TDI Cylinder Heads

dieseldev

New member
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Location
Washington
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI 1.9L
Hey Frank, I got a 2001 jetta TDI i did the full timing belt change with blauparts, and 20 miles later my car shut off, took the valve cover off and sure enough my head was trashed. Can i send ya some pictures and you give me a estimated price to rebuild or swap my old one out for a newly rebuilt one.
 

Nismo Silvia

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Location
Colorado
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
I have a bad head it scored the first lifter bucket bore what do you give for cores? I need a set of valves, buckets, and cam, as well as gaskets, belt, water pump and etc. 03 alh engine
 

branger

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Location
Maple creek,sk, canada
TDI
2001 jetta alh tdi 1.9L (recently sold),2013 A6 jetta tdi 2 litre DSG
Frank helped me and my alh tdi get back on the road again shipped from canada to him and he was very patient and professional about everything , highly recommend him to anyone. Thanks again for everything Frank
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
We are doing some new things with the PD cylinder heads. Over the last few years, there has been a running debate how the cam bearings wear, especially on the #1 and #5 bearings. We long have contended that the single rocker bolt in the end bearing caps makes an uneven force on the cam caps. This tilts the cam cap, causing uneven wear on the cam bearings.

To remove this issue, we are building a custom cam alignment bore. The cylinder head will be assembled with the rockers in place and align bored under the stresses of the cam cap bolts and rocker bolts torqued to spec. Then we align bore.

Our other objective is to get sturdier cam bearing shells to support for the bottom shells. This has been a vexing issue as there is little room to deal with.
 

Windex

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Location
Cambridge
TDI
05 B5V 01E FRF
Kudos to you Frank for investing the effort.

As a newly minted BHW owner, I'm very interested in the results... :D
 

russman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Jetta summer 00 Jetta winter wife's 04 Jetta
Hey a quick question. If purchase a cam from kerma and provide you with a head that has no apparent damage can you rebuild for me on the higher of performance standards. My 02 with 500000 has oil smoke issues at startup and hot idle already changed turbo not much better if any. Thanks Russ
 

turborod

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2011
Location
SoCal
TDI
09 TDI Sport Wagon
2000 vw tdi broke belt and have head off. Can see misaligned valves. What do you charge and what is the process?
Thanks in Advance
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
Hey a quick question. If purchase a cam from kerma and provide you with a head that has no apparent damage can you rebuild for me on the higher of performance standards. My 02 with 500000 has oil smoke issues at startup and hot idle already changed turbo not much better if any. Thanks Russ
So you want to buy someone else's parts and have Frank install them rather than using his parts? Interesting.
 

russman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Jetta summer 00 Jetta winter wife's 04 Jetta
Hey dude just not familiar with anything other than the great head work that many are boasting about ,would be glad to accept a quote from any one capable of such refined work !
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
turborod,

Basic services, which include:

Cleaning and inspection
Head surfacing
Valve Guides and sizing
Valve job
setting projection
checking align bore
vacuum testing
and basically a very professional job...
$321

parts that are damaged or need replacement are more, but aggessively priced.
 

MRMTDI

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Location
Tolland, Ct USA
TDI
2001 Jetta AT (5 Spd Swap)
Frank, Thanks for all your time and amazing service. The parts came in two days early during a snow storm. The kit that was sent had everything I needed to replace the cylinder with belt/pump and so.

This guys rocks
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
Hey a quick question. If purchase a cam from kerma and provide you with a head that has no apparent damage can you rebuild for me on the higher of performance standards. My 02 with 500000 has oil smoke issues at startup and hot idle already changed turbo not much better if any. Thanks Russ
Russman,

We will work with any company that provides parts that meet our standards. We have rejected some parts in the past and received criticism for our decisions. With few exceptions, we will not single out a vendor, even a direct competitor, as we think there should be enough room for everyone to play fairly.

If there is a parts issue, my first recommendation is to work with the vendor who sold the product. It is our expectation that the questionable part be either replaced or refunded. Unfortunately, these considerations are out of our personal control. We are not attempting to start any issue. We are only interested in getting the job done right. Not everyone sees our efforts that way; another aspect we cannot control.

