2008 VW GTI 2.0 TFSI Amsoil 5w30 7447/25810 miles
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Originally Posted By: Pablo
NOT a good design. What alloy is the tappet? I wonder what the coating is. This seems very critical. Wear on both sides? Ouch.
Yea it is a poor design. People have speculated about trying to use a roller cam retrofit (does not exist) or using a more hardened follower (would just increase wear on cam as cam is already hardened) but the right solution is just to check it every 20k or so and replace if needed. It takes like 10 minutes and if you need a new one it is like $50.
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
NOT a good design. What alloy is the tappet? I wonder what the coating is. This seems very critical. Wear on both sides? Ouch.
Yea it is a poor design. People have speculated about trying to use a roller cam retrofit (does not exist) or using a more hardened follower (would just increase wear on cam as cam is already hardened) but the right solution is just to check it every 20k or so and replace if needed. It takes like 10 minutes and if you need a new one it is like $50.
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
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Originally Posted By: saaber1
Yea it is a poor design. People have speculated about trying to use a roller cam retrofit (does not exist) or using a more hardened follower (would just increase wear on cam as cam is already hardened) but the right solution is just to check it every 20k or so and replace if needed. It takes like 10 minutes and if you need a new one it is like $50.
They both will wear, regardless and maybe the replacement logic is the way to go. The trick is to not make the follower too soft which it looks to be (or too hard of course)
I'd be real tempted to run a fully loaded straight grade (SAE 30 or 40) diesel oil, with some AW additve!
Yea it is a poor design. People have speculated about trying to use a roller cam retrofit (does not exist) or using a more hardened follower (would just increase wear on cam as cam is already hardened) but the right solution is just to check it every 20k or so and replace if needed. It takes like 10 minutes and if you need a new one it is like $50.
They both will wear, regardless and maybe the replacement logic is the way to go. The trick is to not make the follower too soft which it looks to be (or too hard of course)
I'd be real tempted to run a fully loaded straight grade (SAE 30 or 40) diesel oil, with some AW additve!
Originally Posted By: saaber1
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
This may point to a follower metallurgy issue.
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
This may point to a follower metallurgy issue.
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Originally Posted By: saaber1
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
This may point to a follower metallurgy issue.
Very well could be. But lots of variables such as people running there cars with not enough oil, following vw's recommended 10k OCI (not wise IMO) so it is hard to tell. It is also possible that the oil's AW properties are a huge factor over the long term (say 50k miles)
Also I am purposely leaving out the fact that many tuners have increased the fuel pressure by adding aftermarket fuel pumps. That clouds the issue so much that it is probably better to talk about those that have failed with stock fuel pumps.
Originally Posted By: saaber1
It should also be noted that there are photos of orginal followers removed at 65k+ miles that look perfectly fine.
This may point to a follower metallurgy issue.
Very well could be. But lots of variables such as people running there cars with not enough oil, following vw's recommended 10k OCI (not wise IMO) so it is hard to tell. It is also possible that the oil's AW properties are a huge factor over the long term (say 50k miles)
Also I am purposely leaving out the fact that many tuners have increased the fuel pressure by adding aftermarket fuel pumps. That clouds the issue so much that it is probably better to talk about those that have failed with stock fuel pumps.
Wow! check this one out! Only 16k miles on car, 5k changes with syntec 5W40 and the cam follower is shot!!!!
This may be irresponsible for me to say, but I am feeling irresponsible today. : ) My impression is that the worst looking cam followers are using syntec 5W40. It is only an impression but I have seen several horrible examples using syntec.
In contrast, I have seen at least 3 examples of regular M10W40 users that look excellent at 50k, 60k, 70kish miles on follower. It is just an impression and I would need to go back and compile all the photos to see if this impression is correct. if anyone wants to do that, I can point you to the threads. I may do it in the future if I get time.
Having this kind of wear at only 16k with regular 5k OCI is ridiculous! Would a different oil have made a difference here? What u think?
