AMF cam bearing and injector overhaul.

[Little Dog]

I've run my A2 from new on completely the wrong oils. I have preferred a 5W-40 oil to the recommended 0W-30 oil. My logic was simple, the car has been used frequently for towing and otherwise spent the remainder of its life driven hard and fast on a motorway or fast A road. I've been told on a number of occasions that my cam shell bearings are likely to have suffered. I've decided to find out what condition they are in (though I don't know what the should look like after 170K miles). At the same time I will replace the timing belt and have the injectors overhauled and calibrated.

I am collecting tools and parts but have some basic questions at this stage. This is what my manual shows me:

Bolt 1, 3 of, secures the rocker shaft to the cylinder head?
Bolt 19, 8 of, secures the bearing caps to the head?
Bolt 3, not sure of the quantity is large and secures the head to the block. These bolts remain in place when I remove the bearing caps?
Bolts 1 and 19 are true stretch bolts and must be replaced?

Thank you, this is going to take some time but I will updated all progress, failures and successes.

 

[Howey]

How is 5w 40 wrong? So long as its vw505. 01 and changed around 10k that's correct is it not?

 

[kp 115]

I've run my A2 from new on completely the wrong oils. I have preferred a 5W-40 oil to the recommended 5W-30 oil. My logic was simple, the car has been used frequently for towing and otherwise spent the remainder of its life driven hard and fast on a motorway or fast A road. I've been told on a number of occasions that my cam shell bearings are likely to have suffered. I've decided to find out what condition they are in (though I don't know what the should look like after 170K miles). At the same time I will replace the timing belt and have the injectors overhauled and calibrated.

I am collecting tools and parts but have some basic questions at this stage. This is what my manual shows me:

View attachment 103461


Bolt 1, 3 of, secures the rocker shaft to the cylinder head?
Bolt 19, 8 of, secures the bearing caps to the head?
Bolt 3, not sure of the quantity is large and secures the head to the block. These bolts remain in place when I remove the bearing caps?
Bolts 1 and 19 are true stretch bolts and must be replaced?

Thank you, this is going to take some time but I will updated all progress, failures and successes.

197,000 miles if it’s any help
Can provide part numbers (TPS) if required but recall Darkside developments had the same or equivalent
Bearings listed .

 

[Robin_Cox]

I've run my A2 from new on completely the wrong oils. I have preferred a 5W-40 oil to the recommended 5W-30 oil. My logic was simple, the car has been used frequently for towing and otherwise spent the remainder of its life driven hard and fast on a motorway or fast A road. I've been told on a number of occasions that my cam shell bearings are likely to have suffered. I've decided to find out what condition they are in (though I don't know what the should look like after 170K miles). At the same time I will replace the timing belt and have the injectors overhauled and calibrated.

I am collecting tools and parts but have some basic questions at this stage. This is what my manual shows me:

View attachment 103461


Bolt 1, 3 of, secures the rocker shaft to the cylinder head?
Bolt 19, 8 of, secures the bearing caps to the head?
Bolt 3, not sure of the quantity is large and secures the head to the block. These bolts remain in place when I remove the bearing caps?
Bolts 1 and 19 are true stretch bolts and must be replaced?

Thank you, this is going to take some time but I will updated all progress, failures and successes.

when I was looking for the proper stretch bolts to do this, it was often cheaper and easier to look for sets of them precounted for the 1.9tdi engine - with a couple of spares unused respectively - than trying to buy exactly the right number as individual units for the 1.4.

 

[Howey]

Did you have any running issues or purely preventative maintenance? Great work look forward to seeing the pictures and injectors set up!

 

[dj_efk]

How is 5w 40 wrong? So long as its vw505. 01 and changed around 10k that's correct is it not?

Was about to say the same thing @philward - you haven’t run it on “completely the wrong oil” at all, it’s just that the 507 spec - which was released some time after your A2 was new, is superior.

 

[A2Z]

I believe he meant the 'wrong' oil as in using 5w40 instead of the 'correct' 5w30

 

[kp 115]

I've run my A2 from new on completely the wrong oils. I have preferred a 5W-40 oil to the recommended 5W-30 oil. My logic was simple, the car has been used frequently for towing and otherwise spent the remainder of its life driven hard and fast on a motorway or fast A road. I've been told on a number of occasions that my cam shell bearings are likely to have suffered. I've decided to find out what condition they are in (though I don't know what the should look like after 170K miles). At the same time I will replace the timing belt and have the injectors overhauled and calibrated.

