Imagine buying a high-quality cordless screwdriver that breaks down after just a few years. When you take it in for repair, it turns out the manufacturer built the housing to be super robust, but made the gears out of plastic.

Every mechanic thinks the same thing: what's the point of that. It simply can't last long. This is what's known as planned obsolescence. Swapping the plastic gears for metal ones might sound like the easy solution at first.

But it isn't that simple. Metal has different properties than plastic. It could lead to vibrations that then damage bearings, for example. We approach problems like this in a similar way. To save time and money, we bring in our experience from many years of engine development. We then have the desired properties confirmed through testing of numerous variants. Only after that does production and marketing begin.

The fundamental problem with the drive pin is fit accuracy. This means there is too much play between the hex drive pin and the two bushings. The drive pin forms the connection between the balancer shaft and the oil pump.

The engine turns the balancer shaft, which then turns the drive pin, and the drive pin turns the oil pump. From the factory, the drive pin is made slightly too small and therefore constantly strikes the bushing walls with its flanks. The more play there is, the greater the forces acting on the metal. The material is then increasingly worn away and deformed. This creates even more play, until eventually the drive pin becomes almost round and spins freely.

The oil pump is then no longer driven. Engine failure is the result.

Our reinforced drive pin compensates for this problem, quite literally, through size. We selected a dimension that was determined through extensive testing. The original oil pumps and balancer shafts have manufacturing tolerances. So we had to find a dimension that is larger, yet still fits in every pump. In some modules, the problem arose that the bushings were not 100 % aligned. So we had to make sure that this would not be an issue.

In addition, the flanks are larger. That's because there are no edge radii, unlike on the original drive pin.

The surface is finely ground and perfectly flat. This allows the surfaces to sit against each other better.

The material is specially hardened. It is harder than that of the original VAG drive pin. This challenge was particularly demanding. We had to find a suitable base alloy that could be hardened according to the researched conditions. At the same time, the material must not become brittle. There had to be no risk of fracture.

Finally, the drive pin also received a special hard coating. Among other things, this coating is used on high-strength machining tools in the CNC industry. This further improves its wear properties.

We also use professional software to simulate the stress on the material. This helps identify the right material during development. Material properties can be altered through various treatment processes.

The software helps find the ideal combination from the many possible variants.

The eGuide is the basis for converting to the reinforced version. The necessary steps are described in a targeted way with images and text.

It also includes valuable tips on the 2.0 TDI engine, drawn from years of experience, that help you better recognize typical problems.

Here is a censored excerpt from the eGuide.