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A quick D.I.Y. Cam Chain and Tensioner *BPY engines

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#1 · (Edited)
(PICTURES UPDATED) A quick D.I.Y. Cam Chain and Tensioner *BPY engines

A quick D.I.Y. Cam Chain and Tensioner *BPY engines
This in not the most in depth write up ever but it will help many of you out to see what you are getting into (It's not that hard) just looks it.

I do want to start by saying I am not responsible in anyway for your actions and anything that may happen as a result of you doing this on your own.

The tools you will need are the following:

T40080 - 6 point socket
T10252 - Cam Lock
T10020 - 2 pin cam wrench (optional)
Ratchets - 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2"
1/2" Breaker Bar
Extensions for all three. 3" for the 1/4" and 6" extractions for the 3/8" and 1/2"
T27 Socket and Screw Driver Bit
10mm Socket
5/8 Spark Plug Socket (optional)
15mm Wrench
M8 Triple square (If you have the banjo style fuel pump)
Pick sets
Screw Drivers, both Standard and Philips head
Safety Glasses would be a good idea too.
Might need a few other little things but this is most of them

Parts you will need: - cost for parts was about $178 plus $100 for the tool kit I bought. The gaskets where all VW brand. The chain was IWIS (same as factory) as pictured and the Tensioner was from INA (same as factory) as pictured. The prices are cheaper from the companies separate compared to buying them straight from VW.
Timing cover gasket - $9
Valve cover gasket - $17
Exhaust cam adjuster bolt - $4
Timing chain - $31
timing chain tensioner - $59
HPFP cam follower (optional) - crazy if you don't while you already have it apart. - $50 with new bolts and gasket
Hose clamp - to replace factory clamp on the rear pcv hose from valve cover $1
Timing tools if you don't already have them - $100




Step One - Make sure the car is in Neutral so the engine can rotate freely. Remove your intake system (whatever brand you may have) This should be pretty simple. Not going to explain because so many mount differently. Make sure to cover the turbo inlet so you don't drop anything down in it. Paint can lid works pretty well.


Step Two - Remove the battery and battery tray. (Optional) I did this this to make more room to work and I am glad I did, You will want the room to gain access and see the lower bolts on the cam cover and to wiggle the cover off.


Step Three - Now it is time to start disconnecting all the plugs on the top end such as fuel pump connectors, Coil Packs, and N205 Valve. You will want to pull the coil packs out at this time. Also disconnect the vacuum line off the cam cover. If you have an aftermarket heat shield, this will also be a good time to take it out. You will want to disconnect the rear two hoses on the valve cover and all the hoses off the front PCV system.





Step Four - Time to remove the fuel pump and follower. Now is also a good time to replace it since you already have to remove the old one. This is pretty simple but make sure you have rags on hand as fuel will come out when you drain the system. You will want to unscrew the cap on the bottom right of the pump and push in the tap to release the fuel pressure. This will drain fuel out so have a rag under it. After it is drained, remove the fitting from the pump to gain access to the bolt behind it. You will want to also remove the two fuel lines under the pump as well, I have the 15mm line and the Banjo bolt which is not as bad as everyone says. Put the tripple square in a socket with a 3" extension on a 1/4 drive ratchet and it comes out in less then two minute. Below is a pic showing how to do it. After they are disconnected, You can now take off the 3 bolts holding the fuel pump on and remove it.





Step Five - Now it is time to remove the Valve cover and Cam Chain cover. You will need lots of rags and the cam cover will leak on the top of the trans. All the bolts here will be T27s. The valve cover is real simple. It's 14 bolts up top and 2 on the left side where the timing belt is. The just wiggle it side to side and it should come right off. You might need to pry at it, If you do, Just be very careful not to crack or break anything. The chain cover it a little bit of a pain to get the lower bolts and this is where you will be glad you removed the battery. There are 3 up top, 2 around the back, 1 under the fuel pump are, and 1 last little sucker under in the center, You will not be able to get it with a T27 socket, You have to have the bit and screwdriver for this guy. He was tucked up in so I couldn't get a good picture. You will also need to remove the 2 bolts shown in the second pic as well as removing the wire loom holder. The third pic is to show the bottom bolt location and how it is surrounded by the case. After all the bolts are removed from the housing you can now take it off, To do this, IT MUST COME STRAIGHT OUT THE SIDE, you might have to bend some of the medal lines slightly to do so but you don't want to break the rings in the housing by bending it around. Just be gentle and careful when doing this and you will be fine.




