Cam follower paranoia

[Dan_FR]

People make it out to be more of an issue than it actually is... On  a standard regularly serviced car it will last the intended lifetime of the car, which is why its not a serviceable item.

Not quite the same story with an uprated HPFP, but checking/changing it once a year is hardly the biggest maintenance job to undertake. I'd rather change the follower than get underneath the car, covered in petrol changing the filter....

[ROH ECHT]

Best to do by 80k miles even though some go 110k miles or more. My VW tech tells me the miles of the CF failures and the range is always between 80k and 110k miles...which doesn't mean you can't go more or less. He gives me the used/replaced hpfp's.
I have a vid diy on youtube...it doesn't show your banjo style low pressure connection, but once you figure that out, the rest is the same:

[grey golfster]

People make it out to be more of an issue than it actually is... On  a standard regularly serviced car it will last the intended lifetime of the car, which is why its not a serviceable item.

Mmm...fitted for the life of the car...
this includes gearbox lubricant, fuel filter, cam follower...none of which are too difficult/onerous/expensive to change-out really?

I can't agree that catastrophic failure of a cam follower in 80-120K miles is a reasonable expectation. You could perhaps expect similar service from a clutch on a standard car?
and what about the implications of VW's own "long life" or "extended" service intervals?

I would like to bet that all of my 2007 Ed is now well past its "intended life" as far as VW is concerned?
Personally, I don't think many manufacturers give a stuff once they can escape warranty liability?

[ROH ECHT]

Exactly why you don't see it in the service schedule booklet...expected to fail beyond the warranty period.

VW doesn't care the $2000 to $3000 comes from your pocket. 

[pudding]

Planned obsolescence people.  They want you to buy a new car every 3 years.   If they genuinely wanted you to keep the car for life, there would be service schedules on cam follower and cam chain.   The only reason there is one on the cambelt is they are liable if it snaps.....within the warranty period only, naturally!

Ever wondered why there is a magnet in the gearbox to attract swarf, but not a magnetic sump bolt?  Because with a plain sump bolt you can't see just how much debris these engines kick out!

Things are different in the markets they care about, mind.  America for example, get a 100K powertrain warranties, and the cam follower was recently added to that, or extended to 120K iirc.   What do we get?  2 or 3 year powertrain warranty?! 

Keeping this cars going indefinitely is a nice little middle finger back at them...... so long as you can afford the parts.