Tried to change my cam follower today and :(....

[Ashtonts]

Okay so I took out my HPFP to change out the cam follower, and the cam follower is COMPLETELY shot. Huge hole through it/missing chunk... my car is out of warranty (126k miles) :( so not sure what to do here. Cam lobe and HPFP both surprisingly look okay... Just worried about the potential negatives of having metal shards flowing through my engine haha.. Should I just put everything back together with the new cam follower and then take it to Audi to have them look at damage or what?

[IKE20VA4]

Yikes....sorry to hear that. I am at 125,000 miles and have yet to check it. Now I am just plain afraid to. I think the extended warranty went until 110,000 miles?

[JDillon15]

Yikes....sorry to hear that. I am at 125,000 miles and have yet to check it. Now I am just plain afraid to. I think the extended warranty went until 110,000 miles?

10 year or 120k IIRC.

[Ashtonts]

10 year or 120k IIRC.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking it was

[johnruan]

Sorry to hear that you're out of warranty. How's the engine sounds? You might get lucky that metal piece get stuck at timing chain cover. It's worth a shot open up and check it. I saw one guy follower piece stick to timing chain cover and didn't drop down to motor.

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[Ashtonts]

Sorry to hear that you're out of warranty. How's the engine sounds? You might get lucky that metal piece get stuck at timing chain cover. It's worth a shot open up and check it. I saw one guy follower piece stick to timing chain cover and didn't drop down to motor.

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How to go about doing this? Is there any DIY for it?

Engines been idling really rough lately but may be partly due to cold weather.. No metallic clanking or anything

[adam044]

10 year or 120k IIRC.

Was this something extra that had to be purchased by the original owner or something?

[Okedokey]

Replace oil and filter. Put magnetic drain plug in and hope for the best.

[IKE20VA4]

Was this something extra that had to be purchased by the original owner or something?

No, it was a voluntary warranty extension by Audi for the cam follower and hpfp and cam lobe. Due to all the failures and the "crappy design".


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[IKE20VA4]

Replace oil and filter. Put magnetic drain plug in and hope for the best.

This I have done for the last 50k miles and have nothing but a slight metallic "dust" barely enough to rub off with a paper towel. So I hope all is good..


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[Charles.waite]

Sorry to hear that you're out of warranty. How's the engine sounds? You might get lucky that metal piece get stuck at timing chain cover. It's worth a shot open up and check it. I saw one guy follower piece stick to timing chain cover and didn't drop down to motor.

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Mine did that:



That's the tip of the pump wedged into that corner. It got snagged on the chain and slung into the corner. Somehow it didn't puncture the housing which was good.

[Charles.waite]

Was this something extra that had to be purchased by the original owner or something?

Nope. Any b7 2005-2007 is automatically covered. 2008s are NOT covered. Ask me how I know.

[vvenom800tt]

Nope. Any b7 2005-2007 is automatically covered. 2008s are NOT covered. Ask me how I know.

As long as youre within 120k right?

[johnruan]

As long as youre within 120k right?

Yes as long as you're within 10yr or 120k range you're cover. 2008 is not cover under warranty.

[adam044]

No, it was a voluntary warranty extension by Audi for the cam follower and hpfp and cam lobe. Due to all the failures and the "crappy design".


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So I can take my 2008 with 94k miles in and they will look/replace it?

[adam044]

Nope. Any b7 2005-2007 is automatically covered. 2008s are NOT covered. Ask me how I know.

Yes as long as you're within 10yr or 120k range you're cover. 2008 is not cover under warranty.

Well then, I'm out. What did they "improve" with the 08's?

[Charles.waite]

Well then, I'm out. What did they "improve" with the 08's?

They all came with the revised cam. That's it...

From AoA's mouth, when I spoke with them trying to get them to extend coverage to my 2008 when the cam and pump failed completely at 54k miles, because the car came with the updated part from the factory that the failure has been fixed, shouldn't happen anymore, and therefore they refuse to cover any failure related to the parts. It's total bullshit but I chose to save my breath and replace the parts myself for $600 or so. For their part the dealer offered to split the cost of the repairs, $2k out of my pocket, but I wasn't interested in dumping that much into my brand-new-to-me b7. I was pissed that the car was 4K over its CPO warranty front the previous owner too.

I could have dragged AoA to small claims court I suppose but it wasn't worth it to me. I chose to just fix it myself, learn something along the way, and get on with my life.

[Theiceman]

Okay so I took out my HPFP to change out the cam follower, and the cam follower is COMPLETELY shot. Huge hole through it/missing chunk... my car is out of warranty (126k miles) :( so not sure what to do here. Cam lobe and HPFP both surprisingly look okay... Just worried about the potential negatives of having metal shards flowing through my engine haha.. Should I just put everything back together with the new cam follower and then take it to Audi to have them look at damage or what?

pics ???