Of course, we would prefer to give you the advantage of our parts and services, which include our warranty and our reputable remanufacturing process. It is difficult to argue with the amount of success we have enjoyed. Along with building the product using time-tested methods, we keep improving our technique. We believe there is no 'perfect' and will continue to work for the best solutions.

To give you an idea, we recently added another finishing touch to our cylinder head work. The edge of a resurfaced cylinder head is razor-sharp. We ourselves have occasionally put 'blood, sweat and tears' into our work. It takes an additional minute to debur the circumference of the cylinder head.

If we save one bloody finger, it's worth it, especially if the bloodied finger is our own.

We often provide entire assembly kits, which include everything necessary to assemble a cylinder head, engine block and other component builds, along with customer technical support by phone or email. We are very adept at explaining procedures and will walk novices through some of the 'tricks of the trade.'
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
MRMTDI,

It is very satisfying to know we got another happy customer. Thank you for your business!
 

russman

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Location
Ontario
TDI
02 Jetta summer 00 Jetta winter wife's 04 Jetta
Thanks Frank for the detailed description of the precise work that that you have mastered and will likely be able to work with you in the future as I have 3 of these vehicles .This one went to what I hope is also a master of the trade .
Regards Russ.
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
Look for new post 'Head Porting Porn'. Pretty with lots of sexy curves. Pics in the front of the post...
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
This thread used to be 5 stars... I have no doubt how it goes down in rating. It's not because my work suffers or that I have reduced the quality of our workmanship.

We actually have improved several points, like deburring the head gasket surface and port matching with our Stage II cam. Also, to avoid some problems with some of the assembly kits people are purchasing elsewhere to install our cylinder head work, we are extending our 1-year, unlimited mileage warranty to 2 years. The only requirement is to purchase the assembly parts we recommend along with our cylinder head work. We believe in quality, front to back and will reward customers who work with us.

Recently, we had one of our regular customers put together a cylinder head with 'the other guy's valves'. I do not know the brand, but I do know the quality. The cylinder head lasted 15 minutes before a new valve broke at the keepers and wrecked the head, a piston and rod. Our preferred brands have not done that in our production of about 5,000 cylinder heads.

We sent a replacement head to him. I have the same confidence that the same results we have had for going on 10 years will be the same with this cylinder head. The engine will run better than it did before.

Building cylinder heads is not a popularity contest. It is a good business. We make a quality product and back it with quality parts. If I get one star, it doesn't change our pride is workmanship and products. Vote away...
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
As things progress... We have done a bunch of work trying to get entirely proficient at the common rail engines and particularly, the cylinder heads. There seems to be issues with several that are overheats. As usual, the lying temperature gauge tells no tales of a temperature rise. The dash 'idiot gauge' read a solid 190 degrees. Doesn't matter if the actual temp is 165 degrees or 215...

One known overheat vehicle came in reading normal temperature on the gauge, but from the temperature sensor readings in VCDS, the engine was actually running between 105c-110c. This is harmful to the engine. eventually, the head will warp and blow the head gasket.

We have one cylinder head in the shop that warped enough to destroy the #1 journal on the exhaust cam. The welding we have done for us, as the machine is extraordinarily expensive. But the technique was worth the cost. The welding is superb and machined out very nicely. This technique can also be used for the 1.8 20 valve gasser engines, as they occasionally will lose a journal in the same manner. Here are some of the laser-welded cylinder head pictures and how it finished out.



Feel free to contact us with questions. It is just one more thing that some call 'a trashed head', but we call 'another day at the office'.

Our align bore tool that we use for the PD cylinder head cam is now doing double-duty, as the journals for the CBEA and CJAA are the same dimension as the PD cam journals.