Originally Posted By: olegg
07 GLI
16K miles, engine completely stock. Castrol syntec 5w40 every 5000 miles
I got A camshaft
follower
camshaft doesn`t have any signs of wear
This may be irresponsible for me to say, but I am feeling irresponsible today. : ) My impression is that the worst looking cam followers are using syntec 5W40. It is only an impression but I have seen several horrible examples using syntec.
In contrast, I have seen at least 3 examples of regular M10W40 users that look excellent at 50k, 60k, 70kish miles on follower. It is just an impression and I would need to go back and compile all the photos to see if this impression is correct. if anyone wants to do that, I can point you to the threads. I may do it in the future if I get time.
Having this kind of wear at only 16k with regular 5k OCI is ridiculous! Would a different oil have made a difference here? What u think?
Originally Posted By: olegg
07 GLI
16K miles, engine completely stock. Castrol syntec 5w40 every 5000 miles
I got A camshaft
follower
camshaft doesn`t have any signs of wear
So cuiosity got the best of me and took my cam follower out this morning. I think it looks most excellent. The super macro shot enhances the wear and makes it look more worn than it appears to the naked eye (notice tiny lint particles that were not visible to naked eye). From the wear lines, it looks like the follower is rotating nicely. Cam and end of fuel pump look as new. Used factory fill through 5k, then redline 5w40 and changed at 9k. at 13k on car now. Although this follower has 3k less miles than the bad one posted above, the wear makes my suspicions of syntec 5w40 grow. But I need to research it more.
I wish I had checked this at 5k to see how much wear was from that first factory fill. On the other hand, the car is now out of break in (based on the 39 UOA database anyway which shows wear metals dropping significantly after about 10k or so) so now is an ideal time to watch wear from here on out.
I wish I had checked this at 5k to see how much wear was from that first factory fill. On the other hand, the car is now out of break in (based on the 39 UOA database anyway which shows wear metals dropping significantly after about 10k or so) so now is an ideal time to watch wear from here on out.
One thing that is very noticeable is that the syntec camshaft has a "satin" finish and both it and the follower look "rough". The redline camshaft has a "polished" finish and you can see the reflections in the camshaft. The redline follower also is "polished" on the outside edge of the follower. In the one picture it looks like the black coating is worn off but that is due to the light. The outside edge actually is "polished" but still "black". I don't know if a person could necessarily take this polished appearance to mean less wear but it certainly looks like uniform wear to me. Someone with more experience could probably comment on the "polished" look and what that means in terms of wear.
I have to use redline 5W40 for my next fill because I want to test whether eliminating the pcv (crankcase gases will be routed to the exhaust via a slashcut system) has any effect on acid buildup in the oil. I need to make sure I am using the same oil as I was earlier when I have TBN and TAN numbers for "pre-pcv elimination" for the test to work.
If I didn't have to do that I would try either redline 10W30 (for mpg test) or 10W40 as they should be more shear stable than the 5W40 and I also "want my moly back" ha ha. I am also holding out to see how the Biosyn UOAs will look (there is only one so far). The Amsoil that someone mentioned earlier seems attractive and I have had excellent results with Amsoil on saab turbos in the past. I am also very curious how Rotella synthetic 5W40 would do in this car based on the good results the Subaru turbo guys are seeing.
I have to use redline 5W40 for my next fill because I want to test whether eliminating the pcv (crankcase gases will be routed to the exhaust via a slashcut system) has any effect on acid buildup in the oil. I need to make sure I am using the same oil as I was earlier when I have TBN and TAN numbers for "pre-pcv elimination" for the test to work.
If I didn't have to do that I would try either redline 10W30 (for mpg test) or 10W40 as they should be more shear stable than the 5W40 and I also "want my moly back" ha ha. I am also holding out to see how the Biosyn UOAs will look (there is only one so far). The Amsoil that someone mentioned earlier seems attractive and I have had excellent results with Amsoil on saab turbos in the past. I am also very curious how Rotella synthetic 5W40 would do in this car based on the good results the Subaru turbo guys are seeing.
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