Author Topic: Cam follower  (Read 4993 times)

Offline Malcy45

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Cam follower
« on: 02 July 2016, 22:44 »
Hi all. I am a new Gti owner. Mk5 with 43000 miles and was 1 owner from new. Been maintained by vw dealers always according to all the bills. Runs fantastic it really does.
I was looking through all the bills and seen it had a camshaft failure and chain at 31000 miles so I would have thought this would be down to the cam follower issue maybe but it cost the original owner 1850 quid lol.
That was 12000 miles ago and I just bought it at 43000 miles. Should I be worried about the cam follower or not as yet.
It had a oil service at 39000 but when I bought it was at minimum on dipstick but I topped it up with 5w 40 fully synthetic but will change the oil soon anyway. Any recommendations? Brand.
Hope to get some good replies and great to be a member of the forum.

Offline lemski

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #1 on: 02 July 2016, 22:56 »
There cheap enough from vw. Vary in wear though. A customer of mine changes his every 2 services (2 years)

Offline Malcy45

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #2 on: 02 July 2016, 23:21 »
Thanks for the reply. I will buy one from vw next week but not sure if I will be able to change it or not. Looks ok on utube but doing it and watching it are two different things.

Offline lemski

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #3 on: 03 July 2016, 09:55 »
I dont think there too bad to do.
Aslong as you have the tools, doesnt matter how long it takes you to do it

Offline Malcy45

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #4 on: 04 July 2016, 00:12 »
I am going to order a cam follower and o ring this week to change. I have watched the procedure on utube many times and it looks ok. But some are saying the cam needs to be TDC. Top dead centre.
But then in most vids they just change it so I'm very confused
Any help on this matter would be helpful.

Offline lemski

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #5 on: 04 July 2016, 08:21 »
Didnt know about the tdc thing.
 Hmm... Not too bad to put to tdc though.


The worst thing is the fuel lines.
Its not a five minute job, but if you take your time removing everything. Itll be all good.

Its harder to change a dump valve on these engines than a cam follower in my opinion

Offline Tanuie

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #6 on: 23 September 2016, 16:19 »
Just had mine changed . Had it done at my indy.
« Last Edit: 23 September 2016, 16:20 by Tanuie »

Offline Teutonic_Tamer

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Re: Cam follower
« Reply #7 on: 22 October 2016, 02:04 »
Hi all. I am a new Gti owner.
Welcome to the club!  :wink:

Mk5 with 43000 miles and was 1 owner from new. Been maintained by vw dealers always according to all the bills.
That is potentially exceedingly worrying!  :sick:

Please tell us which VW stealer(s) are guilty did the work.  Do a search on this forum, and other similar forums - specifically for the correct compliance with using only 504.00 LongLife III oils.  There were many reports of incompetent VW stealers - specifically on two issues.  The first was that they were inappropriately coding GTIs onto the LongLife (LL) servicing regime (and if a GTI is driven as designed - is wholly inappropriate for LL servicing).  The second is that the stealers were NOT using the correct oil - even if a GTI (or indeed any VAG car after 2008) is coded for the shorter Time & Distance (T&D) servicing regime - they MUST (with only three very specific exceptions) only use 504.00/507.00 LongLife III spec oils.

There were some real horror stories published on this very forum about gross negligence and blatant incompetence regarding wholly inappropriate oils!

Runs fantastic it really does.
As they usually do!  :wink:

I was looking through all the bills and seen it had a camshaft failure and chain at 31000 miles so I would have thought this would be down to the cam follower issue maybe but it cost the original owner 1850 quid lol.
If that is genuine mileage, then your GTI has either been seriously abused by its previous owner, and/or not been maintained correctly.  I suspect it was on the LongLife service regime, and no doubt had incorrect oil.

The 'cam follower issue' wasn't the cams/followers which operate the valves - it was specifically the bi-lobe cam and bucket follower for the FSI high-pressure fuel pump.  Unfortunately, even this latter issue was blown out of reality by a bunch of stupid idiots on another forum.  On my own GTI (owned since new in 2006!) - I have only once replaced the HPFP follower, as a precautionary measure, at 100k miles!

That was 12000 miles ago and I just bought it at 43000 miles. Should I be worried about the cam follower or not as yet.
The most important things you need to worry about are: its previous and current service regimes, the type of oil previously used, and ensuring the CORRECT oil is only used in the future, and most crucially of all - do NOT abuse the engine until it is at the correct operating temperature!

It had a oil service at 39000 but when I bought it was at minimum on dipstick but I topped it up with 5w 40 fully synthetic but will change the oil soon anyway. Any recommendations? Brand.
Hope to get some good replies and great to be a member of the forum.
5w40 is categorically the WRONG oil.  You must only use an oil approved to VW 504.00, and even then, only go for a high quality premium brand oil - such as Castrol or Shell (and definately not Fuchs or LiquiMoly).

HTH  :cool:
Sean - Independent Automotive Engineering Technician (ret'd)
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'06/7 Golf Mk5 GTI 5dr (BWA) DSG, colour coded,

I feel like a homo