[Ashtonts]

pics ???

I'll update with some pics in the AM, just got home from work and I'm too tired to go take some pics now haha!

[Theiceman]

I have to do mine as I just bought my car and it has 250,000km on it . the one thing I know about this car is it severly lacked in maintenance. Im almost dreading this so figure I should prepare myself with some pics. Were you showing any symptoms or just checking as a preventative measure ?

[cab509]

It's your choice but when my cam follower failed I took it to the shop, if you don't do the Timing belt service at the same time it's probably about 2-3K for a cam follower repair (new cams, HPFP, a couple other things) I had the TB service done and waterpump along with a few other things and my other intake cam was over torqued so I had to buy a new one of those too and my service was about 5K.....not a fun day on the wallet. I'm at 5k after that repair now and she's running fine but she still needs a few things. (2005.5 with 170K for the record)

[Axis]

It's your choice but when my cam follower failed I took it to the shop, if you don't do the Timing belt service at the same time it's probably about 2-3K for a cam follower repair (new cams, HPFP, a couple other things) I had the TB service done and waterpump along with a few other things and my other intake cam was over torqued so I had to buy a new one of those too and my service was about 5K.....not a fun day on the wallet. I'm at 5k after that repair now and she's running fine but she still needs a few things. (2005.5 with 170K for the record)

I dont want to sound harsh but 5K? Revised intake cam shaft ~185$, hpfp ~265$, cam follower with hardware ~35$, timing belt kit ~300$ and an oil change ~80$. ~6-7 hours of labor, lets put it at 100$/Hour we have a total of ~1600$.

[johnruan]

Must be the stealership.

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[Ashtonts]

Okay guys, forgot to take pics before I threw the HPFP back on my car, got a shot of the cam follower itself though. But tbh my cam lobe and fuel pump both look fine. The cam lobe has about the same amount of wear as the guys in the follower DIY and according to his DIY that's a normal amount of wear. My fuel pump looks like any other fuel pump really...


As for why I did this.. I was getting P000a and P0011 check engine codes from my car, usually those are caused by a faulty N205 valve, but one of the things I was reading about said that if your cam follower broke and metal shards were clogging your oil screen it could cause those codes, and since the N205 is $150 and the cam follower is ~30 I figured I'd start at the cheapest part especially given I have not touched my follower in the 30k miles I've put on the car since I got it, and god knows when it was done (if it was done) before that.

Anyways, called AoA today, they basically said they can't do anything until the check engine light comes back on (I cleared them previously since I was also getting a cylinder misfire but replaced my spark plugs and coil packs and wanted to get rid of that code) and they haven't come back up yet. They said that if the codes never came back, then they would just assume my engine is fine and basically ignore the fact that there's metal shards in my engine... Not too reassuring. Guess I'll wait till the codes come back and take it in to Audi, then update with what they tell me

[Charles.waite]

I dont want to sound harsh but 5K? Revised intake cam shaft ~185$, hpfp ~265$, cam follower with hardware ~35$, timing belt kit ~300$ and an oil change ~80$. ~6-7 hours of labor, lets put it at 100$/Hour we have a total of ~1600$.

Your first error is quoting online part prices and how much time you think it takes/it actually takes instead of Msrp part prices and book time.

No shops charge for "actual" time when it makes more sense to charge book time.

[Axis]

Your first error is quoting online part prices and how much time you think it takes/it actually takes instead of Msrp part prices and book time.

No shops charge for "actual" time when it makes more sense to charge book time.

The shops I go to for things I cant do in my driveway charge me the time it took to do the job. I know not everybody as access to these kind of shops but can we agree that 5000$ to do that job is borderline theft.

Edit : I know an intake cam replacement is 7 hours by the books, I also know that it actually takes two hours to do the job.

[Charles.waite]

The shops I go to for things I cant do in my driveway charge me the time it took to do the job. I know not everybody as access to these kind of shops but can we agree that 5000$ to do that job is borderline theft.

It sounds like there were other jobs in there too. But I agree. My post above was meant to be in jest, but I forgot my sarcasm tag, haha.

[Axis]

It sounds like there were other jobs in there too. But I agree. My post above was meant to be in jest, but I forgot my sarcasm tag, haha.

With me you really need to put the tags lol English is my third language.

[B72011]

If the pump tip and the cam are fine---then replace the cam follower and go on your way. The cam follower likely slowly wore down and the pieces were/are pretty small and are likely hanging out in the oil pan by now . If its running fine now, I would reinstall a new follower and check it every 5-7K or so---if fine for a few of these---up it to 10K and KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR OIL LEVEL. Check with each fillup!
You also might want to get the HPFP stud kit to minimize the possibility of the screws stripping after all the install/reinstall cycles as you check.

