Any BRM's make it past the 100K mile mark?

SBAtdijetta

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Apr 19, 2006
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Houston, TX
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'10 Jetta Cup 6spd, '02 Jetta Auto
kcfoxie said:
To counter you point jason, I've done all the things that SHOULD have caused cam failure (unapproved fuel, chipped, hard driven, used as delivery vehicle for an extended period, extended idling, 10k changes, potential oil dilution, non approved engine oils) and my car is running fine, I have some scoring that was noted at 90k but nothing to the level of "that needs to come out NOW" like the 60-100k mile cars that were "bupping."

I think the key factor is environmental variables that we can't control nor fully predict, which is why it's all over the map.

But everyone's agreement, my car should be toast. It's not. I'm even at a loss as to why. I'm just driving it till it breaks for real.
What non-approved oil have you been using? Life of the car or when did you make the switch?
 

kcfoxie

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'12 6-spd JSW
Looking back at the records at 30k miles I used Dealer Supplied 5w30 (I didn't know / didn't think to check the bottles at the time, I was in Iowa and said I have a 2006 Diesel I need oil, oil filter and a fuel filter and they handed me a box of what I thought was the right stuff, guess not, same trip my dad somehow over-revved the car by going from 5th to 3rd on a downhill slope, he also poked the headliner with a leaky pen and triggered an airbag light -- all in the same weekend). So that was likely 505.00.

I've used Mobil 1 CJ4 class oils for the past 20k miles (TDT 5w50). I feel better about them.

Otherwise I used a 505.01 MOTUL or a 506 ELF oil in the car rather religiously. CJ4 oils are a little cheaper and easier to get, and I can use them in both my diesels, convenience wins out for me every time.

By all logic my cam should be gone. It's not. I don't even want to try and figure out the why, but the "logical rules" imply I shouldn't be operating at all.
 
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hid3

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kcfoxie, what's your mileage now on the car in question?
Have you really checked you followers/cam lobes? If followers are starting to fail (have holes in them) and lobes are pitting it won't take long until your car really 'breaks down' just you need to be patient.
 

kcfoxie

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Raleigh, NC
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'12 6-spd JSW
99,000 and change.

I'm not worried. The scratches at 90k were nothing compared to all the other photos posted of cars with substantially less mileage than mine. I expect that if it were to fail it wouldn't be till beyond 130,000 miles, and at that point I'm going with a BEW cam and being done with it.

On the other hand, oilhammer has several BRM customers with 200k miles. no cam failures. even 05.5's!

Drive more, worry less. All things eventually break.
 

kcfoxie

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For over two years I did weekend deliveries in it. For a florist. Avg 30-40 stops per day, 2-3 days a week. Left idling, constant stop and go, etc.
 

eddif

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MS
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2004 Jetta PD Automatic
kcfoxie said:
I think all of that has a lot to do with it.
I Agree that the THAT LIST is pretty long:

Narrow lobes; Change to 5W30-oil from 5W-40; Not fully supported cam bearings; Covered oil slots imho; Cantilevered forces on cam bearings imho; Stickinjg turbo vane linkage, requiring Italian tune-ups; Suggested extended oil changes; etc.

This spells weak design or poorly carried out good design.

Then our factors: climate; driving style; oil selection; etc make for a tough to track failure chart.

If your driving style / car: never requires Italian tune-ups; has good oil (I want suggest what good is); climate; etc is just right--- you get high mileage. If you do the wrong things, possibly less. And then sheer fortune smiling on you gives a wide experience for the weak design.

There seems to be no single magic bullet for the problem. You choose several things to match your situation. My situation is not necessarily yours. Some things may universally help most of us, but other fixes are individual.

eddif
 

kcfoxie

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'12 6-spd JSW
eddif I've always agreed with your logical processing of this situation.

I think VW knew these would be throw away cars, more important, like Apple knows that 63-68% of iPods are used in cars and actual unit battery life isn't important, VW knew they could sell a diesel lemon and not take the flack from it.

I think the BRM was that lemon. The irony is that you can make sweet lemonade with it, if you're proactive and have a vested interest.

Keep in mind my car is no where near paid for yet. I expect, and will get, 270,000 out of it before it is paid for minimum, I intended to have it to 350,000 (regardless of years) and then sell it to some high school kid for about $3000.

I will say I've been very happy with the interior component quality of the late 2006's. And sadly that is what most people marked VW poor on, so in the eyes of their fickle consumer base that reports to the big name brand reporting agencies, VW is moving up in the world... so long as you only keep the car 5 years / 100k miles.

I honestly have coworkers who say they'd be selling the car right now, they've never kept a car past 100k miles. Shows the difference in owner loyality I guess, but I had high expectations for this car and to my own surprise it's met them.

Except it's not a hatch, I'll never really forgive it for that :)
 

hid3

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Oh come on. 100k miles on a new, one owner diesel car isn't much. Especially when 80% of the miles are done on highway in wide areas of US...
 

hid3

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kcfoxie said:
For over two years I did weekend deliveries in it. For a florist. Avg 30-40 stops per day, 2-3 days a week. Left idling, constant stop and go, etc.
Stop and go + idle is nothing. I do stop and go daily. No! I must confess I don't do anything apart stop and go! 7 days a week :eek: It would be more interesting if you'd be doing 30-40 startups/shutdowns per day ;) :D :p
 

eddif

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jerry_m said:
Oh come on. 100k miles on a new, one owner diesel car isn't much. Especially when 80% of the miles are done on highway in wide areas of US...
I think he just chooses not to run his blood pressure up fussing and cussing.

Vw was trying to meet world wide emission standards with the PD design. If they could have gotten away with it, this is a slick design. They could run most of the engine parts through an established machining line (I guess) and saved a bundle. It gave them time to get the new CR engine done.