I am collecting tools and parts but have some basic questions at this stage. This is what my manual shows me:

View attachment 103461


Bolt 1, 3 of, secures the rocker shaft to the cylinder head?
Bolt 19, 8 of, secures the bearing caps to the head?
Bolt 3, not sure of the quantity is large and secures the head to the block. These bolts remain in place when I remove the bearing caps?
Bolts 1 and 19 are true stretch bolts and must be replaced?

Thank you, this is going to take some time but I will updated all progress, failures and successes.

197,000 miles if it’s any help
Can provide part numbers (TPS) if required but recall Darkside developments had the same or equivalent
Bearings listed .

 

[Little Dog]

@Howey @dj_efk @A2Z let my clarify what I did with oils and which was suggested to be inappropriate. I bought the car new and ran it on Long Life service intervals, the first three oil changes were at 30k miles, 59k miles and 83k miles (two years interval). The car was serviced by Audi on two year intervals up to 2013 and 122k miles.

The oil requirements are VW 506 01 for long life service and VW 501.01 for fixed maintenance intervals. On the fixed interval ACEA B3 or B4 can be used if VW 501.01 is not available.

Audi marked my service book Long Life and they provided a tub of this for top ups:

For the first 120k miles Audi fitted 0W-30 oil to spec VW 506 01. But it didn't stay in the engine, I'll come on to that.

For the last 10 years and 50 k miles I have serviced the car on fixed maintenance intervals and fitted:

This is the oil, fully synthetic 5W-40, that didn't win favor with some other members but it is VW 505.01 compatible so should be fine for a fixed service. However it was suggested it is not good enough for a PD and that my cam shell bearings would need attention (I think from memory).

At the last service I fitted Mobil 1. I had bought Brexit busting quantities of it while still in the EU as I have two other cars that run on this and one will only take Mobil 1. It has a shelf life and it had to be used so the A2 got it.

Now this, despite being a premium fully synthetic 0W-40 oil only meets VW 505.00 standards. It is however an ACEA B4 oil so is a reserve in the absence of VW 505 01 for fixed service intervals. The A2 starts and runs nicely on it.

There is a bit more to this story, I never trusted the 30k mile Long Life service intervals So at around 18k miles I dropped out the SLX Long life and fitted Mobil 1.

Completely the wrong oil may not quite be correct but at 170k miles and having used Triple QX PD it has been suggested my cam shell bearings would benefit from some attention.

I'll post again later with the other issues I'm dealing with and where I have got to collecting parts.

 

[Little Dog]

Did you have any running issues or purely preventative maintenance? Great work look forward to seeing the pictures and injectors set up!

I'm doing this partly as preventative maintenance and possibly as part of a fix.

I'm on 170k miles and I've been advised, at this mileage, that cam shell bearings are in need of attention on PD engines. A search around the internet supports this so as advised on here I decided it was worth doing at the next cam belt change which is due in the coming months. @kp 115 has posted pictures of his shell bearings above at 197k miles. If mine are heading that way they need replacing, that is the preventative maintenance side.

The fix is a misfire, there is a thread giving details, https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/amf-misfire.48887/. A quick summary:

1 year ago the car stopped in the middle of a busy crossroad, it felt like the ignition had been turned off. It started again but ran with a misfire, a new injector harness fixed the problem.
Late last year it developed a mild misfire under full load. Foot flat to the floor joining a motorway etc. This problem went away with the cold weather.
I treated the fuel tank to a drop of low ash 2 stroke oil and coincidentally the weather warmed. The car was impossible to drive safely due to misfire under any load. I changed the fuel filter, which was not due for around 8k more miles and the car runs safely again.

It still feels a little gruff so I still suspect issues on the fuel injection side and as I'm so close to the injectors I thought I would add them to the job. The logic was simple, £80 for a licence for VCDS to be possibly told the injectors need overhaul, in which case £120 to have the injectors sorted. The alternative, pay the £120 and the injectors are good for as long as I will run the car (or be allowed to. it being a diesel), £80 saved on VCDS.
I may revise this logic as the costs mount.

 

[CrispyEdd]

I'm doing this partly as preventative maintenance and possibly as part of a fix.

I'm on 170k miles and I've been advised, at this mileage, that cam shell bearings are in need of attention on PD engines. A search around the internet supports this so as advised on here I decided it was worth doing at the next cam belt change which is due in the coming months. @kp 115 has posted pictures of his shell bearings above at 197k miles. If mine are heading that way they need replacing, that is the preventative maintenance side.

