LC5F's Graphite Blue GTI - Pilgrimage to Caffeine & Machine

[LC5F]

Thanks @Pudding
its been a slog - a tooth out is a lot better place to be than where I was a month ago - will dive into my VCDS and see what is saying.

[pudding]

 

Good luck with it.  If the timing drift is severe enough, it should throw a "Cam/crank correlation" fault code and you'll know immediately.  And also if block 91-4 (I think - cam phase position) doesn't show a reading at all - which will put it in "rich as fook, no VVT, bugger all timing and limited boost" party pooper mode.

The first time I replaced the chain on mine, I didn't know what I was doing and ticked the "seems about right" box, let's start it.  After 5 seconds or so of deathly rattling, it all came good.  I had gotten away with it 

It is amazing how utterly crap they can run when things aren't 100% though.

[LC5F]

Good shout on the spare bolt - I saw the same bolt in the the timing chain DIY - this then found the spare upper cam bolt, that then found a spare silver T30...must be lower timing cover bolt I missed!

My VCDS gave me figures outside your range + 93 wouldn't give any phase - I run my VCDS on a net book, no net connection...feel very old posting a photo rather than snip of the screen!:


Well, finished work and pulled the Golf into its service position on the drive and started pulling everything off to get to the timing belt.

And also if block 91-4 (I think - cam phase position) doesn't show a reading at all - which will put it in "rich as fook, no VVT, bugger all timing and limited boost" party pooper mode.

To ease engine turn over - I pulled the plugs and considering I have done only 10 to 15 miles they are sooty as fook!,  didn't mention it took longer cranking to start too - too much retard
Upper cam pulley positioned gives - slightly squint, but I lined up the inner side of the pully with the arrow:

and then diving down below I have:

So I am a tooth out!
I only have engine mount, pulley and lower cover to take off and I will be at the belt again - its now very much beer o'clock... so that will be sorted tomorrow.

[LC5F]

Saturday -
spent the day ducking in and out of the rain the met office were not predicting, it took 5 or 6 goes to get the timing to this:

The problem was I would locate the belt, but this would change after adding tension + doing the the double turn of the crank would lose the markings - I ended up marking the desired belt and crank pulley, slackening off and moving the crank 90 degrees clockwise and then back again to keep the markings in place.
I was surprised that there is a very slight off-set at the crank.
Early evening I finally got everything together - the spare silver cam cover bolt was the one that screws into the water pump under the engine mount - so no unknown bolts.
Start up was straight away, no long crank - first drive was frustrating, to give more room I had removed the turbo outlet pipe, I had pulled the clip of the silencer outlet out and I had not checked it had clipped back in.
I got 50m down the road, fist boost and I got a very load Pssssssst as the hose got pushed out!
Sunday -
Fixed the boost leak, and then went for a drive with VCDS running:

Its better than before, just not as responsive.
@Pudding how long did it take to get the hydraulics to start working?
Edit - Since this post, I went for a 40 miles drive mixed roads different speeds

While installing the cams, I know the internal spring loaded clip in the hydraulic ring was activated and suspect it is sitting currently locked in the fixed position - 91 cam adjustment will only change by a degree, otherwise it seems locked to 54.

Treated the Golf to a good wash - think it must have been April when it last got a wash:

[pudding]

54KW at idle, wowsers!

I think what might have happened is you timed the cam chain/VVT stuff with the timing belt being off, so it's a double whammy.  You might need to go back under the chain cover again mate and reset the VVT timing with the timing belt in the correct position.  This should bring you back down to 28KW again.

In it's current timing, it would appear the ECU has no idea where the cam is in relation to the crank, hence no reading in block 93.  It's probably why it's not attempting to retard the VVT.  It's locked at 6% duty and shrugging it's shoulders.  Any movement at all when you rev it up?

Yeah it's normal for the crank pulley to be ever so slightly off when the cam sprocket is lined up correctly.

Lol, I did exactly that with the boost clip last year.  A loud bang followed by a few hundreds of crawling down the road into a layby    Luckily I ended up outside a garage and they lent me a jack and some tools, phew!

Mine was stuck at 35KW for about 2 minutes (from cold) and wouldn't retard with revs.  I thought Oh sheet, I've buggered the timing, but I turned it off, restarted it, reconnected VCDS and then it came good.  Block 93 shows -3KW.  I've never been able to get it to 0KW (the theoretical perfect position) but after 160K miles of slop and wear, I'm happy with -3.  The acceptable 'tolerance' is +6 to -6KW I believe.

Still only moving a degree or so after the 40 mile trip?  If so, it's going to be another visit under the chain cover I'm afraid.   Hopefully it'll just be a retime, at worst one of the oil control rings might have snapped when sliding the chain cover back on, therefore the VVT isn't getting enough oil pressure.  I believe the middle ring supplies oil to the VVT chambers and the outer 2 rings control advance/retard.

What a pain in the hoop.  Far simpler having just one chain do everything instead of a belt AND a chain.  VW eh? 

[LC5F]

Thanks @Pudding - Thanks for confirming the crank being slightly out, was starting to think the cam may have twisted - This vid is terrifying:

Yes - I think something must have had gone awry with the chain install.
Every film on YT the guy tweaks the intake cam and with a bit of faf on it goes with just the one person -  I had to turn both cams with my wife installing the ring.

Oh well - at least it's not the belt again and the head is now firmly attached to something - not floating around on my kitchen island!

[pudding]

I had to read the comments on that vid to understand what was going on, but crikey, that is a bit crap isn't it     Amazing these engines last as long as they do with all their common faults!

