What causes cam damage -

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

Soldato
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My mate took one rocker cover off his 106 gti engine to look at the general state of the internals and noticed all of the cams have pitted bits missing on the lobes. I'm assuming this isn't normal?
 
No mate that was a saxo iirc? Different poster!

Poor oil supply? Perhaps hindered by the fact that instant gasket was used and was a good 10mm lip inside the cam covers?
 
Should probably say the head gasket was repaired by the local *cough* garage *cough* and it died on us doing the speed limit down the a30 ;) Its sat in his garage now, was looking to repair it.
 
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Possibly. Instant gasket stuff like that can break off inside the cover and block oilways. Sounds more like you were revving it too hard, too long and causing the damage that way.

Don't know much about valvetrain wear mind! Anyone?
 
My cam has some small black pits in the lobes but when it was new the lobes had a black textured finish to them and it looks like the remnants of that. Might be nothing to worry about.
 
Just speaking to richie from pgac and he thinks that the cam timing being out could also cause that so I think it might be worth checking out the cambelt on it :confused:
 
The main question is - if its just cam damage would it be a reasonable price fix? I'm thinking XSI gti conversion? ;)
 
New camshaft or exchange performance reground cam....

Usually oil supply, failure to change the oil/filter often enough, general wear and tear... revving too much when cold before oil has reached the cam properly, unlikely to be instant gasket as that would hold all the oil uptop and lube the lobes well... oil drain back to crankcase usually uses big bore drillings which wouldnt get blocked...

may impact on oil pickup, but that would show itself more than just pitted cam lobes..

:D
 
The cam may have been like that when it was new. The only way to find out for sure would be to measure it with a micrometer and then check it against the specification for that cam.
I can't see how the cam timing being out could cause that kind of marks on the cam. If the timing was too far out you'd have bent valves and it would be running rough.
 
Sorry for the late reply but the forum did its you have no replies I'll send no email :(

The car did run rough when we pulled off the dual carriageway when it started to lose some power.It couldn't hold a steady idle and well it felt like driving my old 1.1 cfi fiesta all over again.
 
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