MK5 Golf GTI - Cam Follower Nightmare

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Hi there

I am a new owner of my MK5 GTI with 102000 miles on the clock. After acquiring my car with full service history - I quickly checked to see if the Cam Follower had been replaced after reading horror stories about them wearing through and causing damage. I rang the VW specialist in Wimbledon who looked after the car for the previous owner and discovered they never replaced it. The car seemed to drive absolutely fine so i thought I would get this changed as soon as possible at my local specialist.

I then received a phone call on the day of replacement with news I didn't want to hear that it had already worn through!!! Causing damage to the Cam and fuel pump aswell as the cam chain cover! To my shock as I haven't witnessed any symptoms, no rough idling or white smoke ect.

The garage have stripped the cover off for me to inspect. The Cam intake appears to be worn at the end and the part above that (not sure what the part is) has been scored. There is also damage to the fuel pump as the small bolt looking part at the end has come off and caused damage inside to the cam chain cover and the fuel line inside it. There doesnt appear to be any signs of debris however - id imagine the piece of cam follower has disintegrated. The mechanic advised it looks like its been worn through for some time!

The price to fix this of course is sky high! and looking at £2700 all in with new cams, fuel pump, follower and cam chain cover and engine clean up. The garage said they can also do cambelt but that was changed recently so have asked them not too.

I am now panicking as that is a huge amount of money - do I get the bare minimum done to get it running or replace everything they've advised - considering the car ran well before this with no codes EML's ect. Im no expert so ive attached pictures of the extent of the damage aswell as part of the quote.







Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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It was bought privately unfortunately so no warranty, at a loss as to what to do surely a new engine would be huge £££

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phumy said:

If it has been serviced by a dealer ask for help under "good will", if it has good service history with them they normally cough up and will help you out. I used to have a 150bhp TDi (the old ERL engine) Mk 4Golf and the cam on them is notoriously like chocolate and it went. They inspected it and found it was knackered, they quoted me £2.2k to fix. I asked VW for good will as I have had it serviced by VW and they coughed up for the labour , I paid for parts which came to about £540 I think now. So its worth ago if you have the history.

Unfortunately it wasnt serviced at a main dealer but a VW specialist - I was a bit shocked they never replaced as i called them shortly after the car to see if theyd replaced it. Id imagine they will tell me where to stick it if I asked them to contribute to repairs.

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Ive settled in getting the cam follower, pump and engine flush done with engine flush for just shy of £900. A lot i know but i wanted the minimum done before I decide what to do long term - hopefully the car will be ready soon. I may look at getting S3 engine cams if these fit in the TFSI. Im deciding whether to repair this in stages so im not paying one massive sum or just sell it really.

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Not just yet as that was the main chunk of that big repair bill. Im avoiding driving it for now and have just replaced the hpfp, cam follower and done and engine flush with new oil filter. Im hoping i can source cheaper parts from somewhere.