'04 PD valvetrain after 77K miles - PICS

[andreigbs]

I was very curious as to the status of my cam, lifters and all other associated valvetrain items that we PD owners are afraid may fail early in our cars' lives, so I decided to take off the cover for the very first time and snap some pics. Forgive me if some of the pics are grainy; they were taken with my iPhone. All in all, the cam surfaces and the angled/beveled edges are intact and shiny, no grooves that catch the fingernail. All my lifters are mirror-shiny still, no concentric rings or other abnormal wear seen. And now to the pictures:

 

[HopefulFred]

Have you had any oil analysis or irregular oiling that would have lead you to suspect there may be a problem developing? Let me rephrase: have you done anything silly that you were afraid you would regret (like some of us may have done...).

how long did it take you to get the VC off and back on? Any worries about the gasket?

Fred

 

[andreigbs]

No UOAs yet, but I have my Blackstone Labs sample bottle ready for collecting a sample when I do my oil change. This current oil (M1 ESP 5w30) has been in the crankcase for almost 10k. I'll be changing it soon and using the same stuff from AVLube.com

Silly stuff? Well, I've chipped it with RC1+ and daily take it up to 4K rpms at least once. The main reasons why I wanted to check and see for myself were because I've seen hideous pics of other PD valvetrains and because I bought this one with 28K on the odo; who knows what oil was used till then? I've only used Elf, Pentosin and now M1. It looks as though I'll stick with the M1 for awhile, the DG bypass kit is doing a good job and should enable me to go to at least 15K on the oil safely. Of course, baseline UOA will be the starting point for OCI but I think 15K is reasonably safe to expect.

I took me 10 minutes to take the VC off; EGR valve has to come out first. Timing belt cover has to be slightly moved aside. Fuel rail is held by 3 of the VC screws. If you have a 6" extension it's easy to take it off. The hard part is putting it on and not over-torquing the screws: 7 ft.-lbs. and then go for a drive, check for leaks.

No worries yet on the gasket, others have reported they've removed the VC several times and still no leaks.

 

[HopefulFred]

Sounds good.

I sometimes worry about the one time I let the oil go for 13K and didn't test it. (I have no UOAs at all) The dealer changed my oil early (at 37K) and I didn't want to do it again at 47, so I let it go to 50. I'll just have to look myself one day. I should just stop worrying.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[mctdi]

Your engine looks to have vary little soot in the oil.

Next time under the valve cover take a good look at the followers [ lifters ]. As the wear is easier to see there. IMO.

You may also wish to look at: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=216617

 

[andreigbs]

I've been using the DG bypass kit for about 10K miles now, right before I installed it I did an engine cleaning with the Motul product. I'm assuming the soot, if there is any, is being stopped by the bypass filter. At least, that's what it claims. Also, my EGR is dialed way down (RC1+) and I've been using ULSD and gray bottle PS for the last 30K miles or so.

The lifters were all shiny and mirror-like, which was the most relieving sight. I know they tend to wear out first and the cam lobes as well, especially those angled edges but on mine everything looks sharp and clean. Too bad for the crappy iPhone pics, you used a good camera when you took yours. The important thing was for me to see firsthand, to run my finger across as many surfaces as I could, including fingernail, and nothing felt abnormal. That's all i could ask for, given the unknown oil change history up to 28K when I bought it CPO.

I'm glad I checked sooner rather than later; now I have something to compare to whenever i check again.