New Ride - Cam Wear? (Pics)

Good Afternoon,
I'm looking for some feedback (all opinions welcome)
Picked up a 2006 Jetta Grey/Grey with 263,000 miles on it - a lot of miles to be sure, but the car was seemingly well cared for, and the father of the owner a diesel mechanic. After taking a look through everything and driving it I was sold.
I'm anticipating a few repairs ahead with so many miles; one I would like to avoid if possible is the cam shaft replacement. Can you please have a look and let me know your thoughts on their status from these pics?
Thank you!

If it is scuffed on the back side of the cam it is the beginning of the end.
If the lobes are crowning in the longitudinal direction then the lifters are dished.
Google 'BRM camshaft wear' and you will no doubt find volumes of info on what to look for.
More severe the crowning, the less time you have before the "thumping" sound in the intake starts.

Your pictures do not reveal the crowning as of yet but the scuffing is there so I would keep tabs on it more frequently if you don't want address this eventuality now.

At 263K it may well be a replacement cam that is in there.

JETaah said:

If it is scuffed on the back side of the cam it is the beginning of the end.
If the lobes are crowning in the longitudinal direction then the lifters are dished.
Google 'BRM camshaft wear' and you will no doubt find volumes of info on what to look for.
More severe the crowning, the less time you have before the "thumping" sound in the intake starts.
Your pictures do not reveal the crowning as of yet but the scuffing is there so I would keep tabs on it more frequently if you don't want address this eventuality now.
At 263K it may well be a replacement cam that is in there.

Click to expand...

Okay understood, thank you very much!
I have about 40k to go on the next timing belt change (300,000mi) - and I'm going to keep the fluids swapped and clean as I'm able; when Im looking to do the timing belt change it looks like Kerma sells a $1400 package with a hardened cam & timing belt supplies.
Would you recommend going that route, or is there another method of achieving longevity with this car that I'm missing?

Lot of people have had good longevity with both the Colt cam which I think Kerma is offering and the Franko6 cam both due to modifications to the cam profile. Frank has a kit that has modified cam journal bearings for better oiling and chromed cam journals. It is probably somewhere in the same vicinity price-wise. His includes two treatments of break-in oil and filters as well plus reusable hardware.

I will let him do the selling on this. Shoot him a PM for info.


At this point you have likely worn through the hardened surfaces of the components so thing will wear at an accelerated pace. Changing the oil too frequently will not do much and may defeat your good intentions. Just remember to use the proper oil in the future.

I believe it is difficult to judge wear by photos. I suggest you carefully feel with your fingertips the edges of the high points on the lobes. If they have a sharp edge, it is new cam time.

If in doubt, I would just go ahead and do a timing belt and camshaft replacement. It will go far into giving you peace of mind. If you can do the timing belt, it is not difficult to do. Just AVOID chinese made parts as they are prone to breaking shortly after install. A new camshaft and related parts are not extremely expensive.

sptsailing is a customer of ours, but I must disagree. The pictures tell the whole story. There is very obvious damage on the #6 and #8 cam lobe. The cam lobe, including the base circle should be smooth and shiny. This one is not. The roughness will tear up a cam follower very quickly. Before you do damage to the oil pump, you should get the job done

The most prevalent damage that is easily found is the small chamfer that is on the circumference of the cam lobes on both sides. If the chamfer is gone at the peak of the lobe, you have a minimum .015" wear, when .006" is substantial.

Let me know if you would like to work with us.

Franko6 is far more qualified than just about any of us so you should listen to him about the cam wear, but I want to add in that your camshaft is definitely starting to look worn, and provide pics of mine that I've literally just removed in the last month for comparison.

This is what my camshaft looks like after being removed (the rust is from all the places that were scratched like yours. Surface hardening takes very little to wear through) and the wear on the lifters. Car has 255k on it and I was barely starting to hear a thudding from the IM without removing the airbox. Acceleration was still okay, but FE sucked at about 33 MPG.

Besides some minor hiccups from my dumbassery(I really highly suggest getting a set of reusable bolts for the cam. If you're uncertain of anything or mess anything up it is very easy to feel like you should remove the cam caps to double check, and if you've already done final tighten, now you have to wait for a new set, seriously don't reuse them I broke 2. It was horrible.) changing the cam is really not that bad.

Additionally, knowing 100% when the timing belt was done is worth just doing it while you're there (remove the tensioner stud, don't remove the motor mount)
https://imgur.com/a/rlsfAs7?fbclid=IwAR28o9glVUhjnWhHfAqP3Mjvy_Z2dWRjR8E5uzN34tEz4T48Hkx-wCNXGZ0
https://imgur.com/a/rlsfAs7?fbclid=IwAR3jAmGaZlG4A3bXzXivPtCgw3UcsHjdTL7FSpU20xZqSNc-aTLh4qcGUcM
https://imgur.com/a/FtSnvbS?fbclid=IwAR2qasgOu7yrp7TRXXxraMGC0aAmCnrA9vtZUi08vuk-ubE0ezYWJvfd1l4
https://imgur.com/a/yHdePye?fbclid=IwAR3quBMRuq3xLq14m2NNgifpkJUc7HmrDm29Rz7GNORnKE3PsfdWP8tw8ZA
https://imgur.com/a/n10QkO1?fbclid=IwAR1PBRcOgry90EyU5eWIZAu7coODKUCkKWoQE6oczEDNAmtduEsltRVY1SM
https://imgur.com/a/8S1ezw6?fbclid=IwAR2lFwhxviyaLD31dMKVFjEcViAnmoQRFLWtCuQ2GReHNUoDeVcsyLFvCso
https://imgur.com/a/8jxX4zY?fbclid=IwAR0QidwDX3gey19wnsBKAHPyOQg6si5VT8clWzszKpjRxtgcSQmZLXYlsLc

Cam shaft needs replacing, one of the pics shows a worn-non shiney surface to the right side..trying to determine how long it has left on it is key, but is dependent on oil type, driving style and conditions and OCI and additives..

I have a 200000m 2006 DE that I run eurospec 0W-30 but use additives and run a 20000m OCI.

My other is a 2005.5 130000m 20000m OCI, 5W40.

Both of the cams are OEM, both have minimum wear on them, both cars OEM oil filters and oiling systems. I figured this one out some 10 years ago..