Lude Generation

So it turns out the whine I've had on my engine since the timing belt was done is down to the balance shafts. Once that belt was removed the whine went away. Now I'm in a dilemma.

Do I replace the balance shafts? Leave the belt off? Or do a delete like some of the Americans seem to do?

I've only just found out the problem as my mechanic friend who's working on my car has just diagnosed the problem. It's not something I know anything about so said I'd do some research before we proceed as I'm led to believe replacing them is quite a large job, possibly even engine out etc.

Any advice or experience on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Gareth

Replacing balance shafts means fully stripping down that side of the engine (oil pump housing off etc.) so it is a fairly involved job.

I haven't done the job, but there's no specific reason that I can think of that requires the engine to come out for that job - unless there physically isn't room to withdraw the shafts from the engine while it's in the bay?

Strange that the shafts themselves would be causing the wine? More likely belt tension or alignment??? Or wear in the shaft retainers???

Positive its engine out to remove the shaft as theres not enough room.

Yeah, that's all I could think of. I don't have an engine in front of me to look at, so I can't see where they sit in relation to the chassis arm or removable arch splash guard.

Just leave the belt off, I've never heard anything negative come of it and I'm happy to track mine all day long without it connected.

And like it's been said, it's a huge job to remove them for a little gain.

If you do decide to delete them, I've got a brand new never used 'balance shaft eliminator kit', which I'll be advertising over the next few days anyway.

It is an engine-out job though..

106pete wrote:Just leave the belt off, I've never heard anything negative come of it and I'm happy to track mine all day long without it connected.

And like it's been said, it's a huge job to remove them for a little gain.

Have you done a delete or just removed the belt? How long have you been running it without?

I'm happy to just leave the belt off, I don't really have the time or the funds to drop the engine out. My Lude is my daily so need it back ASAP. I'm just concerned of any damage the added vibrations of not having belt on could do long term. I've read on some of the American forums of people saying no long term damage happens, it's just a myth. One chap even goes as far as quoting a guy he knows who built racing engines who says:

"Clearing up the balance shaft myths right now! This post is taken right from Kaizenspeed himself a while back.

As for engine reliability it is ABSOLUTELY NOT AN ISSUE. The balance shafts counteract how you FEEL engine vibrations that are natural to all 4 stroke, 4 cylinder engines, which are prone to vibration at certain rpm points. The balance shafts also ARE NOT solely for idle quality, in fact at idle is probably the time you will be the least likely to feel engine vibration that would be due to balance shaft removal. I just had a long conversation with the engine builder that I consulted before trying this product on MY OWN car, and that is straight out of his mouth,... and he has been building RACING engines for 30+ years, I assure you he states from experience!

I can also vouch for that, my car purrs and idles absolutely like stock without balance shafts, I can't wait for some of you to remove your balance shafts with these plugs and hear how amazed you are at how it still idles and revs like the balance shafts were still there!

So lets recap: Idle quality NOT affected, no negative effect on engine reliability, gains should be the same whether engine is turbocharged or naturally aspirated. Keep the questions coming and I will do my best to get you TRUE answers based on fact and not B.S. I am going off of what I KNOW based on MY OWN CAR and the customer car I did as well, not to mention the engine building knowledge of my machinist!

And from blake himself also stated that he has seen 3whp across the entire rpm range dyno proven with the balance shafts removed."

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but my balance shaft belt snapped on one of my 'Ludes, so I pulled out all the broken/loose bits and just left it like that. I had no problems with it at all.

I'm going to slightly disagree with the above post because in my car the only time I noticed any more vibration was on tickover.. and even then it wasn't much.

People report the vibrations and also differences is oil pressure, some say they have compensated the issue by running different oil filters. Have you noticed any dips in pressure?

Well I never had an oil warning light, if that's what you mean.. I wouldn't know how else to notice a drop in pressure if I'm honest.