why do people change cam followers

[flatout]

hi,im new to these cars and ive read a few people change cam followers...how come???how many????and why

thanks
andrew

[GrayMK5GTI]

Have a good read of this:

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,57710.0.html
 

[scopes]

Peace of mind, not that expensive to change either 

[flatout]

brilliant.......thanks

[flatout]

is there only one to change then.

[bacillus]

is there only one to change then.

Yes.   

[OSB]

I'm new to the GTI scene and read up on this forum about the HPFP follower wearing/breaking up. The car had full vw servicing record, so when I bought it a few weeks ago I assumed it was all oK !!!! 50k miles btw.
But I had the follower changed by a local indy garage after VW said 'no problems with those now - only a few early ones were affected......
Yes, you guessed the surface was quite worn and starting to break up. Cam itself was ok. The indy mechanic - coincidentaly ex vw trained - recons that it should be part of normal servicing schedule, he has done that many with potential problems.

Had the DV valve done at the same time. Now G spec or type. Origional had a split.............

Thanks for all the really useful info folks. Great forum.

 Grey MK5 TSG and lots of other toys........ will get a photo up when I can

[flatout]

so how come only one wears when theres 16??..and does it only wear on early cars,ive just purchased a 2007 ed30 with 45000,have i anything to worry about,also does it put more stress on it after uve fitted the hpfp

thanks

[Tfsi_Mike]

so how come only one wears when theres 16??..and does it only wear on early cars,ive just purchased a 2007 ed30 with 45000,have i anything to worry about,also does it put more stress on it after uve fitted the hpfp

thanks

is there only one to change then.

Yes.   

[OSB]

so how come only one wears when theres 16??..and does it only wear on early cars,ive just purchased a 2007 ed30 with 45000,have i anything to worry about,also does it put more stress on it after uve fitted the hpfp

thanks

The follower (tappet) to worry about is the HPFP one, which is driven off the main cam.
As I understand it, the is a design flaw in that the surface area is too small to take the load. And the material which the followers were made from was not hardened suitably, so it wears under the load the fuel pump puts on it. Why some wear and some don't is a mystery. Variable quality control?? But it appears that a lot do wear and if it breaks up altogether the result is pretty catastrophic top end damage.
Costs about £35 and takes about 3/4hr to do.
If you fit an uprated HPFP the situation is made worse by the extra load.

Don't you just love cars!

[GrayMK5GTI]

VW obviously recognised it as a poor design as on the TSI engine, it was replaced with a roller follower