1997 Passat cam caps cracked again!!

My 97 Passat Tdi has been off the road for 3 years.It had developed a noise in the engine that turned out to be a soft lifter.When I tried to reassemble I cracked cam caps.I realize that caps are machined with head and cannot be purchased seperately.We went and bought new 03 Jette TDI.Now I decided to get Passat back on road.I got cheap and bought a set of used caps from same 1z motor. Tried to reassemble again being more cautious and cracked them again.I will probably just buy a new head(saw one on EBAY for $950 hope it's still there).Is there a secret to tightening these caps?I did them gradually going down the line with torque wrench set at 10lbs and still they cracked.I am no ASE certified mechanic but with the help of this site I repaired the 03 which had 5 bent valves(timing belt puked at 79000 miles,not knowing auto trans good for 60000),and I have put 35000 miles since,must have done something right.I did not have this problem with the 03.Any help would be appreciated Thanks Dave

Crackage!

First, the caps can only go on one way. If you try to do it any other way, they will break. Second, if the timing is not set up properly FIRST and that includes the camshaft timing, they will crack. Finally, if the proper sequence is not followed, they can crack.

Hope this helps.

Cam caps ? As in, camshaft upper bearings ? MrChill hit on all the gotchas. You have to tighten them incrementally. You can't just crank down on them all at once or the results are the cracked bearings you've experienced.

Proper sequence?

Thanks for the help.I didn't know there was a proper sequence.Everything was timed,Injection pump lined up,Little pin in trans hole and TDC with cam.I don't have a manual,any recomendations?

Well, I'm sorry to be so rude with my recommendation. But you should get a manual. It would have payed for itself many times over already. The biggest responsibility in working on cars is having the right tools and now; more than ever, information is one of, if not the most important tool in your arsenal...

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/product.htm?code=vyb4

Good luck!

sooprdv said:

I don't have a manual,any recomendations?

Click to expand...

I recommend that you purchase or borrow a manual.

So I'm not the only one with soft cam followers (lifters)? I'm on my second set (171,000) and I have another bad one--or two. Any other methods other than replacing them? I just hate the tap-tap-tap.

This whole cap-cracking thing has me a bit spooked, too.