It is usually recommended to start your own thread as your questions might drift away from the OP's questions.

But I'll jump in and answer as much as I can:
I would recommend doing the timing belt job now - don't wait. It is recommended to change it every 6-7 years regardless of mileage. Usually every 80k will be fine for a timing belt but some people like yourself don't get up to that mileage within the 7 year time frame.
During the timing belt change, replace the water pump and thermostat. Cam follower (which is that little cap the OP was mentioning) should be checked every 10k if possible just to be sure. It doesn't require a lot of work (basically pull the HPFP off and look) and even if it shows signs of wear it's only 50 bucks to replace it.

Preventative maintenance needs to be done. If you wait for anything to fail it will be catastrophic and very expensive. Having a thermostat or waterpump fail is not that bad - as you can pull over and turn the engine off, get home or to a mechanic via tow truck to repair it. However if the timing belt goes or cam goes - you are looking at thousands of dollars to get that stuff fixed vs a few hundred in preventative maintenance.

 

Thanks for the confirmation sheldon, plan on doing it very soon. Didn't know I could check/replace the cam follower without taking major parts off.
I'm sure I will have ample opportunity to start with some new questions on this when it actually begins.

 

mattymo,

My car is a '15 with 4k miles. Cannot help on your question, but would like to raise one for anyone else who might know the answer. Is the original problem posted in this thread something they have fixed on the 2.0T engine? If they had enough failures before the end of warranty I would think they would have, but one never knows about that when bean counters are involved in many decisions like that. Still this engine is a major global platform engine for VW and Audi. I would like to think they would have revised the part to make it stronger metal.

 

Hi Bob - Yes that problem was already addressed and fixed starting in the 2008 models. Only 2006 and 2007 had the 2.0t FSI engine which this exact problem. Starting in 2008 they moved away from that engine design and used TFSI engines which do not have the same parts like the FSI engines (in regards to how the HPFS engages the Camshaft).
In short - You should be safe. There is still plenty of other stuff that breaks