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Blown Cam Follower...Advice?

A

Arma

New member
All,


Not to make a sob story out of this but after 64k miles my Cam follower blew. Was not really aware of the issue but I should have been given that I am stage 1+ with APR HPFP and carbonio. I am not a gearhead at all...just a regular dude who loved his Golf R and got it tuned (first car ever, first foray into aftermarket). Not looking for sympathy or to be told what a dumbass I am but looking for guidance forward. Took car to dealership and because I take my car there regularly they cut me a great deal on the repair. I am getting it done (hpfp, camshaft, some other bits and pieces). My question now is...will there be lingering damage in the engine that won't show up till later or that this repair wont catch? Do I need to do any more preventative mainetenance besides checking being diligent about checking Cam follower going forward? I want to keep the car for a long time and am willing to deal with this issue every 15k miles or so now that I understand it.

Thanks for any input, would greatly appreciate it.
 
tjasko

tjasko

Go Kart Champion
What they're replacing is perfect. In terms of any lingering damage, no, not really. The only thing you (aka the techs working on it) need to make sure is that all the metal shards that came from the busted cam follower have been pulled out. And like you know by now, this basically means replacing a good chunk of the fueling system.

Don't kick yourself too much about it, it's an expensive repair, but after it's fixed it'll be like new. After you get it all fixed, it's highly recommended to change the cam follower every 10k or so when tuned. It's a known wear item and it's not that expensive and replacing it is straightforward.
 
T

ThatJohnGuy

pppffftttt
I am still trying to decide whether my car was fully fixed or not after my follower exploded..

Make sure they account for ALL the pieces.. I don't think the Dealer I went to did, but cannot say for certain.

If I remember, it was about $4500+- after it was said and done. HPFP, Camshaft, some housing, some other stuff (like you)

Have faith and get to know a good tuner close to you. The closest I have found to me that is any good seems to be a few hours north in Eugene. I am going through everything before I take it up there.
 
iGTI1

iGTI1

Go Kart Champion
You should be good... If possible I'd recommend if they can run your vin# and check if you haldex fluid was changed. It should be done every 30k according to recommendation from VWoA(someone correct me if I am wrong).

Its not anything I'd take for granted, the 100-200 bucks changing is far better then a 4500 bill to replace. Your differential fluid is every 60k I believe
 
Uberryan

Uberryan

Banned
Such a poor design flaw, and I'm still beyond flabbergasted that it made it to an additional model after the problem with the follower was well aware of.

Sorry you have to go through this. I replaced nearly the entire head, under warranty thankfully, when my 2007 GTI's cam follower shrapnel'd.
 
G

GIACUser

Master Wallet Mechanic
tjasko said:
Just to throw it in here, INA makes a conversion kit to convert TFSI motors to use the roller style fuel pump. No need for a new cam, so it doesn't require a custom tune or anything.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ower-mod-to-roller-type&nocache=1464670379865
Click to expand...

Just an FYI. I was one of the early adopters of the kit. I have a MKV BPY FSI motor with a K04, water meth, S3 injectors, APR pump and intercooler etc. etc. and I have been running this conversion kit for getting close to 2 years. My car is driven fairly hard and has also seen track time. The kit just works and to date it is showing no signs of wear. I run Shell Rotella T6 engine oil.

I plan on keeping my car indefinately. I am done with K04 now and moving on to built motor and EFR 7163 so I will also log how the kit performs under these new circumstances. Great Kit !!

I am also the guy that made the youtube install video. LINK
 
tjasko

tjasko

Go Kart Champion
GIACUser said:
Just an FYI. I was one of the early adopters of the kit. I have a MKV BPY FSI motor with a K04, water meth, S3 injectors, APR pump and intercooler etc. etc. and I have been running this conversion kit for getting close to 2 years. My car is driven fairly hard and has also seen track time. The kit just works and to date it is showing no signs of wear. I run Shell Rotella T6 engine oil.



I plan on keeping my car indefinately. I am done with K04 now and moving on to built motor and EFR 7163 so I will also log how the kit performs under these new circumstances. Great Kit !!



I am also the guy that made the youtube install video. LINK
Click to expand...

Ohh nice, I saw your vid too some time ago lol

One of the guys at a tuner shop I go to is installing this on his Audi, so I have yet to buy it as I'm just waiting feedback from him. But yeah, from what I've heard about the kit, it's rock solid. Install is fairly straightforward to.