Step Six - At this point, the tricky stuff is done. The rest is easy. Now we need to rotate the engine to get the cams lined up to lock them in place. It is (optional) if you want to remove the spark plugs to make this a little easier, I did to release the compression as I rotated the engine. Here is where the 2 pin cam wrench come in, You will want to slip it in the intake cam and rotate the engine around the the notch on each cam face each other, once they do, slide the locking plate in and bolt it in to 7 ft lbs. You can now press the tensioner down and insert the locking pin to hold it down.



Step Seven - Time to remove the camshaft adjuster bolt and take the chain off. To do this, You need a the T40080 socket and a breaker bar. I had my brother hold the socket square and in while I pulled to break it loose. Don't be afraid to give it some force, they are designed to hold in there tight. Once it is out, You can then just slide the adjuster and chain right off.




Step Eight - We can now remove the old tensioner, It is held on by 3 T27 bolts and comes right out. After it is out, Clean up the oil passage hole, mine had some build up in the screen on the tensioner. It would explain why it was ticking.






The rest is just a matter of reverse bolting everything back up the way it came out.



Torque specs are the following All are ft lbs.

Cam adjuster bolt is 15 lbs plus additional 1/8 turn
Tensioner bolt is 7 lbs
Valve cover bolts are 7 lbs.
Cam chain case cover is 7 lbs
hpfp bolts are 7lbs
banjo bolt on fuel pump is 13 lbs
union nut on hpfp is 18 lbs

On a scale of 1-10 on how hard, I would rate a 6. It's not hard so much as how long it takes. You really do need the special tools to get the job done though. If not, You are going to break something.

Here is the Valve cover pattern to tighten down to 7ft Lbs.



If you need any help, feel I left anything out, or any question, feel free to message me and I will see what I can do to help, add, fix, or change.
 
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#31 · (Edited)
Since this is a bit of a tip I picked up while recently doing my cam chain replacement and regarding the cam locking tool, I also posted this at the trade a tool thread.

So, I just completed this cam chain replacement service on my 2005.5 A4 and I concur about the CTA brand 2878 cam locking tool, total piece of junk. I've seen a few other brands that look similar as well with the tiny little screws on the top of the backing plates holding the dowels in.

The CTA tool I bought didn't even provide the least amount of resistance, the pegs just peeled out of the backing plate like butter and bent inward. The peg is only set loosely about half way into the backing plate (about 1/4") so all the force is applied to the tiny screws which only had about 3 threads of engagement. I tried longer screws but that made no difference due to the shallow dowel pegs and loose fitment in the backing plate.

I sent the CTA 2878 back to FCPeuro for a refund along with a strong suggestion to discontinue carrying this crap tool.

After this tool fail and a few days lost locating a real tool, I got an Assenmacher T10252 which worked flawless. This tool has the pegs pressed all the way and tightly into the backing plate.

If you don't want to lose time due to poorly designed tools, DO NOT BUY A CTA 2878 cam locking tool, they are garbage. It might be safe to assume the same of other branded lower cost tools which also have the little screw in the top of the dowel holding it in the backing plate; I can only say for sure the CTA is poorly designed.

A picture is with a million words so here you go:

CTA with dowels collapsed in:


CTA disassembled:


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#33 ·
Update on my broken cam adjuster shaft seal rings:
I just got my order in from vwpartsoutlet.com and the rings are plastic, not metal. This is good news to me because I don't have to worry about compatibility with them replacing my broken plastic ones. I'll follow up again once I have the new rings installed.

Also I was able to return the CTA cam clamp to Amazon for a full refund! Let me know if anyone needs the cam wrench, 6 point bit, and tensioner pin for cheap!


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#34 ·
So I replaced all three rings, installed the cover, buttoned everything up under the hood and it seems to have fixed my CEL. I've driven 300 miles since installation and no problems.
Let me know if you have any questions about my experience with the repair.


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#36 ·
Turned out I didn't need heat. I got an assenmacher cam locking tool and #10 polydrive on amazon for $115. You don't need the rest of the tools that come with the Baum Tools kit. Instead of the using the special tool to rotate the intake cam, I rotated the engine into position by turning the poly drive adjuster bolt.

