FAQ: Official Thread for your Cam Follower(s).

[prospero]

Another lengthy & technical article about zinc levels in the oil's that you use to prevent cam follower wear in our engines:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4445374

new (Apr 09) TSB on Audi approved oil:
http://www.audiusa.com/etc/medialib/....0023.File.pdf

[Sal_B7]

Well everyone bad news, just when i think everything is all dandy i get cam lobe/follower issues. My follower has a huge hole in it! My cam was a lil scraped up and it scraped up the tip part of my fuel pump a lil bit. Having the cam and follower replaced. Not under warranty anymore so this is going to be out of pocket, but luckily my buddy is going to hook me up. Parts isnt too bad on price, and the labor (which would cost anyone an arm and a leg) is not going to be as bad for me either. So overall this sucks but it could have been worse, glad i caught it before it made more damage, could have been worse but at the same time if i would have checked my cam and follower earlier i could have caught it before. So i guess i went about 15K miles on my stage 3 before this issue happend and before that i had not replaced my cam or follower so it held up pretty well. I have a lil over 68K miles right now and was going to check on my cam and follower at 70K. So ill definately keep an eye out on my follower from now on. Well here are the pics of the damage...

[viziers]

Daaaaaaamn that sucks man.... Almost makes me not want to do the GT30r setup....lol yea right....


vizi

[Sal_B7]

^yeah it sucks but like they say, you have to pay to play!! lol Ill just keep an eye on it more now. No biggie.

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

I think is time we start looking at the zinc levels in the oils we put in.

[viziers]

^yeah it sucks but like they say, you have to pay to play!! lol Ill just keep an eye on it more now. No biggie.

I hear ya... I had got 113,000 miles on my first follower and have not checked it since I had the forged rods put in... Which i'm do for..... Thats also with a stock HPFP...


vizi

[viziers]

I think is time we start looking at the zinc levels in the oils we put in.

I agree completely....


vizi

[Sal_B7]

I hear ya... I had got 113,000 miles on my first follower and have not checked it since I had the forged rods put in... Which i'm do for..... Thats also with a stock HPFP...


vizi

Yeah having put in the HPFP really killed the life of the cam...

[Sal_B7]

Ok so i just got off the phone with my tech buddy that was working on my cam/follower issue, he checked my cam and its the new revision "B" cam.(think its the latest one from Audi) anyways so the lobes are fine. My follower was shot to sh*t and that tip part of my fuel pump is a lil messed up from the cam hitting it. So it comes to my conclusion that the root of the problem is the follower. Im not having my cam replaced since its still in good condition but i am having the follower cause duh its shot. So he was looking at the TSB and it was saying that if this issue was happening with the follower that the root of the problem was the cam but how can that be? The cam is fine but im guessing since its the newer revision cam then obviously its holding up just fine and the follower is the problem. So yeah going to get a new follower.
So thats whats happening with that. So right now just going to run the OEM follower and ill keep an eye on it and if i notice it going to crap right away ill go ahead and try that KMD follower since it looks twice as big as the OEM one.

P.S. sorry for the long post

[Hyphy]

Well everyone bad news, just when i think everything is all dandy i get cam lobe/follower issues. My follower has a huge hole in it! My cam was a lil scraped up and it scraped up the tip part of my fuel pump a lil bit. Having the cam and follower replaced. Not under warranty anymore so this is going to be out of pocket, but luckily my buddy is going to hook me up. Parts isnt too bad on price, and the labor (which would cost anyone an arm and a leg) is not going to be as bad for me either. So overall this sucks but it could have been worse, glad i caught it before it made more damage, could have been worse but at the same time if i would have checked my cam and follower earlier i could have caught it before. So i guess i went about 15K miles on my stage 3 before this issue happend and before that i had not replaced my cam or follower so it held up pretty well. I have a lil over 68K miles right now and was going to check on my cam and follower at 70K. So ill definately keep an eye out on my follower from now on. Well here are the pics of the damage...

Dang bro! Keep us up-to-date!

[viziers]

Ok so i just got off the phone with my tech buddy that was working on my cam/follower issue, he checked my cam and its the new revision "B" cam.(think its the latest one from Audi) anyways so the lobes are fine. My follower was shot to sh*t and that tip part of my fuel pump is a lil messed up from the cam hitting it. So it comes to my conclusion that the root of the problem is the follower. Im not having my cam replaced since its still in good condition but i am having the follower cause duh its shot. So he was looking at the TSB and it was saying that if this issue was happening with the follower that the root of the problem was the cam but how can that be? The cam is fine but im guessing since its the newer revision cam then obviously its holding up just fine and the follower is the problem. So yeah going to get a new follower.
So thats whats happening with that. So right now just going to run the OEM follower and ill keep an eye on it and if i notice it going to crap right away ill go ahead and try that KMD follower since it looks twice as big as the OEM one.

