Here are some pictures of what happens when a balance shaft bearing spins. This is the shaft that comes from the oil pump housing, and runs off the timing belt.

ouch

Yep not alot of people run them just for this reason and the belt snaping taking out the timing belt.

One day when I was changing my alternator I saw my balance shaft belt was broke. I am glad it didnt take out the timing belt. I will be eliminating these since I am doing my timing belt anyway.

Never tried it with the engine still in the car, but if the engine is out, I don't see a reason for anyone to leave them in. Luckily the timing belt was okay, but there were metal flakes in the main and rod bearings. I haven't taken the oil pump housing apart yet but I wouldn't trust it anyway. This happened JUST before I sold it, but the guy hit a semi and didn't have enough to buy it after that anyway. Then my other AWD started on fire a couple weeks later. '07 hasn't been good to me

I wish I still had pics of my 7bolt bottom end that was in my 97 when I was racing at a high rate of speed the Balance Shaft Belt Broke and locked up everything threw the Balance Shafts out the rear of the block ...and caused a rod to go threw the oil pan and a rod threw the front of the block into my down pipe ..... Fun night that was .....

I have taken out the BS in my 95 ...not going through that again

been there done that.

Haven't we all , New DSMers come about every day!

Its nearly impossible to do a In Car BSE.

To complete the BSE you need to block off the front oil galley holes that feed the bearings, and believe me, it is one heck of a PITA with the engine in the car. You cannot get the oil pump housing area of the block low enough to fanagle the bearings effectively.

*Note I did not say it cannot be done.....just that I do not recommend it.

Thanks for illustrating how important it is to eliminate them IF you have the engine out of the car...

MAYBE "nearly impossible" to do BSE in car in a 2G - not a 1G, remember that Front BS can stay in there too - SO... do the BSE or DIE ~!

& DAMN Mr Peepers you have caught HELL this Month ~!

I've had a balance shaft bearing spin like that before. It spun and caused shavings, but it didn't come out like yours. It sucked, and was a big PITA to do in car. Soooo much easier out of car but in car, it can be done.

When removing the old or installing the new bearings, if you have a bearing driver and and old cam laying around, you can use a bolt and bolt the correct size bearing driver to the cam and use the cam as the long extension to reach the far bearings. Thats what I did b/c my bearing driver kit only came with a 8" extension rod.

project_tsi said:

I've had a balance shaft bearing spin like that before. It spun and caused shavings, but it didn't come out like yours. It sucked, and was a big PITA to do in car. Soooo much easier out of car but in car, it can be done.

When removing the old or installing the new bearings, if you have a bearing driver and and old cam laying around, you can use a bolt and bolt the correct size bearing driver to the cam and use the cam as the long extension to reach the far bearings. Thats what I did b/c my bearing driver kit only came with a 8" extension rod.

Click to expand...

I just used the balance shaft itself. One end is bigger than the other, which works perfect for knocking out the bearings, and putting them in.

January wasn't good to me

I found that you can use the balance shafts and bearings to get the entire job done.

The bearing in the back of the oil pump housing side is conveniently smaller than the two from the other shaft, and can be used along with the balance shaft belt driven shaft to drive out the other bearings. Use the balance belt driven shaft to get the small bearing out in the first place, by flipping it around(if the bearing isn't already flat ). If you're lucky though, you'll have that bearing left over from the last balance shaft removal, from your engine that started on fire.

p.s. this is just a way to remove the bearings, not the the whole process.

perley03 said:

I just used the balance shaft itself. One end is bigger than the other, which works perfect for knocking out the bearings, and putting them in.

Click to expand...

It's true