The fix is a misfire, there is a thread giving details, https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/amf-misfire.48887/. A quick summary:

1 year ago the car stopped in the middle of a busy crossroad, it felt like the ignition had been turned off. It started again but ran with a misfire, a new injector harness fixed the problem.
Late last year it developed a mild misfire under full load. Foot flat to the floor joining a motorway etc. This problem went away with the cold weather.
I treated the fuel tank to a drop of low ash 2 stroke oil and coincidentally the weather warmed. The car was impossible to drive safely due to misfire under any load. I changed the fuel filter, which was not due for around 8k more miles and the car runs safely again.

It still feels a little gruff so I still suspect issues on the fuel injection side and as I'm so close to the injectors I thought I would add them to the job. The logic was simple, £80 for a licence for VCDS to be possibly told the injectors need overhaul, in which case £120 to have the injectors sorted. The alternative, pay the £120 and the injectors are good for as long as I will run the car (or be allowed to. it being a diesel), £80 saved on VCDS.
I may revise this logic as the costs mount.

This is a good idea, nothing lasts forever. I have 2.5 pd and the cam wear is fast if correct oil isn't used. Lots and lots of talk about cam wear and wrong oils around the pd engines of this era.
Can you advise how best to get the egr exhaust feed bolts out from the back so access to cam cover rear screws is easier?

 

[Little Dog]

Can you advise how best to get the egr exhaust feed bolts out from the back so access to cam cover rear screws is easier?

I've never struggled to remove the EGR so never noted which tools I used. Long reach 3/8 drive bits get the EGR, I think they are hex. The collector pipe I think is secured by two standard M8 screws. A good 1/4 drive socket set and a 13mm ring spanner is what I suspect I have used.
It could be some time before I start this job but will note how I tackle it.
Edit, this advice is wrong, see comment date 24/01/23.

 

[Little Dog]

I am collecting tools and parts but have some basic questions at this stage. This is what my manual shows me:

View attachment 103461


Bolt 1, 3 of, secures the rocker shaft to the cylinder head?
Bolt 19, 8 of, secures the bearing caps to the head?
Bolt 3, not sure of the quantity is large and secures the head to the block. These bolts remain in place when I remove the bearing caps?
Bolts 1 and 19 are true stretch bolts and must be replaced?

This is where I have got to solving the bolt mystery. 7Zap tells a very different story:

Bolt 3 in the manual that I thought was a head securing bolt because its removal is described in the head removal section is not a head bolt. The head bolt is item 17 in 7Zap
Bolt 3 in the manual is bolt 7 in 7Zap. 038 103 714 M6*54 8 required.
If I google 038 103 714 I get:

They are rocker bolts. Presumably 1 in the manual showing 3 required.

However from 7Zap I do required 3 of bolt 14, M6 * 64. Google this number and I get:

Injector clamp bolt, I need three but at a better price.

Now referring to the cam assembly in 7Zap, interesting, a three cylinder cam on a 4 cylinder head?:

Item 19 shown as three required in the manual is 038 103714A M8 * 90, 6 required.

I still haven't identified item 3 in the manual so I found a picture of the top of my engine:

That confirms need 3 and 6 of the bolts I have identified. A further view suggest that these may be all the bolts I need:

The as yet unidentified bolt with a washer under it does not appear to secure the bearing cap. Do they, there are 8 of them not 1, just position the bearing caps and the caps come off when the rocker shaft is removed?
Thank you.

 

[Little Dog]

Very confusing as there are errors in the manual and 7Zap but I have bottomed out the bolt requirements for this job.

8 M6 bearing cap securing screws are required:

8 M8 rocker securing screws are required along with 3 injector clamp securing screws:

All stretch bolts so correct torques are critical. Torques are:

 

[George Hogg]

Hi, where are you getting your injectors refurbed please

George

 

[Robin_Cox]

Hi, where are you getting your injectors refurbed please

George

I don't know about the original poster, but I got all 6 of my injectors (3 standard, 3 ASZ) refurbished at Darwen Diesels, following recommendation from @depronman . Cost effective and quick.

 

[George Hogg]

Cheers Robin!

 

[Little Dog]

Hi, where are you getting your injectors refurbed please

George

Undecided as yet, I will be talking to Darkside but they charge £60 per injector.
Edit, I was also considering Darwen Diesels, their price is better but not looked at their website recently to check.

 

[George Hogg]

I think Darkside are £50 to clean an test a PD injector looking at their website

 

[Little Dog]

@George Hogg I've spoken to Darwen Diesels, Darkside don't take calls but I would think their service is much the same but a little more expensive.

Darwen will test your injectors but that is exactly what they will do for £20 each + VAT

A new set of seals is extra at £6.61 each + VAT

If your injector fails it is £145 + VAT for refurbishment or supply of a replacement. There are no charges for a failed test when a replacement injector is bought.