P.S. sorry for the long post

Dude...... Did I read that you said that the tip of the pump was also a little worn???? If so be REAL careful because even with such minimal wear on it that is going to have adverse efects on the new follower EX: may wear through the replacement follower within 1k miles......



vizi

[Sal_B7]

Dang bro! Keep us up-to-date!

will do!

Dude...... Did I read that you said that the tip of the pump was also a little worn???? If so be REAL careful because even with such minimal wear on it that is going to have adverse efects on the new follower EX: may wear through the replacement follower within 1k miles......

vizi

Oh yeah, you know thats something i forgot to mention to my buddy. Ill have to call him back and see what he says. thanks for the info!!

[Sal_B7]

Well he said it could cause a problem, so for now im going to just replace it and keep a close eye on it and see how it goes. Im not looking into having to buy a new HPFP, cause that would suck! We will see how it goes!

Oh by the way, im getting my car back today!!! I had a Suzuki as a rental and was not looking forward to driving that thing all week!! woohoo!!

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

Another lengthy & technical article about zinc levels in the oil's that you use to prevent cam follower wear in our engines:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4445374

new (Apr 09) TSB on Audi approved oil:
http://www.audiusa.com/etc/medialib/....0023.File.pdf

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...ech/index.html

Here is another interesting read.

Cliff notes.

"The zincreacts with the cam lobe's iron surface. That creates a sacrificialchemical coating strong enough to keep parts separated to reduce thewear."

[viziers]

Well he said it could cause a problem, so for now im going to just replace it and keep a close eye on it and see how it goes. Im not looking into having to buy a new HPFP, cause that would suck! We will see how it goes!

Oh by the way, im getting my car back today!!! I had a Suzuki as a rental and was not looking forward to driving that thing all week!! woohoo!!

Ooo you got jipped with the Suzuki...lol...

Do you still have your old HPFP?? If so you could use that and possibly put your car into stock mode you might be better doing that but id confirm with APR first....Just a thought ...


vizi

[Hyphy]

Ooo you got jipped with the Suzuki...lol...

Do you still have your old HPFP?? If so you could use that and possibly put your car into stock mode you might be better doing that but id confirm with APR first....Just a thought ...

I thought he just got new internals...not a actual 'new' HPFP

[viziers]

I thought he just got new internals...not a actual 'new' HPFP

Doh!!!! that could very well be, but I thought it came with a complete pump with his kit???


Ohhhhh Sallllllll.....


vizi

[Hyphy]

Doh!!!! that could very well be but I thought it came with a complete pump with his kit???


vizi

Hmm..not sure. I thought APR just replaced the internals..I could be wrong tho..

[Sal_B7]

ok, so i got the APR HPFP with my kit. Not sure if thats an actual new fuel pump or if its a used one and then they do all their internal work and stuff.

I still have my stock fuel pump with the Autotech internals in it. To my knowledge the kit will still work with the autotech fuel pump.

[Hyphy]

ok, so i got the APR HPFP with my kit. Not sure if thats an actual new fuel pump or if its a used one and then they do all their internal work and stuff.

I still have my stock fuel pump with the Autotech internals in it. To my knowledge the kit will still work with the autotech fuel pump.

Thanks for clarifying that Sal. Why not put the Autotech pump in since it's in better condition..? Just a thought.

[viziers]

ok, so i got the APR HPFP with my kit. Not sure if thats an actual new fuel pump or if its a used one and then they do all their internal work and stuff.

I still have my stock fuel pump with the Autotech internals in it. To my knowledge the kit will still work with the autotech fuel pump.

That is correct it WILL still work...


vizi

[Sal_B7]

the piston end tips are different on the pumps. the APR piston has a bigger diameter then the Autotech one. Also from what i noticed is that the tip on the APR seems to stick out a little bit further then Autotech's.

[Hyphy]

That is correct it WILL still work...


vizi

do itt

[Hyphy]

the piston end tips are different on the pumps. the APR piston has a bigger diameter then the Autotech one. Also from what i noticed is that the tip on the APR seems to stick out a little bit further then Autotech's.

Could that extra length (the tip) be hurting the life span of the follower??? dun dun dun...

[Sal_B7]

Thanks for clarifying that Sal. Why not put the Autotech pump in since it's in better condition..? Just a thought.

