teeth on the gear. I tried to get the cover off but it seems seized on, bolts came out ok but the cover itself seems jammed on. I will try again shortly! The cover sits right under the exhaust manifold and is a bitch to get at though. Anyone else had problem with this type of thing?

Well my new oil pump is going on tomorrow (weather permitting) so hopefully that will sort my problems. Let us know how you get on and what you find out.

I am sure you have been reading about my problems and yours sounds weirdly similar. My chains have been done REALLY recently though. My oil warning light / buzzer hasn't gone off. Oil pressure is however at 10-15psi which is very low. I would try and hook up a mechnical oil pressure guage to the top of the oil filter housing (where the oil pressure switches are at the front) to see what your actual oil pressure is. If it is low, then more than likely you are notr getting enough oil to the top of the engine and the chains / lifters etc are moaning about it. Check you oil filter for blockage also. If you do not know if the chains have ever been changed though, then this is a likely culprit for the noise i.e worn tensioners.

cheers dude, all will become clear on saturday!!

Well as long as I haven't shagged my motor that is, will be more like 5bhp otherwise!

15+ psi was causing too much knocking Storm Developments say that the 75mm pulley I have is too small. 80mm will deliver 10-12psi which is good for 310bhp If I do more mods then I can switch back to the smaller pulley. Just to be on the safe side - 300bhp is more than enough for me!

Ok plans are: A) Get 80mm pulley for the charger B) Put the rotrex back on C) Install new recirc valve to replace the Bailey DV24 - too noisy at the moment, tired of the psst psst psst. So is my girlfriend. D) Plumb in the Mocal. Radiator is on just need to fit the rest. E) Fit the decat pipe F) Fit cooler platinum Bosch plugs G) Get Blue Igniter leads. H) Possibly get uprated sytec fuel pump So, lots to do!