I also plan on keeping my R for a long time so it's definitely worth it. I'm honestly surprised VW never released anything like this as heck, even on stock cars they can go bad early.
 
Uberryan

Uberryan

Banned
tjasko said:
Ohh nice, I saw your vid too some time ago lol

One of the guys at a tuner shop I go to is installing this on his Audi, so I have yet to buy it as I'm just waiting feedback from him. But yeah, from what I've heard about the kit, it's rock solid. Install is fairly straightforward to.

I also plan on keeping my R for a long time so it's definitely worth it. I'm honestly surprised VW never released anything like this as heck, even on stock cars they can go bad early.
Click to expand...

I probably had one of the first bad followers at my local dealer in 2007 on the GTI line, but after asking around, they had seen it happen on older 2.0T passats before. You'd think VW would've made some sort of fix for it, instead of extending warranties after knowing of the issue for 3+ years. Nope.
 
tjasko

tjasko

Go Kart Champion
FocalPoint said:
I probably had one of the first bad followers at my local dealer in 2007 on the GTI line, but after asking around, they had seen it happen on older 2.0T passats before. You'd think VW would've made some sort of fix for it, instead of extending warranties after knowing of the issue for 3+ years. Nope.
Click to expand...
It's really weird that this is one of the few cases where going aftermarket is better than stock.

For some backstory, VW did update the camshaft lobe to be harder on the later model FSIs, so there is a factory "fix". However even with the updated camshaft, people can still get these issues.

It's one of those things that would usually be covered under the drivetrain warranty, so I can see why VW hasn't issued a recall for it as not everyone experiences a blown cam follower. But for how severe the issue is, it wouldn't be a bad decision either because fixing it before is way cheaper than fixing it after it broke.

It just sucks for us tuned folks as the chances of VW covering us is little to none. All we can do is make sure to do an oil change with quality oil every 5k and it would help prevent this issue dramatically.
 
corrado917

corrado917

Go Kart Champion
Question for all of you, Golf R owners:
As a long time fix for the cam follower issue, do you guys consider something like the INA Engineering 2.0 TFSI to 2.0 TSI Fuel pump lifter conversion?
 
tjasko

tjasko

Go Kart Champion
corrado917 said:
Question for all of you, Golf R owners:

As a long time fix for the cam follower issue, do you guys consider something like the INA Engineering 2.0 TFSI to 2.0 TSI Fuel pump lifter conversion?
Click to expand...

I actually linked this a little above, but from what people have told me, they love the INA lifter conversion kit. One of my techs at my tuner shop is installing this soon, so I'm waiting for his feedback.



I'm not expecting him to say anything bad about it. Once I know that he likes it as I trust him a lot, I'm going to buy it for sure. :)
 
Last edited:
corrado917

corrado917

Go Kart Champion
tjasko said:
I actually linked this a little above, but from what people have told me, they love the INA lifter conversion kit. One of my techs at my tuner shop is installing this soon, so I'm waiting for his feedback.

I'm not expected him to say anything bad about it. Once I know that he likes it as I trust him a lot, I'm going to buy it for sure. :)
Click to expand...

Good, Good. This kit is promising! :thumbsup:
 
bebersol

bebersol

Ready to race!
iGTI said:
You should be good... If possible I'd recommend if they can run your vin# and check if you haldex fluid was changed. It should be done every 30k according to recommendation from VWoA(someone correct me if I am wrong).

Its not anything I'd take for granted, the 100-200 bucks changing is far better then a 4500 bill to replace. Your differential fluid is every 60k I believe
Click to expand...

The Haldex is very easy to do yourself for about $50. The oil and filter was like $40 and the cheap pump from Amazon was $8. Just make sure you get the right drain plug. Even some dealers have problems with this and have drained the diff, changed the haldex filter and added a pump or 2 of haldex fluid to make up for the loss with the filter. The results were catastrophic for the diff, needless to say (there's a couple threads on this).
I did my Haldex at 35K and the fluid was in excellent condition, but I'm sure this varies by the conditions and driving style.
Your diff fluids are supposed to be lifetime, but I think 60K is probably a good number, Motul 300 or LiquiMoley (sp) are both excellent ester based synthetics. Motul makes VAG's diff fluid for them.
 
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