BEW Bad Cam/No Run

Prairie Chicken

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Location
Northern IL
TDI
05 Jetta, 04 Jetta
Hello -

Been a while since I've been on.... working like a dog these days. Short version:

05 jetta (wife's DD)
265k miles
25k on TB no fraying or missing teeth

Took car on a trip and noticed low power/acceleration and got bad mpg's on first fill up. heard a squealing/bearing type noise then the car just cut out no bangs or noises. It will studder every revolution but not start.

Turned it over with pipe to egr off and exhaust is coming out of the intake.

The cam is definitely worn - all lobes are sharp and the 3rd lobe from front of the engine is not good - copper streaks and scratches.

Tomorrow I'm going to verify the timing is still on but...

Has anyone seen a cam/lifter failure keep the car from running?
 

Prairie Chicken

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Location
Northern IL
TDI
05 Jetta, 04 Jetta
yeah.... so i'm not really sure what was/is going on. I manually turned the engine so I could get a better view of the lifter on the worst lobe - doesn't seem too bad from what little i can see.

I hadn't verified it was getting fuel from the tandem pump so disconnected line and had wife turn it over and fuel shot out and the thing started up. had her kill it right away. started again (upper intake hose is disconnected) and it ran but exhaust filling up and coming out of the intake.

so - at least it is starting and there doesn't appear to be any interference, timing is OK, just a badly worn cam. I'm still going to do a scan for faults but things looking better.
 

Mike_04GolfTDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Location
Richmond, BC, Canada
TDI
Mine: 2019 Golf R DSG, Wife's: 2015 Golf Comfortline TDI
So it runs if the upper intake hose is disconnected, but not if it is connected?

Maybe this is something to do with the turbo. The squealing noise you heard could have been a catastrophic failure in the turbo, and now you're getting exhaust out the intake because the turbo is letting it through from one side to the other. The intake ducting might be blocked by the turbo impeller if the shaft broke.

Just a guess.... You can confirm by disconnecting the turbo air intake hose and having a look at the impeller. It should turn easily, not wiggle around from side to side (radial play), and should not move in and out by any significant amount (axial play).
 

Prairie Chicken

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Location
Northern IL
TDI
05 Jetta, 04 Jetta
lol.... yep Mike I think you are right on... I went out again last night - just wasn't making sense. ran car again and felt the intake from the turbo and zero air coming thru. Guessing the exhaust is just starving the engine because it isn't getting thru the turbo (that isn't spinning) fast enough.
the cam happens to be bad but not the actual failure.
still going to disconnect and verify tho.
 
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