New Mk5 Owner - Cam Follower Nightmare

[Ripstop]

Personally I wouldn't. The gouge in the camshaft means the HPFP which has a small piston head will put undue strain in the middle of the cam follower. Its a precision bit of kit and that gouge in the camshaft looks deep! You risk having another incident and I would wait until you can get the camshaft fixed.

The car can be left for a while, just top up the battery with a charger every so often.

[Ads22]

Got the repairs carried out in the end. The exhaust camshaft also had to come out  as it was well and truly stuck in there! Destroying two lots of removal tools in the process, it was also slightly worn anyway so needed to go. So now we have a new chain, tensioner, inlet and exhaust camshaft, cambelt and tensioner! I have a lovely bag of parts as a souvenir.  Luckliy the new cam follower barely had any additional wear and the chain tensioner was in good condition. Yes its a hefty bill but I wanted to keep this car going - especially given that its a nice example.

Theres a few things i wanted to clear up to avoid this happening again. Will i need to break it in for a coupe of days - since its been done ive been taking it easy.
How often will the cam follower need to be checked and changed. Ive seen conflicting information with some people saying leave it well alone until about 80k-100k miles as its not supposed to be pulled around too often. Some say it should be done with every service and that it should be inspected every now and again.
Should I feel any major performance increase or reduced fuel consumption? It feels about the same to drive albeit with a bit more shove higher in the rev range, fuel consumption is slightly better.
Here are some photos of all the old parts.

[Ripstop]

Great job ... you should be really pleased its fixed even though you are a lot lighter in the wallet. Not sure about any kind of running in but I would suggest no redlining for a few weeks  and let stuff cycle through some heat and cooling cycles first.

Cam followers I would check every 40k in standard trim but consider some captive bolts for the HPFP. Change it when you do the pump and belt change for instance. Tuned examples checked every 10k to 20k and after that its just down to your level of paranoia and tune. After all it was meant to be a non serviceable item from VW but we all know better now I pulled mine at 90k after reading this forum and it didnt look worn in any way. So look after your oil changes and use a good quality oil like Millers.

[pudding]

What's with the bluing on the exhaust cam adjacent to the VVT adjuster?   Looks like that bearing was dry?  That's a lot of localised heat there 

[Ads22]

What's with the bluing on the exhaust cam adjacent to the VVT adjuster?   Looks like that bearing was dry?  That's a lot of localised heat there 

Not to sure myself - it might have been from where it was heated up to remove as they had trouble getting it off the end of the Exhaust cam.

Another thing that I wanted to find out was why the AXX has both a cambelt and a camchain - quite unusual to have both isnt it??

[Richie-VRS]

A lot of VAG engines have only the inlet cam driven by the belt and a chain driving the exhaust cam. 1.9tdi's were the same.

The cam with the blueing is the inlet cam btw.

[v4rley]

The cam with the blueing is the exhaust cam btw.

[Richie-VRS]

My apologies. For some reason I have my exhausts and inlets mixed up, I even questioned myself at the time of typing.

[Ads22]

Just an observation now ive run the car in - the first, second and third gear seem quite restricted however shifting into fourth and upwards there seems to be loads of power on tap. on the AXX engine does that seem about right - and above 3000 rpm there seems to be a nice surge of torque but below 1500 rpm the throttle response seems quite blunt. Sorry to sound paranoid but just wanted to see if this is normal behaviour for this engine now the work has been done. Im not getting any codes or warning lights or anything like that. Fuel consumption is fair at about 25-27 mpg mixed driving and mainly short journeys.

[pudding]

The timing could be a tooth out if it feels flat off boost.  Have you scanned measuring blocks 91 and 93?

93 should be in the 0 - 3KW region and 91 should show 28KW requested and 27.5 - 28KW actual.

[ROH ECHT]

Another thing that I wanted to find out was why the AXX has both a cambelt and a camchain - quite unusual to have both isnt it??

The crank turns only the exhaust cam at one end with the belt...the exhaust cam turns the intake cam with the chain at the other end. Your cam position sensor is on the end of the intake cam at the same end as the belt...opposite of the chain. Pages 6 and 20 of the document: http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/golfgoodies/mk5golfengine.pdf

[Ads22]

The timing could be a tooth out if it feels flat off boost.  Have you scanned measuring blocks 91 and 93?

93 should be in the 0 - 3KW region and 91 should show 28KW requested and 27.5 - 28KW actual.

I havent got VCDS to check unfortunately. But i have noticed at times it feels more sprightly than others - I think it may be down to my grabbing brakes at the rear though - My next job! Would there be any other symptoms? It idles well and fuel consumption is okay.

[ROH ECHT]

Be thankful it is not an Audi V8...I got dizzy trying to count them all... 

[pudding]

The timing could be a tooth out if it feels flat off boost.  Have you scanned measuring blocks 91 and 93?

93 should be in the 0 - 3KW region and 91 should show 28KW requested and 27.5 - 28KW actual.

I havent got VCDS to check unfortunately. But i have noticed at times it feels more sprightly than others - I think it may be down to my grabbing brakes at the rear though - My next job! Would there be any other symptoms? It idles well and fuel consumption is okay.

VCDS should be a default purchase for VAG owners!

Your mpg is pretty low as well, and with the intermittent performance you mention, I'd be checking the cam sensor.   It's probably caked in swarf from your cam follower nightmare.  I would replace it personally, it's only £30 from the dealer.    Mine ran a lot smoother, better idle and better mpg when I changed it on mine.  It's a common issue for metal dust to stick to them and skew the readings to the ECU.  You don't get a fault code from it unfortunately.  Good old fashioned detective work required for that one!

[willk86]

The timing could be a tooth out if it feels flat off boost.  Have you scanned measuring blocks 91 and 93?

93 should be in the 0 - 3KW region and 91 should show 28KW requested and 27.5 - 28KW actual.

I havent got VCDS to check unfortunately. But i have noticed at times it feels more sprightly than others - I think it may be down to my grabbing brakes at the rear though - My next job! Would there be any other symptoms? It idles well and fuel consumption is okay.

VCDS should be a default purchase for VAG owners!

Your mpg is pretty low as well, and with the intermittent performance you mention, I'd be checking the cam sensor.   It's probably caked in swarf from your cam follower nightmare.  I would replace it personally, it's only £30 from the dealer.    Mine ran a lot smoother, better idle and better mpg when I changed it on mine.  It's a common issue for metal dust to stick to them and skew the readings to the ECU.  You don't get a fault code from it unfortunately.  Good old fashioned detective work required for that one!

Pudding have you got a part number for the cam sensor?

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