Also, we have been attempting to work out the issues with the cam on the common rail. To begin with, the cam is a hollow shaft that cam bearing pieces are loaded onto with a CNC machine. The shaft is nitrogen cooled and the cam lobes, gear sets and sprocket drive are heated and positioned by a very accurate automated machine. Neither the cam lobes, gears and pulleys or the cam shaft have any splines, locator tabs or flats to keep the parts in place. It is simply the interference fit that clamps the parts into place.

We have seen multiple failures from this design. Most often, a belt failure will cause the sprocket and pulley on the exhaust cam (as in the CBEA or the CJAA) to slip in relation to the cam lobes. I have no method to repair the cam and at that point; the cam is so much junk. With the retail price at around $440, this is a problem. You see, the advantage of the rocker/ roller cam is the low wear potential and longevity of the system. Any possible longevity is ruined by the problem of the interference fit being insufficient in a highly stress situation.
 
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Raweaver_410

Active member
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Location
Cordova, MD
TDI
Mk4 Silver Golf TDI 5spd, Mk4 Red 2.0 Jetta Auto, Mk2 Blue Diesel Jetta 5spd, Mk1 Sandy Diesel Jetta 5spd
Hello Frank and Mary! Huge thanks to your guys have the head installed still in break in mode but the cam does make a noticeable difference! Head was perfect thank you again. Cheers from Andrew in Maryland.
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Strider17

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
Location
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
Beetle(sold) MK4 Golf TDI(sold) Mk4 Jetta TDI(parted out) MK4 Golf GTI w/ALH swap (built then parted out) 2015 Passat TDI Highline (current)
i got a CR head. not sure what happened to it. interested frank0?
 

bkeese

Active member
Joined
May 30, 2013
Location
MD
TDI
2005 Jetta
How much is a BEW head rebuild? It is not an overheat, missing teeth on the belt, may have bent valves.
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
Thank you, Bruce. Hope you are doing well...

I missed seeing the guys at the GTG at Kirk's. Had a run-in with a ATV and survived to talk about it.

Now, I am going to discuss a problem that really galls me about the types of cams sold for the Pumpe Duese motors. We have done a VERY thorough investigation of about every cam (except the CRAP ones...) to determine what is going on.

We collected every PD cam we could find and presented the group to our cam expert, John H., at Hillcrest Cam and Machine, Little Rock, Arkansas. His opinion of the cams we showed him was very interesting.

He showed that all the cams were BILLET! Every last one. So, we will say as plainly as possible. Don't be a sucker and pay EXTRA MONEY for EXACTLY THE SAME THING!! All the cams produced that we know, in current production ARE BILLET, except a few that are even a lower quality of cast iron, which we would never use.

The reason all manufacturers changed to billet is quite simple. The poured steel casting process is more expensive and requires a minimum run to justify the pour. So, if you want to pay more for a cam, and if you can even find it, buy a CAST steel cam.

But then, there is the next line of baloney. Just because it's a cast steel cam, does NOT MEAN IT IS FORGED! The reckless way people use terminology that they know little about...

IF there is truly a FORGED CAM out there that fits into a PD, it is VERY EXPENSIVE, as the process to make it as such is time-consuming, and rich in the expense of BTU's. But even then, if you don't get the cam profile corrected, compressing the metal to make it denser, as forging does, will still not overcome an incorrect profile. So, don't buy into FORGED or BILLET. They are NOT MAGIC WORDS that make your car run longer or better. I don't care in what manner the cam was made; cast, billet, forged... if it's the wrong profile, it will wear out prematurely.

But not to divert, the reason the aftermarket and VW's OEM cams have gone from the original cast steel cam to the billet cam is a matter of the bean-counters running the store. Billet cams are cheaper to make. They are not particularly worse or better, but definitely CHEAPER. The speed and lack of human intervention for the new machining processes is amazingly inexpensive and fast.

So, to continue about John from Hillcrest, I asked why the billet and what's the big deal. Which is better? John said, "It makes no real difference. The cast cams will have directional hardening."

Or in other words, as the cam chills in the mold, the tendency is the outer surface's metal has directional hardness and become austenitic... finer grained. The Billet cam's grain structure is more lateral; in line with the extrusion forces that molded the round billet, which tends to make it overall, more uniform.
So, John's statement,"It's the correct hardness and the profile that count, not the method of forming." Either cam can be hardened and tempered to the correct level.


