Has anyone experienced, the cam follower failure? If so, what was the milage, what was damaged, and what was the cost to fix it? I just learned about this "known" problem a few days ago, and am bummed. I thought that the B7's were praised as relatively reliable cars. Any precautions I need to take, or things I can catch early to avoid this apparently very expensive repair.

B7Night

 

No, I have not had it. The only issue I did have was with two faulty coils, and the PCV going bad. All were replaced under warranty. I do remember reading something on the Cam follower issue, but from what I saw it was only with the 2005 and some 2006 models.

 

I haven't had any problems at all and my odometer is at ~32,000 miles right now and counting.

 

I'm pretty sure the cam follower issue is applicable to all B7s. Just luck of the draw if it happens to you or not. As far as I know, the only way to catch it is to check your follower for wear. It's a $50 part if you catch it before it wears through and screws everything else up.

 

Pull the High Pressure Fuel pump off which sits right on top of your engine, Fairly easy to do. Cam follower sits right under it and pretty much is a problem on all 2.0t cars. They have a special coating that is a protectant and it wears off and eventual failure. Everyone on the GTI forums know of this since it is a much larger following over there.

Lots of guys just replace the follower every 20-30k miles as a precaution. Pretty much gauranteed that if you pull it out you will see decent wear. Good thing is that it is a simple and cheap fix if you catch it before it destroys your cam when the coating wears off.

Just get a stage 2+ program which requires a fuel pump change anyway and pop a new follower in at the same time. Stage 2 plus is pretty amazing.

 

Had mine replaced ~42000 miles. I had just purchased it from a dealer and it was under warranty. What ticked me off, was that I seemed to know more about this problem than the dealer.

 

wtf. so this problem is guaranteed to happen to all our engines?

 

i got 69,700 on my 06 a4 2.0t. still runs great

 

Most likely. You could never have a poblem and get rid of the car one day and be fine. On the other hand you could lose a cam over a $12 part that you could check in 1/2 an hour.

I'm not worried on my A4 cause I trade my cars in when the warranty is about up. 100k on my CPO car so it will probably be the next guys problem as i'm at 70K now and i'm getting a B8 very soon. I really don't care.

If you do care and want to keep your car I would strongly advise checking / changing this part by 50k miles. Might as well change it while you are in there even if the wear looks minimal since you opened her up. You will see probably decent wear for sure on the special coating. Just pop off the fuel pump and it just sits in the hole under it.

 

Here is a FAQ for a GTI I believe but same engine with probably exact same instructions.

Part is actually closer to $60.

50k miles is probably to many miles so yes, be scared. Or be like me. I will get your car eventually whether you own it or not.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3750088