Signs of Cam Wear

[golfwannabe]

Hi Guys,

I've done a search and read the thread on chocolate cams. I just wanted a bit more info on it really.

What are the definitive signs of cam wear? Does the car actually stop moving or does it just become a pig to drive?

I know I appear to have bought a golf TDI 130 thats riddled with probs and one of the things I've noticed is that my engine seems far more noisy than other VW TDI's. Was next to a 53 plate Bora TDI this morning and his engine sounded as sweet as. I don't think TDI's have tappets but that is the only way I can describe my noise? It just sounds like tick tick tick underneath the general diesel noise.

Do you think it could be cam related?

So far since I've purchased the car these are the issues that need addressing;

Leak or turbo / intercooler problem (just hisses all over the place and MPG is sh!te - 39.5 MPG plus smoking and surging)
Needing new door module
Missing Centre Arm rest
Noise when turning heavily to the left or right
Engine thats more noisy than others!! 

[Steve_PD]

worn cams can cause various different symptoms and a loud clicking noise from the engine is one of them.
best way to check is to take of the cam cover and inspect the followers for wear, they should be smooth, not have any pitting on them. then check the cam lobes, these should be smooth and not have any flat spots on them

to take the cam cover of you need a 10mm socket and undo the 1 ish bolts on top. there is one bolt underneath the egr valve which is a bugger to get to. you can remove the egr valve or if your hands are small enough you can get in there with a 10mm spanner. takes a bit of wiggling to get the cover off

[golfwannabe]

Cheers mate.

After the amount of other issues I've had on this car I'm positive it'll be cam related wear!! I've inherited a bad'un. I can't afford to get rid so if it is cam wear i'm going to be fuming and will be paying a visit down to the dick of a salesman that I bought it from!!

[Tucker82]

I wouldn't say 39.5MPG was bad at all. I dont get anywhere near that in Central London. More like an average of 30MPG with an average speed of 10MPH with a remap

[Steve_PD]

I would call it bad, anything below 50mpg is bad

[golfwannabe]

I think it is pretty poor! I do commute to work but to be honest the traffic conditions aren't that bad at all. I took a trip up the M1 the other day to chesterfield for work - about 60 miles return journey and I started off with the needle on the half way point - when I got back it was down to a quarter! Not something I want from a diesel 

[irmscher]

Your car hasn't been remapped has it?  Could be a bad map.

Ours is remapped to around 180bhp and my brother's getting 45 - 50 mpg, mixed driving.

[Rhyso]

fix your boost leak and watch your MPG return to normal

[th3musicmak3r]

i getting the same on my 150. since i replaced the n75 valve my mpg is now upto about 45mpg on a 10 mile run. need to do a service on mine also as only 1000 miles left plus the oil is black

[Jay]

From what I've read, the oil goes black almost straight away in diesels, but ofc a service is always a good thing!