New Mk5 Owner - Cam Follower Nightmare

[Ads22]

Hi there

I am a new owner of my MK5 GTI with 102000 miles on the clock. After acquiring my car with full service history - I quickly checked to see if the Cam Follower had been replaced after reading horror stories about them wearing through and causing damage. I rang the VW specialist in Wimbledon who looked after the car for the previous owner and discovered they never replaced it. The car seemed to drive absolutely fine so i thought I would get this changed as soon as possible at my local specialist.

I then received a phone call on the day of replacement with news I didn't want to hear that it had already worn through!!! Causing damage to the Cam and fuel pump aswell as the cam chain cover! To my shock as I haven't witnessed any symptoms, no rough idling or white smoke ect.

The garage have stripped the cover off for me to inspect. The Cam intake appears to be worn at the end and the part above that (not sure what the part is) has been scored. There is also damage to the fuel pump as the small bolt looking part at the end has come off and caused damage inside to the cam chain cover and the fuel line inside it. There doesnt appear to be any signs of debris however - id imagine the piece of cam follower has disintegrated. The mechanic advised it looks like its been worn through for some time!

The price to fix this of course is sky high! and looking at £2700 all in with new cams, fuel pump, follower and cam chain cover and engine clean up. The garage said they can also do cambelt but that was changed recently so have asked them not too.

I am now panicking as that is a huge amount of money - do I get the bare minimum done to get it running or replace everything they've advised - considering the car ran well before this with no codes EML's ect. Im no expert so ive attached pictures of the extent of the damage aswell as part of the quote.







Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[v4rley]

Ouch 

@Pesky jones may be able to give some advice

[bacillus]

Pretty sure a second hand engine would cost less that what you've been quoted.

[Octoparrot]

Sorry to hear of your problem. If it were it me and the condition of the car warranted it then I'd just bite the bullet and get it all done, there's no point on doing a half arsed job if you want to keep the car. A second hand engine is an option but also an unknown quantity so would probably more trouble than it's worth in my opinion. The garage you've taken it to seem pretty clued up so I'd trust them to do a proper job. Good luck.

[Leco_GTI]

Hi there

I am a new owner of my MK5 GTI with 102000 miles on the clock. After acquiring my car with full service history - I quickly checked to see if the Cam Follower had been replaced after reading horror stories about them wearing through and causing damage. I rang the VW specialist in Wimbledon who looked after the car for the previous owner and discovered they never replaced it. The car seemed to drive absolutely fine so i thought I would get this changed as soon as possible at my local specialist.

I then received a phone call on the day of replacement with news I didn't want to hear that it had already worn through!!! Causing damage to the Cam and fuel pump aswell as the cam chain cover! To my shock as I haven't witnessed any symptoms, no rough idling or white smoke ect.

The garage have stripped the cover off for me to inspect. The Cam intake appears to be worn at the end and the part above that (not sure what the part is) has been scored. There is also damage to the fuel pump as the small bolt looking part at the end has come off and caused damage inside to the cam chain cover and the fuel line inside it. There doesnt appear to be any signs of debris however - id imagine the piece of cam follower has disintegrated. The mechanic advised it looks like its been worn through for some time!

The price to fix this of course is sky high! and looking at £2700 all in with new cams, fuel pump, follower and cam chain cover and engine clean up. The garage said they can also do cambelt but that was changed recently so have asked them not too.

I am now panicking as that is a huge amount of money - do I get the bare minimum done to get it running or replace everything they've advised - considering the car ran well before this with no codes EML's ect. Im no expert so ive attached pictures of the extent of the damage aswell as part of the quote.







Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For how long do you have the car? Did you buy it privately? I am asking you because if you didn't buy it privately, you can return the car whiting 30 days after the purchase and you also should have 3 month warranty as standard.

[Pesky jones]

You might be better off buying a second hand complete cylinder head aswell getting the sump dropped to ensure there aren't still fragments of follower. You definitely need a new inlet camshaft and a new fuel pump.