Yeah the intake cam rotates a few degrees when you remove the chain because of the valve spring tension, but the cam locking tool 'catches' it.  I mark the intake cam with a sharpie next to a cam cap, and I'd say it flips back (anti-clockwise) approx 4-5mm.  That is what needs tweaking back again whilst wrestling the VVT sprocket on, as you've seen in the videos     

It's definitely easier with 2 people, but doable with one person.  Good job your missus was around to assist!  Mine would never tear herself away from Love island to help with car jobs 

[LC5F]

Thanks @Pudding  - it wasn't easy getting the help, I had to coerce - getting the head out/off the kitchen/island was the carrot!

Please can you confirm that the cam locking tool should easily slip out and that it locks the cams in TDC?
Mine were tight to take out after the cam install - and it may be the paranoia, but if its meant to be TDC I could check its not spun the cam

[pudding]

 

The locking tool should drop in and pop out with no resistance when it's timed correctly I'm sorry to say. 

I really hope the cam hasn't spun.  The video seemed to imply that only happens when you get oil starvation (blocked pick up)?  Then again, didn't you have some unhappiness going on under there with the sheared off VVT locating pin?

I would suggest giving the chain timing another go and if it still doesn't line up correctly, I think it might be new exhaust cam time for you 

What a ball ache.  Kudos for sticking with it   

This is what you're looking for when it's all set.

[LC5F]

I was going to wait till the weekend to look into this, but the not knowing was niggling me, so dived in today.
Of all the engine dismantlement states - this is an arrangement I have not tried before:


Exhaust Cam pulley aligned with the arrow, tried 1/2 extension sits perfectly vertical between cylinders 3 & 4, plus the No.4 exhaust cam is sitting at 45 degrees - that's good, I don't think my cam has twisted - but the intake should be a mirror the angle of the exhaust lobe, but it's only 30 degrees up:

Hopefully this is it - looks like something did go wrong in the chain install, hopefully I can sort this at the weekend.

[pudding]

Yeah flip the intake cam round a tooth and it should come good again 

Glad the exhaust cam isn't busted.  I think that video is maybe highlighting an extreme failure. It would be far more prevalent if it was a 'common' issue.

[LC5F]

Well, I was enthused by knowing  I cracked on today, HPFP and VVT cover off, and then onto undoing the ring bolt:

I commented on people using grips - but it does make sense to hold the cam in TDC.

I now know where I went wrong - I did not have the cam pulley or rear cam cover with TDC mark installed - if I had them and locked the exhaust cam in position I do not think I would have gone wrong with the chain.
The so called "cam locking tool" doesn't really lock and allowed a lot of rotation of the cams, I was using the more american counting chain links - a lot of confusion out there.
Reading the guide on here and one or 2 YT vids that don't count the links I just got on with it - I did still mark the links as a final check.
Literally first go, a slight turn of the intake cam and in it went - so easy! - and the chain marks lined up:


And the cams are now like this - nice and symmetrical with a slightly higher intake:


Really chuffed - I just got stuck into getting everything back together all was good apart from the HPFP banjo bolt - I thought the threads had caught with 1/4 inch drive...decided I would try turning it with my finger tips...pulled the bit out and the banjo bolt stayed put for half a second before dropping down somewhere inaccessible - eventually found it, it took a magnet to get it out.

and the VCDS money shot:

Golf is still on the drive way, but just revving feels a lot more responsive.

All I have left is fish out some stuff I had dropped from the engine undertray, re-install the side engine cover and then drivers front wheel and I should be properly back on the road.

[pudding]

 

0KW phase position, top work 

Yeah that cam locking tool is hideous.  If it were a normal 16V engine with 2 cambelt sprockets, you can wedge something in between them to lock them together, but nope, VW do things the hard way   

Clearly the TDC accuracy isn't THAT critical if they made such a sloppy tool.  Maybe the VVT tweaks itself to get it spot on but obviously it can't be a tooth off physically for that to work.  I remember the R32 timing being the same.  It would always be a around -3 or -4KW (instead of 0) after a new chain but it didn't affect the performance.

Blimey, even the mole grips and VVT phaser have been attacked by the famous Scottish rust 

Anyway, good work and persistence, it'll be a different car to drive now 

[LC5F]

@Pudding Thanks for the support - really helped work out what / where I had gone wrong.
BTW Those Vice grips are about 30 years old, just worn in!

Last bits done this morning and the Golf is feeling more itself with instant throttle response returned - all the fixes has definitely given it a bit more go, it now seems very happy to light up the front wheels.

Still feels odd (in a good way) as I had not got used to the new intercooler, sport cat downpipe, uprated ARB's and a pair of PS4's on the back - a lot to get used to.

And how does the Golf repay all this love and attention lavished on it? - intermittent Front Right ABS signal!

[pudding]

No worries, glad my ramblings helped in some way 

I'm now wondering if my exhaust cam has tweaked slightly (as per that video) as I can't get mine to 0KW no matter what I do 

Check that again after some miles and see if it's drifted a little, but either way, you got it bang on sir and absolute confirmation your exhaust cam hasn't shifted    Annoying that it took a couple of attempts but you've gained a ton of knowledge during the journey 

Oh dear, out with VCDS again!  Hopefully just an unhappy wheel sensor!  Your car is certainly making you work hard for it's affections 

BTW, I like the MAF sensor position on your intake kit.  They've moved it away from the turbulence of the turbo wheel, nice effort, no other intake maker considers that   What are long term trims like with that kit?  Block 032 in VCDS.  It looks like a good one to me.