Audi has a 120k mile extended warranty on the cam shaft/HPFP. In my case, I was having trouble for the past 10k miles with the odd CEL, and some barely noticeable hesitation (more like misfire) at low RPM and throttle tip-in. I went through various R&R of several parts, including the the low-pressure fuel sensor, the spark plugs, ignition coils, diverter valve, N80 purge valve and PCV valve to try to abolish that annoying miss. I finally got the tools and courage to go in and pull the high pressure fuel pump and check the cam follower underneath it that rides on top of the cam. The pictures show what I found in there.
The big challenge from that point, once I knew there was a problem with the ill designed cam follower, was to get the Audi dealer to R&R. That was not as easy as it ought to be. The dealer basically refused to inspect the cam follower, even though they are fully aware and confirmed the extended warranty on the cam shaft. Their approach seems to be to wait for the ECU to throw trouble codes before they inspect anything. In my case, I slightly exaggerated the drivability issues, and I insisted they physically inspect the cam follower, but even then they wanted to charge $200 just to read the codes and additional unspecified cost to pull the pump and inspect the cam follower. Of course, I already knew the damage had already been done, so I pressed and promised to pay the dealer for the services if they didn't find anything wrong with the cam.
In all, it took 3 full days for the dealer to R&R the cam. They replaced the cam shaft, the HPFP, the cam follower, the oil and filter, and some misc. gaskets and bolts. When it was said and done, and I got the car back, the miss at low RPM was gone and the car drove smoothly again as I remember it used to so long ago. The power delivery was smooth and linear, uninterrupted, with no jerking or misfires on throttle tip-in. It's a shame that it took this long, and that it cost me about $500 in parts and service that I really didn't need. I suppose the parts were bound to be due for R&R at some point, so I'm not really concerned that I spent the money on replacing them.
The cam follower is really a design flaw on Audi's part. While I give Audi credit for covering their mistake with the extended warranty, they should be more up-front and less resistant to carrying out repairs. My car is at 103K miles, so in 17k miles the warranty will run out. Had I just kept driving it, as I do currently 100 miles/day, I probably would have reached 120K before the ECU sensed the problem, leaving me with a badly damaged motor and no warranty.
Take my advise, if your car is getting up in miles and you haven't had the cam follower replaced, be sure to get it checked out before the warranty runs out. The repair costs nearly $1,900, which Audi paid for in my case. Don't let that be your hard-earned lesson.
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Originally Posted by chaos2984
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