Noticed this on the wing mirror glass earlier. At least I now have evidence it definitely has been welded rather than fibreglassed!
My Amazon parcel arrived today with a few bits including the cam follower. Basically the cam follower is a bucket type shim that rides between the intake cam and the high pressure fuel pump plunger. These have a special coating on to resist wear. Unfortunately that coating simply does not last and ends up wearing through. When that happens, the pump plunger rides against the cam and both get destroyed.
Over the years VAG and their suppliers have tried to improve the life of the coating. However they have never completely solved it. On later engines their solution is a roller tappet which solves the problem entirely. That can't be retrofitted to the older engines and so these are just another in a long line of consumable VAG parts that shouldn't be.
Thankfully it's not that hard to get to.
First job is to remove the engine cover. On these engines it houses the air filter and MAF.
The air filter looks in excellent shape and not that old. Very good sign this has been serviced regularly.
Not sure what the date code is on this as I can't remember which bit is the Bosch magic code that you need to convert into a date.
MAF is genuine VW and looks to be a date code of 2013. So not original factory item and a quality item.
With the cover off, something interesting was quite obvious.
This is a PCV delete kit. It keeps the cam cover connected to the crank case (which happens under boost normally) but stops the manifold sucking a vacuum into the cam-cover when at idle. I'm not sure about this and extremely tempted to put back to stock. After all, VAG are cost conscious company and they wouldn't design+make something if they didn't have to.
It does also suggest this car has been worked on by an enthusiast and/or a specialist.
The fuel pump has three torx bolts. You need to be exceptionally careful to not round the heads off. Otherwise you're going to have a bad day.
This connector is broken and suggests someone has been here before.
In getting to the fuel fitting on the bottom of the pump, my hand pushed against a coolant flange.
Naturally the old, brittle, shit VAG plastic snapped right off.
Balls.
Thankfully Bezo and his team of minions can get a replacement out to me tomorrow.
For now I've deleted that hose with a screw and superglue. Sealing it and making the area cat and wildlife safe.
With the bolts out, the pump pulls right off. I couldn't easily get to the hoses on the bottom of the pump, so I decided to play it safe and not disconnect them.
Here is a new cam follower on the left with the old cam next to it. I think the words just in time come to mind! The protective coating has entirely worn off and just relying on engine oil to not destroy the cam and pump.
The cam is completely undamaged thankfully.
Tomorrow I'll get that flange replaced and give it a run.