Once the cam locking tool was in, the adjuster bolt came out easily with a 24" breaker bar. I was concerned having read of people stripping out the adjuster bolt, but in the case of my car, that fear was unfounded.
 
#38 ·
In the same boat

Unfortunately recently my cam follower has failed.
Did not know of this issue until after warranty ended.
The HPFP piston is in tack but slightly warn, cam lobe does not look very scared or damaged.
I know I have follower fragments somewhere internal, optimistically lodged in corners or crevices instead of chewing up my cams and chain?
making a little more noise than typical lately.
In the next few weeks I plan on opening up the valve cover & cam chain cover, inspect for damage, remove any visible fragments, replace tentioner, chain, gaskets and follower (maybe a kit from Europarts)?
Eventually soon I am planning on removing and cleaning any debris from the oil pan.
Anyone who has been though this (unfortunately probably more than should have) I am looking for any insight / advise I should look for while I'm in there.
Also looking for a GOOD cam locking tool or any associated tools I might need That I could rent, borrow or buy cheap.
Thanks, PD
 
#374 ·
Unfortunately recently my cam follower has failed.
Did not know of this issue until after warranty ended.
The HPFP piston is in tack but slightly warn, cam lobe does not look very scared or damaged.
I know I have follower fragments somewhere internal, optimistically lodged in corners or crevices instead of chewing up my cams and chain?
making a little more noise than typical lately.
In the next few weeks I plan on opening up the valve cover & cam chain cover, inspect for damage, remove any visible fragments, replace tentioner, chain, gaskets and follower (maybe a kit from Europarts)?
Eventually soon I am planning on removing and cleaning any debris from the oil pan.
Anyone who has been though this (unfortunately probably more than should have) I am looking for any insight / advise I should look for while I'm in there.
Also looking for a GOOD cam locking tool or any associated tools I might need That I could rent, borrow or buy cheap.
Thanks, PD
I just replaced my cam follower and it too was eaten through and I'm also worried about the metal debris in the block. What did you end up finding out and doing to resolve this? This is what mine looked like (!)

Doing the camshaft chain today...

 
#39 ·
I don't have any experience cleaning up after a cam follower failure so I can't gove any particular tips there besides what you've probably already though of doing but I can offer 2 things.

1) take note of bmulder's situation in this thread which he solved and reported in post #34. I did the cam service without a hitch and then found out a month later that I musta scraped up one of those rings he describes when putting the cover back on because I found that there was a slightly improper amount of tension on the chain. Just enough to cause a little chain rattle at 1200 RPMs. I didn't even get a CEL like he did because just one ring was damage slightly. But having to pull the cover again just for that oversight was annoying so my advice is to get those rings and do them too. Only reason I bring it up is b/c it isn't in the DIY.

2) I can put you in touch with a good guy with a good set of cam tools. I know they work well because they're the ones I used and sold to him. PM if interested.
 
#40 · (Edited)
After careful inspection of my old tensioner (105k miles), it appears it was developing small cracks emanating from the hole in the center of the top shoe. Many of the failures I have seen online are caused by the top shoe cracking in half, and mine may have been in the early stages of this condition. One thing that may cause this is the momentary chain slap that occurs on cold starts. Another interesting data point in that the spring inside of my new INA tensioner was about 1/4" longer than the original spring, which may provide more preload on the chain during start up, eliminating the chain slap that could damage the shoe. I have put about 300 miles on the new tensioner and haven't had a single start up chain slap.

 
#43 ·
Just wanted to say BIG THANK YOU for the DIY. It has helped me greatly in replacing my cam chain and tensioner over the weekend. :beer:

My tensioner turned out to be in a great shape. The chain, however, had a lot of slack at the bottom. I suppose it simply stretched out after 10 years and was making a lot of noise especially on cold starts. Those noises are gone now.

To echo the previous comments again - be prepared to drill out the cam adjuster bolt. Although I had the proper socket, there was no way that bolt was going to come out after 10 years of being in there. This was the biggest pain in the whole job. Be careful not to damage the cam or the adjuster when drilling it out.

Also, I would recommend marking the position of the cams before you take it apart. Just put a few marks on the face of the intake cam sprocket, a cam adjuster and the casing as reference points for when you put everything back together. Although the cams are locked, they still have leeway and will move when you take the adjuster and the chain off. I didn't make the markings and had to count the chain links based on the picture in this DIY, which turned out to be OK, but gave me chills.
 
