alh vs pd botton end questions...

[CRSMP5]

so i have a 04ish golf with pd engine.. bew i think.. bottom end is smoked.. assume broken oil pan, no oil.. sold via auction.. unlucky buyer drives home.. gets oil light once home... spun main #2..

so was asked if any of the older botton ends fit and i said no.. its a pd...

then i start to think.. is alh bottom same??

owner is a member.. so he may read this.. but id rather wear egg on my face then pass up a possible solution..

so who has had heads off both?? can a alh bottom end have a pd head bolted to it?? ill have to look up head gaskets next if no one knows.. then piston top pics.. no idea how pd pistons look vs the older ahu/alh ones

[CdnVWJunkie]

There's loads of guys on the tdiclub that have mixed and matched ALH and PD stuff.  The consensus is the PD bottom end is much more stout than the ALH.  I recall the rods being more stout but don't recall piston differences.

Have you pulled the oil pan?  Could the crank not be turned down?

[CRSMP5]

yea the crank could be turned... but the main cap/bearing for #2 i cannot trust is round.. the bearing spun 100% took the "locking" teeth and all off.. aka bearing turned in block...

too bad tdiclub members imo anal.. so i stay away..

guy called me like 3 days to my headed to cali.. during my time away he pulled cam looking there... before i left he installed new oil pump.. he did not look at bottom end at that time... i asked bout discolored caps.. but with flash light you could see the main bearings beat/sticking out... got towed in for me to see lastnight.. i pulled pan to look there as he did not..

so now looking what to do.. rods look good.. those bearings ctually looked nice too.. just mains ruined..

[CdnVWJunkie]

yea the crank could be turned... but the main cap/bearing for #2 i cannot trust is round.. the bearing spun 100% took the "locking" teeth and all off.. aka bearing turned in block...

too bad tdiclub members imo anal.. so i stay away..

guy called me like 3 days to my headed to cali.. during my time away he pulled cam looking there... before i left he installed new oil pump.. he did not look at bottom end at that time... i asked bout discolored caps.. but with flash light you could see the main bearings beat/sticking out... got towed in for me to see lastnight.. i pulled pan to look there as he did not..

so now looking what to do.. rods look good.. those bearings ctually looked nice too.. just mains ruined..

Oh, I see.  So the crank AND block would need machine work.  I see no reason you could use a known good ALH bottom end to assemble an engine with the PD rods/pistons too.  I guess it depends on the customers budget.  Might be just as cheap if you could source a decent bottom end and slap the PD head on it.

I hear you on the club comment.  Sometimes you need to wear hip waders to walk through the BS there!    Still a good site and some good folks there.

[myke_w]

Chris, did you ever get this sorted?

Why not have a shop spec out the journal and see if it's round?

Also - Hi cndvwjunkie, it's been a while