[Charles.waite]

With me you really need to put the tags lol English is my third language.

Haha. Yea my bad. I meant to then forgot and just hit post.

[Theiceman]

If the pump tip and the cam are fine---then replace the cam follower and go on your way. The cam follower likely slowly wore down and the pieces were/are pretty small and are likely hanging out in the oil pan by now . If its running fine now, I would reinstall a new follower and check it every 5-7K or so---if fine for a few of these---up it to 10K and KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR OIL LEVEL. Check with each fillup!
You also might want to get the HPFP stud kit to minimize the possibility of the screws stripping after all the install/reinstall cycles as you check.

lots of discussion about stud kits on our cars and if you have enough clearance to get the pump on and off. The VW is a different mounting and the stud kit works well for them. Just may want to research a little as a few guys have put studs on and then taken them back off.

[Theiceman]

looks like a few chunks broke off that baby for sure

id definitely consider a magnetic drain plug and cut open my oil filter for inspection.

Okay guys, forgot to take pics before I threw the HPFP back on my car, got a shot of the cam follower itself though. But tbh my cam lobe and fuel pump both look fine. The cam lobe has about the same amount of wear as the guys in the follower DIY and according to his DIY that's a normal amount of wear. My fuel pump looks like any other fuel pump really...


As for why I did this.. I was getting P000a and P0011 check engine codes from my car, usually those are caused by a faulty N205 valve, but one of the things I was reading about said that if your cam follower broke and metal shards were clogging your oil screen it could cause those codes, and since the N205 is $150 and the cam follower is ~30 I figured I'd start at the cheapest part especially given I have not touched my follower in the 30k miles I've put on the car since I got it, and god knows when it was done (if it was done) before that.

Anyways, called AoA today, they basically said they can't do anything until the check engine light comes back on (I cleared them previously since I was also getting a cylinder misfire but replaced my spark plugs and coil packs and wanted to get rid of that code) and they haven't come back up yet. They said that if the codes never came back, then they would just assume my engine is fine and basically ignore the fact that there's metal shards in my engine... Not too reassuring. Guess I'll wait till the codes come back and take it in to Audi, then update with what they tell me

[Ashtonts]

lots of discussion about stud kits on our cars and if you have enough clearance to get the pump on and off. The VW is a different mounting and the stud kit works well for them. Just may want to research a little as a few guys have put studs on and then taken them back off.

I was just looking at the thread where some guy was talking about sourcing the studs without buying the kit, one other guy said you have to unscrew and remove the hard coolant line to get it on and off the studs. Seems worth the extra step not to strip out the metal inside the car honestly

[Charles.waite]

lots of discussion about stud kits on our cars and if you have enough clearance to get the pump on and off. The VW is a different mounting and the stud kit works well for them. Just may want to research a little as a few guys have put studs on and then taken them back off.

Given how my HPFP mounts (the later revision without the banjo) I don't see how studs make anything easier. If anything it sounds much harder to remove and install the HPFP with studs. But to each his own.

[Ashtonts]

looks like a few chunks broke off that baby for sure

id definitely consider a magnetic drain plug and cut open my oil filter for inspection.

Definitely doing the drain plug. Just had my oil changed a couple weeks ago though, still need to open the filter? I'm sure most of the chunks would have been in the old filter that just got replaced huh?

[Charles.waite]

How would the chunks get down to the oil pan from the timing housing?

[Theiceman]

I was just looking at the thread where some guy was talking about sourcing the studs without buying the kit, one other guy said you have to unscrew and remove the hard coolant line to get it on and off the studs. Seems worth the extra step not to strip out the metal inside the car honestly

I agree, im gonna try it myself, because I cant get the studs, im gonna use a threaded rod. I was just at the dealer and they want 100.00 for the tappet. CAD. I was thinking it might be worth going with an OE part seeing its so critical , but at three times the aftermarket its tough to justify.

[Theiceman]

How would the chunks get down to the oil pan from the timing housing?

You need to oil that cam the tappet is riding on so it doesn't wear out so there will be an oil feed and a return. The have been quite a few engines replaced by Audi because they dropped the pan after seeing damage up top and seen evidence of further damage due to the metal and replaced the engine.

[Charles.waite]

You need to oil that cam the tappet is riding on so it doesn't wear out so there will be an oil feed and a return. The have been quite a few engines replaced by Audi because they dropped the pan after seeing damage up top and seen evidence of further damage due to the metal and replaced the engine.

Yea but how do large chunks of follower travel down very small oil drains?

[Theiceman]

Yea but how do large chunks of follower travel down very small oil drains?

large chunks are relative .. no one said large .. chunks I would consider anything that is not of a paste consistency. these would fit down oil return galleries , glint in the sunlight in your filter and could do some serious damage.