Then, John made a statement about WHY the cost difference between cast and billet machined cams...

"Frank", John said, 'You know the 8 lobe cams you always send down."

I said, "Yes, the ALH and AHU cams.."

John said, "In our Landis custom cam machine, that cam can be produced, ready to harden, in 2 minutes."

TWO MINUTES! And then, all the scrap is collected and sent back to the steel company that made the billet and they make another one, from the SCRAP! There is little or no loss. On top of that, if they want to make a single cam or 200 cams, it's 'push button'; make another. So, with today's 'just on time' production and the need for companies to reduce and control inventory and the inevitable taxes, making only what you need makes great sense. In that way, machining a billet core is far superior. The final nail... 95% of all the automotive cams in the world can be made from the same size billet. But a cast cam requires a very expensive mold.

Bean-counting means cast cams have become an anachronism.

If you are insistent for making poured and cast cams or forged cams, there is an additional requirement to make 'a run'. Nobody is going to fire a foundry up to melt steel for a SINGLE CAM! Of course not. So, in today's technology, the billet process and high speed machining makes perfect sense.

Now the real kicker... All the cams we looked at, including the one from AMC that claims was made in Spain, was not. The grind marks on many of the cams, including the AMC, Febi, and one marked 'Billet' showed the fingerprint of them having been made on the SAME MACHINE. I had to laugh. I am wondering if the people selling the so-called Billet cams actually paid more, themselves, for the EXACT SAME CAM that is AMC, Kolbenschmidt, Febi, etc.

Most of the PD cams are made from the same location. The only thing we may have found, and believe is true, the company may grade the cams for better or worse quality, and sell some for less money to the 'low ball' companies.

So, "Caveat Emptor"
You get what you pay for... Sometimes.



Billet is an overused adjective that everyone should stop and consider what it really means. The honest truth is billet, in itself, makes no difference. The real story is properly engineering of the cam lobe design.
 

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
Frank, the reconditioned ALH cylinder head I got from you in January 2008 has now gone 417,000 trouble-free miles. Everything looked fine when the valve cover was off a few months ago. But if I ever need another one I'll give you a call.
 

Steffen

New member
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
Location
Canada
TDI
2000 VW beetle TDI
I do not know if this thread is still active but I am currently rebuilding my 2000 vw beetle TDI and we had it together and running but on the day where we actually wanted to use it it broke. The intake valve of the fourth cylinder got ripped off and fell into the engine wrecked the piston but thankfully the engine wall is not damaged. We do not know how that happened. Does anyone have an idea?
 

arazvan2002

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Location
Romania
TDI
Audi A4 B6 1.9TDI AVF quattro
I bought a AWX PD 038103373R head without the camshaft caps. Can I use my caps for it? What is the danger if I use them? I've seen some V410-v411-v420 next to the part number. That should match to be usable?
 

Rub87

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 10, 2006
Location
Belgium
TDI
Ibiza '99 90HP
U can make a trophy from it or sell as bare alu.

Head is useless without caps. If you want to fit caps from other head, yo need to mill them for instance 0.1mm lower and have the head line bored or honed again.

If you just fit the caps it can work, but its like going in a casino..
 

Franko6

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Sw Missouri
TDI
Jetta, 99, Silver`
Arazan, we do have caps from junk cylinder heads. With the align bore tool we had made several years ago, we can rework the cam caps to fit. Not only fit, but fit better than VW when they made them to begin with.

What Rub87 says is true. The align bore must be redone, but what is missed from the initial align bore; we install rocker shafts and the torque of the rocker shafts will warp the cam caps. When the rocker shaft is installed in that manner, the caps are squished egg-shaped on #2, 3, and 4. #1 and #5 are tilted slightly inward at the top. There is a single bolt holding the rocker shaft through the end cam caps, and that is offset.

I don't know too many people that have this small an align bore. We had ours custom-made.
 
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