[chimp400]

The labour price isnt helping but its still a lot of money to spend on quite an old car.
If your not that attached to it then the only other option is to replace the bare minimum and send it out to auction.

[Juliand]

Wow, sorry to hear about this.
Isn't there also a chain adjuster.......if you're doing the whole job (chain; tensioner; adjuster)? So I've read anyway. That would sort that out then, but as you say, a big wedge of cash.

[Ads22]

I'm absolutely distraught as I've only had the car a couple of weeks and has been driving fine. I bought it privately so there's no comeback at all, the trouble is it's in bits in the garage so isn't moving anywhere with at least doing some repairs which is going to be a decent some in itself. In anyone's opinion is there anything here that doesn't seem essential. Does the cam damage appear that severe as I may get the bare minimum done and replace or update them at a later date.
Otherwise is this really worth saving, it's not far off what I paid for it....or is there any alternative that I can go to save some money as there's no way I can afford that at this time!

[Ads22]

I did ask the garage about the possibility of a whole new engine but they said it would likely be double what I'd be paying now. Really at a loss as to what to do - another thing that is concerning me is the garages prices themselves and whether they are definitely bumping the price up by some margin. Would it be a good idea to patch it together and take it elsewhere to a non specialist?

[Pesky jones]

Cam adjuster isnt essential to be replaced. But then again neither are a few things on that quote.

[pudding]

Jesus.  You can get an entire head with cams, phaser etc, brand new from VW for less than that.   It's what I would do personally because as Pesky said, there'll be lots of metal dust floating around the little oil ways, it's better to just start over than get more problems later down the line. Or possibly get an entire engine.  About £4K from VW for an S3 engine (CDL), but you'll need to transfer over all your accessories and turbo.  A good base for future KO4 conversion.  And another 100K engine life, minimum.

I'm afraid at this stage, you're gonna be in for a penny, in for a pound.  Your choices are limited.  Sell it for absolute peanuts without a working engine, or invest the right amount to make it mint again, or invest the minimum amount just to get it running again.

The latter is easily achievable for waaaaaay under that quote using s/hand parts, it's your choice.......and not a pleasant one for your first GTI ownership 

[Pesky jones]

Just to give you some rough idea of prices of SECOND HAND items

Complete cylinder head  ~500£

Complete AXX/BWA engine  ~750-1000£
Complete BYD/BWJ/CDL (stronger) ~1250-2000£

HPFP ~50-75£


Then you have labour. This will be your cheapest option to get the car running again safely I think.

[Ads22]

Just to give you some rough idea of prices of SECOND HAND items

Complete cylinder head  ~500£

Complete AXX/BWA engine  ~750-1000£
Complete BYD/BWJ/CDL (stronger) ~1250-2000£

HPFP ~50-75£


Then you have labour. This will be your cheapest option to get the car running again safely I think.

Wow that is considerably less! So with a refurbished cylinder head I'd imagine that doesn't include the fuel pump, cam Follower and other related parts?
I've asked the garage about the possibility of using refurbished parts but they are of course reluctant as there is no guarantee there won't be problems with those parts too.
Where you mentioned about a few parts being non essential on that quite, is there anything else that you think may be worth striking off. I'm trying to get the bare minimum done for now as I can't afford that level of work in one go. And maybe look at replacing major parts when funds allow.

At the moment the garage are due to get back to me on Monday with some pricing on just getting minimal work done.
Personally I just want the car back with the essential parts replaced so I can possibly start sourcing cheaper parts.

[Juliand]

Even with a private purchase, is it not  worth contacting the seller, especially if it's only been a couple of weeks. Not sure about the legal situation, but might be worth doing some research / legal advice (free CAB etc).

Did you keep a copy of the advert - how was it described etc?  Although in fairness, he might not have been aware of the issue, as you say it was driving fine, but he might feel bad about it and make a contribution? Depends on what kind of seller he is. It seems to be 'buyer beware', but does that absolve the seller of any responsibility?? I don't know.

Very difficult situation...