I finally had my timing belt "event" not that I wanted to

Tdijarhead

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Location
Lawrenceville PA
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta Daughters Car, 2001 TDI Beetle, Wife’s car, 2005 Golf TDI Mine, all 5 spds
So as an update. I’m nearing 10k miles on this engine. Not to jinx myself but so far it is running great. The guy I bought the new engine from had cleaned it up almost like new. I managed after a couple of minor initial leaks to get everything nice and tight, so it’s stayed clean.

I have my mileage back. When I first bought this car I was in the 53-55mpg. It had fallen off over the past year or two, 49-51. I did put a new oem cam in the new engine after I found the two worn lobes. It’s not using any oil and I’m just really pleased.

I’d like to thank all of you guys who offered advice and tips from your experience.

An observation, maybe this has already been discussed and I just haven’t seen it. My torsion seemed to “walk” as the old cam in my original engine wore. The reason I removed the belt cover in the first place was to adjust the torsion. That was about two weeks before my event, which is about the only time something could have gotten into the belt cover resulting in belt failure.

By “walking” I mean, I just happened to check my torsion while doing something else with vcds and noticed it was at -2.9 when I had set it at +1. That’s a 4 point move, the car was running ok except for a slight decrease in mpg. So my question is, has anyone else noticed a change in their cam torsion numbers as their cam ages and wears? This could be an easy method of checking to determine if you do indeed have, or are starting to have cam wear.

Of course pulling the valve cover is a sure method. However if you were to periodically check your torsion via vcds and it was still the same as it had been set at you would probably be safe in assuming your cam was fine? Notice that’s a question not a statement.

Maybe the torsion doesn’t always “walk” on a bad cam. So what do you guys think?
 
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