You know, i did think about that. Well i was in the process of selling the pump to someone so thats why i dont really want to use it but i mean if the APR pump is going to cause more defects then i might as well just keep my other hpfp and see what i can do about the APR one.

[viziers]

Yea it would be better than to take a big chance on making it worse...


vizi

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

APR sells a complete HPFP, but If you send a core its much cheaper.

[Sal_B7]

Could that extra length (the tip) be hurting the life span of the follower??? dun dun dun...

I dunno....MAYBE...

I should try using the autotech one and see how much wear that puts on the follower.

Before i installed the stage 3 kit i checked my follower and it was fine(some minor normal wear.) 15K miles later with the Stage 3 kit and it went to sh*t.

So either the APR pump caused it or maybe just having stage 3 in general caused it.

Im not putting APR down in any way cause they rock!! Might have to give them a call and see whats up.

[Hyphy]

APR sells a complete HPFP, but If you send a core its much cheaper.

werrrrrd...

[Hyphy]

I dunno....MAYBE...

I should try using the autotech one and see how much wear that puts on the follower.

Before i installed the stage 3 kit i checked my follower and it was perfectly fine. 15K miles later with the Stage 3 kit and it went to sh*t.

So either the APR pump caused it or maybe just having stage 3 in general caused it.

Im not putting APR down in any way cause they rock!! Might have to give them a call and see whats up.

Not a bad idea, you should call them. Have your boy put in the Autotech fuel pump tho!

[viziers]

Not a bad idea, you should call them. Have your boy put in the Autotech fuel pump tho!

I agree have him put the Autotech pump in...


vizi

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

werrrrrd...

Yeah, I misread lol.

[Sal_B7]

^^ok, i gave out wrong information. I guess i looked at the pumps wrong. I just got off the phone with him and he said that the tip of the APR has a bigger diameter which means its better and then he said that he looked at them an the autotech one sticks out further then the APR one. sooo my bad!! I told him about both pumps and he says that i should still run the APR pump. So since he is a tech and knows 1 million more times then i do i think ill just go with what he says. Plus the last thing i want to do is piss him off and not have him do any work for me again.

So we will see, and ill keep an eye out on the follower. Ok, end of story and im getting my car back today! lol

[Hyphy]

^^ok, i gave out wrong information. I guess i looked at the pumps wrong. I just got off the phone with him and he said that the tip of the APR has a bigger diameter which means its better and then he said that he looked at them an the autotech one sticks out further then the APR one. sooo my bad!! I told him about both pumps and he says that i should still run the APR pump. So since he is a tech and knows 1 million more times then i do i think ill just go with what he says. Plus the last thing i want to do is piss him off and not have him do any work for me again.

So we will see, and ill keep an eye out on the follower. Ok, end of story and im getting my car back today! lol

OH dayuummm! I guess stick w/ the APR one.... LOL!

[viziers]

^^ok, i gave out wrong information. I guess i looked at the pumps wrong. I just got off the phone with him and he said that the tip of the APR has a bigger diameter which means its better and then he said that he looked at them an the autotech one sticks out further then the APR one. sooo my bad!! I told him about both pumps and he says that i should still run the APR pump. So since he is a tech and knows 1 million more times then i do i think ill just go with what he says. Plus the last thing i want to do is piss him off and not have him do any work for me again.

So we will see, and ill keep an eye out on the follower. Ok, end of story and im getting my car back today! lol

Cool..... BUT to help put your mind at ease id still call APR if anything just to confirm that it is ok to use the APR pump.... But thats just me... Im just looking for ya....



P.S. Damn you Hyphy always posting before me...lol


vizi

[Sal_B7]

Yeah. lol

thanks for all the help and stuff Vizi and Hyphy!

[Sal_B7]

Cool..... BUT to help put your mind at ease id still call APR if anything just to confirm that it is ok to use the APR pump.... But thats just me... Im just looking for ya....


vizi

Yeah i think ill give them a call in a bit. Dang, i wish i still had Mikes number.

[viziers]

Yeah. lol

thanks for all the help and stuff Vizi and Hyphy!

Anytime man....


vizi

[Hyphy]

Yeah. lol

thanks for all the help and stuff Vizi and Hyphy!

I gave horrible advice! ahha

No worries man. :D

P.S. Damn you Hyphy always posting before me...lol

Skill babay!

Yeah i think ill give them a call in a bit. Dang, i wish i still had Mikes number.

PM Arin@APR. He'll most likely have some answers for ya.

[Hyphy]

Even though we have been bumpin' this thread for a good minute, I strongly suggest everyone to take the time and check/change your follower every OIL CHANGE!! It WILL SAVE you TIME & MONEY in the FUTURE!