I am sure the computer said the design would work. I am pretty sure there are ways to get more miles out of the engine. I am pretty sure that as long as the owners fight over the issue we will never get a dime out of VW. You want something from VW? You had better have a logical , evidence driven, non emotional, tested presentation for a group of peers to examine. Right now all VW would have to do is present most posts on this site and prove there is no consensus of opinion as to the problem / or even if a problem exists.

I plan to do cam bearing modification, pre-lube, by-pass filtering, and higher viscosity oil. I do not want to, but till we agree as owners, we will get nothing from VW. I mean you think a few worn cam bearings from a jerk in Mississippi wil convince them? I think they might help, but the people on this site need to be doing some presentable evidence of their own. Do I want to sue? No. I will put my patches in place. Are there grounds for a law suit? I am not legally smart enough to know. I will not waste my time and energy on trying. I will use my energy trying to tell everyone "Replace cam bearings and use 5W-40 oil as a minimum attempt for long mileage". Is it a guarantee? No. Is the guarantee you got from VW working? Not really. Just a little more time wasting and we will have antiques.

I have to go fix the antique lighting over the antique lathe.

LOL better times ahead

eddif
 

kcfoxie

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jerry_m said:
Oh come on. 100k miles on a new, one owner diesel car isn't much. Especially when 80% of the miles are done on highway in wide areas of US...
Actually I did the start-stop thing with the last VW and wore out a key (the pin that holds it into the fob came out!) I also wore out the seatbelt sensor on that car. And the drivers door was always "closed" even when open. Gotta love a 4th generation VW :)

So I decided this time around I'd just let it idle. But everyone told me excessive idling is bad bad bad! Pick your poison i suppose.
 

hid3

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You can't get ANYTHING from VW even theoretically. PD is dropped, obsollete and no longer in production. The only thing VW might suggest you is to try the new CR and report back if you experience the same camshaft wear problem.
 

hid3

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kcfoxie said:
So I decided this time around I'd just let it idle. But everyone told me excessive idling is bad bad bad! Pick your poison i suppose.
I was told that too (in a separate thread dedicated for idling a TDI). Although even after what I was told, I still like to idle while having sex with my GF on a cold winter evening. I just want to keep interior warm and not turn into an ice cube!
 

Midnight Rider

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jerry_m said:
You can't get ANYTHING from VW even theoretically. PD is dropped, obsollete and no longer in production. The only thing VW might suggest you is to try the new CR and report back if you experience the same camshaft wear problem.
Then there are still the reports of new heads with build date XX09...
 

hid3

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When the end of production date is announced, VW spare parts can be ordered no more than 10 years after production end of life. In fact I doubt anything significant will change in these parts.

Well, ETKA lists CBEA as an option in MY 2006 too...
 

ssamalin

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Yea but I have to pay the dealer first and then get reimbursed by the warranty co, First Extended Service Corp, Dallas.

jasonTDI said:
I don't thinks so. Why do I have failures in such vastly different driven cars then? It's all over the place.

Sam, You said the extended warranty company was paying the bill?
 
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ssamalin

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I made a twitter list called ssamalin/Jetta 2005-6 cam failure. Join twitter and add yourself to follow the list. If you join twitter pm me your twitter info. I don't know about how to use twitter yet but I've seen how effective it can be to mobilize a customer base and petition a corporation. For starters I'd like to get VW to follow the list and get all the cam failure incidents on the list that have occured, and so that VW can follow them as they occur.
 
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Crosley

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AZ
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90,310 miles on the 2006 Jetta BRM engine DSG trans

505.01 oil used since new

Rear brakes near replacement time , OEM front brakes still fine
 

fixer

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Central NJ
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2005.5/Jetta/5M/Reflex Silver
101,000 miles on the 2005.5
Just had 4ringking replace: TB, both front wheel bearings, pads/rotors front and rear, and brake fluid flush. Although rear pads were shot, fronts had 40% left.

I've only let the dealer do 2 things: replace the cluster ~30k when the speedo failed (under warranty) and the brake fluid flush at the 2 year mark.

I've done all the other services.
5k, 10k, 20k Castrol 505.01
30k, 40k Elf 506.01 (saw no mileage benefit)
50k, 60k, 70k, 80k, 90k Solaris LLX 507
100k Mobil1 TDT
All oil changes by top-side extraction.

I replaced the trunk latch around 80k.

Car runs fabulous, I commute ~80 miles round trip and am now averaging 50 mpg. Best car I've ever owned and I've owned a bunch.
 

eddif

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MS
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dhdenney said:
Just for fun, who has a BRM make it past 100K miles without cam problems? I regularly check the cam failure thread and related topics. So far I'm in pretty good shape or my UOA's wouldn't be turning out well. I'm very close to 102K miles.
I wonder if new cam bearings make a difference in UOAs. My wear changed when I put in new bearings, but I am not into OA. I finished the 1st oil slot delete bearing for #1 cam bearing position. So my car started to fail at 107,000 miles US and is now approaching 125,000 miles us with the original cam and followers still working.. I should install the new bearing tomorrow night.

eddif
 

tdileadfoot

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Pittsburgh, PA
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111,090 miles on the 2006 Jetta BRM engine DSG trans

elf 507 switched to Mobil 1 esp (507)

All UOA show very good numbers
 
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hid3

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Why most of the BRMs are stuck around 90k-110k miles? Aren't there any which have 150k+ miles? Do we need another thread 'Any BRMs make it past 200k mile mark?' :(
 

oilhammer

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outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
jerry_m said:
Why most of the BRMs are stuck around 90k-110k miles? Aren't there any which have 150k+ miles? Do we need another thread 'Any BRMs make it past 200k mile mark?' :(
See my first post in this thread. :)
 
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