RE: Drive without a Balance Shaft belt???
 

Exactly. GET A KIT! Don't just slice the belt off and call it a day. There ARE adverse effects to not having them spinning as they should be. Besides why lug around extra weight unnecessarily?

RE: Drive without a Balance Shaft belt???
 

I dont think the belt had anything to do with a spark plug kissingthe piston.
Oil wont goo up around the balance shaft if you change it more than once every 100,000 miles.;)
The balance shafts are there for driver comfort and theres absolutely nothing wrong with driving it with the belt off.
And why pull the motor just for a couple shaft stubs.[8D]

RE: Drive without a Balance Shaft belt???
 

Actually when the belt broke it sent the timing off on the motor and did even more damage after that...

RE: Drive without a Balance Shaft belt???
 

That would usually be valves hittin pistons. If it breaks and gets tangled up in the timing beltyea, but if its not there to break theres nothing to worry about. It happened to me twice thats why i took the damn thing off.

Question
 

Hi i have a 97 Talon TSi turbo i was siting at a light and my car just died. Got out and looked and my balance shaft belt broke, going into my timing belt i believe because when i pulled the cover on the timing the belt was still on but ripped up a little. I was wondering if there any way to tell if i bent a valve with out pulling the head? And is i worth just trying to put a new belts on?

timing
 

Help please

Do all the timing marks line up?

on the cam gears? idk were the marks are can you tell me??? i think its ok though

There are timing marks on the cams and one down at the crank.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/timingbelt-1G.html

compression test is the only way to know for sure
http://jsalmi.com/dsm/tech/compression/