VW Touran - Notes for swapping out BXE BLS or BKC engine codes for other VAG 1.9

[johnnyroper]

I am writing this post to assist any unfortunate members that have a BLS, BKC or BXE engine which has decided to put a rod through the block. Having purchased a car powered by the BKC engine that suffered oil starvation, I researched options and found the later type 105bhp PD units are prone to con rod failure. There are a few theories as to why this happens which are.

1:- Smaller lighter weight con rods

2:- The con rods are made as one piece then fracture split on the big end which according to some research by a German company causes them to be weaker than machined items.

3:- Smaller oilways which wear the bearings out faster.

I decided to explore other options rather than fitting another BKC or BXE and potentially having problems again.
It is possible to fit the older generation, stronger, PD engines but there are a few things that need to be modified. I am not going to go in to the actual removal and refit of the engine as I have done this to an Audi A3 but instead I am going to keep it to modifying an older engine to work in place of the above mentioned units.

This guide can apply to any later generation 105bhp powered VAG cars from memory it was fitted to 2005 onwards golf, Passat, A3, Skoda superb seat Leon etc.

Engine choice:

Basically you can choose any VAG 1.9 TDI But I chose the 115bhp AJM as the injectors do not need swapping over, the 130 and 150 lumps would need either injectors swapping from the 105 or keeping the 130/150 but then turbo would need to be swapped (not straight swap due to exhaust connection) and then mapping to suit.

The 2 biggest differences are the oil filter housing and crank sensor set up.
Image below shows size of the housing



The BKC oil filter housing is smaller and sits closer to the block where as a lot of other ones it sits higher and further away from the block and as such fouls the intercooler pipe. Below are 2 pictures illustrating this although oil filter housing is removed now.



 

First thing to do is remove the oil filter housing and then cut bracket off the pipe. You can then fit the pipe in the lower retaining bracket on to the block and the top left on the lifting eye bracket to keep the shape between those 2 points.
What I did then was offer the filter housing up and mark on pipe the areas that needed modifying.
Once I was clear where it needs to change shape I got out the hot air gun and began to heat the pipe up to make flexible, I was then able to re-shape the pipe enough to move it clear of the housing so that could be refitted. Like this. Ignore the cable tied pipe I have a big Pclip coming for boost pipe that will secure it to block with a made up bracket. It is only cable tied to keep its shape for the next stage.



Once engine is back in the car I need to heat the lower end so I can shape it to meet up nicely with the boost hose off intercooler. After the engine was fitted I used a large strong cable tie to secure the lower section of boost pipe to the gearbox and gently heated up the bend so it was soft enough to retain the shape in its new position.

I did have to re route the top hose from rad to thermostat housing behind the oil filter housing as it wouldn't run along the modified boost pipe like they do as standard, this also meant trimming the outlet on star housing so it pointed the correct way.
The other difference is the crank sensor in older type running edc15 ECU the crank sensor reads a tooth wheel on the crank, the later edc16 ECU uses a tone wheel built in to rear main oil seal. It's crucial you replace seal with a new one as they are Teflon not rubber so cannot be reused.
They look like this:



Now as this is an older engine there is no hole in the block to accommodate the sensor and plug so you need to make one, don't remove old seal just yet but offer new one up to get an idea of where the hole needs to be. (Don't remove the yellow tag on seal I will come on to that later)
To make the hole I line drilled with a 3mm drill bit then tapped the area to remove excess metal, once I was happy with the hole I gently cleaned it up with a grinding disk.

According to workshop manual you need to remove the sump and use a special tool to change the seal, I didn't bother with either.

Remember the yellow tag? Well that is there to keep tone wheel in correct position, you need to time engine up using VW locking tools to make sure it is at TDC and cannot move. The tone ring has a hole which lines up with an notch on seal housing.

As I had no special tools I fitted the seal housing minus tone wheel, make sure you use some silicone on housing to sump joint and then tighten the securing bolts to 15nm.
Use a straight edge to mark the crank where the notch is in seal housing (make sure engine is bang on TDC still). Now gently push tone wheel on to crank lining the hole up with seal notch and mark you put on crank.
I used the old tone wheel and a soft mallet to gently ease the new ring on to crank so the magnet area was lining up with the face of the crank sensor I then made sure it was fitted square all the way round.
Before refitting the flywheel you will also need to swap the metal plate that fits between block and gearbox. I had to use the AJM one so cut a section out to accommodate sensor.
You should end up with this.


 

With Teflon seals they need to settle so do not add any oil or try to start for at least 4 hours after fitting.

When everything is back in the car you may need to gently bend the dip stick steel tube so it lines up with hole in top cover, I took the plastic part off and used long extension inside steel tube to gently move it slightly.

Obviously if you choose to do this work it is at your own risk, it worked fine for me but I cannot guarantee it will for other people.
If you do decide to carry out this modification work then your previous BXE,BLS,BKC powered car will not feel like a ticking time bomb.

It's all back in and running and in my experience it is harder work converting an old engine to fit but in the long run I am hoping the hard work pays off with better reliability. Fitting in doing this job around work/weather etc I estimate the modifications added a couple of hours extra work to the job over fitting a BKC/BXE straight in.

Question? Something not quite make sense?
Posts in the reference library are locked but you can start a new topic on the subject by clicking here