#44 ·
I'd be very careful with the diagnosis that the "tensioner is fine" and suggest replacing it. The cams are only connected via the chain, when the tensioner is not taunt, the slack (which there will be some) will accumulate on either side depending on the rotation of each cam.

Bottom line, best replace that tensioner, it probably isn't "fine".


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#45 ·
Oh yeah, I totally agree, it's best to replace it while you're in there in any case, which is what I did. By "fine" meant that it had as much tension in it as the new one, had no visible cracks or damage and was not clogged, unlike some of the other ones that I saw. It's a cheap part anyway, so definitely put a new one in if you have the chain off.
 
#46 ·
Diy camlock

I recently started getting a lot of knocking and top end noise. Comparing it to youtube videos it turned out to be the cam chain tensioner. I didn't want to spend a $100 on a cam lock id use once so i decided to build one. I was thinking of welding two bolts to a piece of steel then thought it would be even stronger, cheaper and faster to make it out of galvanized iron pipe. I used 1/4" fittings which comes out to a diameter of .569, right around the size of the cam slots. Cost was about 5 dollars and its strong! Would recommend grease and going slow as you need to get these fittings very tight to make them the 4 inches across. Hope this helps someone.


 
#47 ·
Thanks for the guide but I have a few questions that were not addressed.
On the back of the camshaft adjuster there is a mark to indicate possibly starting point? Also from this starting point do you need to count any links. I have found a DIY for a 1.8 engine and it has a count of 16 links. Not sure if this applies to the MKV 2.0L
 
#48 ·
Here is a good picture edit below of what the intake cam timing should look like !

Place the cam chain around both gears first of course. leaving the exhaust gear slightly off the cam. . I found that you may need someone( or a 4 ft long bar) to hold the exhaust cam exactly at its timing belt side marking. It tends to fall back a half tooth. and youll need to turn the intake cam with that flat special tool a good tooth clockwise then slide the exhaust cam chain gear onto the cam. Its pretty tricky your first time . end result is the pic im attaching. I just did this job twice this month. pm for and additional information needed..

 
#50 ·
<a href="http://s816.photobucket.com/user/BryanTruxell/media/Mobile%20Uploads/LEGACY%20GT%20DOOR%20OPEN%20PICS/20160426_141550%20cam%20gear%20align%20passat.png.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/BryanTruxell/Mobile%20Uploads/LEGACY%20GT%20DOOR%20OPEN%20PICS/20160426_141550%20cam%20gear%20align%20passat.png" border="0" alt="06 passat cam alignment photo 20160426_141550 cam gear align passat.png"/></a>
 
#53 · (Edited)
In the middle of this job now. I too have the ticking that goes away with the slightest hint of extra throttle. Opened everything up before I actually ordered the parts.

I've found that everything visually looks OK, but that the bottom of the chain has some pretty substantial slack. Definitely would be a noisemaker if it was slapping around.

Pics of slack:





Funny thing about it? The chain is actually making hard contact with the lower black bolt that is mounting the tensioner. So my question for the guys that have finished this job - was there slack in the lower portion of your chain? If so, how much?
 
#94 ·
I have revisited this thread as I had the cam chain cover off this past weekend. I'd like to talk to this point...

My tensioner and chain are pretty new.

My chain also does this, but I believe it is a direct result of rotating the engine with the tool that sticks in the slot in the end of the cam lobe. The tool you're supposed to use for the job. I believe by adding the rotational force to the cam directly pushes the chain slack towards the exhaust cam.

I thought about this and decided to remove the cam lock because I wasn't actually removing the tensioner or chain anyways this time. I decided to rotate the engine via the crank instead. I used a 1/2" drive 3/4" 12 point socket in the center of the crank pulley.

While on the ground in front of the car, and my wrench handle hanging down, I pushed towards the back of the car which rotates the engine clockwise. I only had to go 1/8 of a turn. Now, when looking at the cam chain, it was no longer resting on the bolt in the picture above and the chain was tight to the bottom of the tensioner.



So basically I don't think the chain resting on that bolt is anything to worry about and not necessarily an indication of wear or chain stretch, in every case. Again I suspect this is simply a result of rotating the engine via that cam lobe.


I'm not claiming I know better than anyone else. My opinion is based on my observations of my car specifically.
 
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