I have been doing some study work on the PD130 engine top end. I would be interested to hear from people who have done a top end rebuild or inspection, to see if they noticed any problem with the following. Camshaft lobes, camshaft

journal shell bearings, hydraulic valve lifters.

Here’s the technical stuff on the PD130 top end (also applies to all 1.9TDi that use the unit injectors)

The PD (Pump Deuse) injectors operate under extreme internal pressures, as high as 28,000 PSI. They are driven by the camshaft via roller rockers. This means that VW had to redesign the camshaft to include four extra cam lobes to drive the

injectors. In doing so, they had to reduce the width of the camshaft lobes that operate the inlet and exhaust valves to allow room for the injector cam lobes.

This introduced a potential problem. If you reduce a camshaft lobe in width, you reduce the area to spread load forces. There have been reports from the North American market, of extreme camshaft lobe wear and severe hydraulic lifter wear. VW introduced an updated set of hydraulic lifters (black coated) to try and solve the problem of lifter wear.

The other potential problem, is the springs on the unit injectors are so powerful, they introduce a downward force on the camshaft. If the oil shear strength cannot cope with this load, the camshaft is forced down onto the lower camshaft bearing shells, and these then wear out. The situation is made worse, as the shells oil feeds are in the thrust side of the setup, namely the lower camshaft shell bearings. Good engineering practice, dictates that oil feeds should always be on the low thrust side of a shell bearing setup, in this case the top set of bearing shells.

This is obviously why using oil to VW505.01 specification is so important on these engines.

Breakdown of potential issues, depending on what has worn out.

Hydraulic lifters, if these distort and break up, they can stick in the head, resulting in piston to valve contact. They can also ntroduce fairly large metal particles into the oil feeds, which can cause further engine damage.

Camshaft lobe wear, Poor idle, reduced performance, damage to lifters.

Camshaft shell bearings, Noisy top end, excessive camshaft run out, reduced oil pressure.

Apparently the state of the top end can be tested using VAGCOM, by monitoring the idle stability values. I will try to get more information on that in the future.

I always thought the PD130 engine was a bullet proof design, so all of this has come as a bit of a shock. It may be that the tighter emissions for the North American market have caused the problem. The head design may be slightly different. Their engine code was BEW and I am not sure how much different that is from the ASZ or BLT engines.

I would be interested to hear from anyone, who has stripped a high mileage ASZ or BLT top end, and examined the camshaft, shell bearings, and hydraulic lifters.

I think changing the engine oil and filter every 5,000 miles, would be a good idea.

The pd150 (code ARL) engine fitted to the Golf and Leon has the same top end as the pd130. There have been loads of pd150's with camshaft/follower problems on uk-mkivs forum. Have a search over there for "chocolate cams" and there are some good pictures also. I had a Golf pd150 that suffered this fate.

Edited 28 February, 201016 yr by peter0976

Yeah - this seems to be primarily THE number 1 item to wear out / fail first on a PD130, although the PD150 seems to suffer more often despite being the same - a bit odd. Correct use of oil is essential which is why I will be changing my oil more often now that I will be using a more aggressive camshaft in my engine.

good write up moggy...

tbf ive never read anyone having these probs on this forum....as yet.

Edited 28 February, 201016 yr by warwick hunt

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess the big question now is, did the newer hydraulic lifters introduced in 2005 by VW solve the problem.

That said, I cannot see how they would stop the problem, of the camshaft contacting the lower shells.

I also wonder if a remap would make this situation even worse.

I can see me taking out an extended warranty on the VRS, love the car to bits, but can see big bills ahead

Well, I will be running brand new lifters with my rebuild (they were definitely black coated) so fingers crossed I will not experience any of the wear worries that are so prevalent apparently.

Well, I will be running brand new lifters with my rebuild (they were definitely black coated) so fingers crossed I will not experience any of the wear worries that are so prevalent apparently.

Did the old lifters or camshaft show signs of wear mate? I know you run some crazy power, and you may be the ideal Guinea Pig

Well, trouble is I was on my 2nd cam already. Had a "race cam" from Allards which did wear out too fast, but it was all very experimental. Hoping my new cam is much more solid. That dodgy cam had worn out the lifters too, which were not the newly designed ones. Hoping this time, it will be very soild.

My "old" cam which was stock was in great nick though - That stock cam was what replaced my worn out race cam. It and the lifters were fine, but I got new lifters just in case. Sold my old stock cam for £100 a few days ago as it was just so good.

Well, trouble is I was on my 2nd cam already. Had a "race cam" from Allards which did wear out too fast, but it was all very experimental. Hoping my new cam is much more solid. That dodgy cam had worn out the lifters too, which were not the newly designed ones. Hoping this time, it will be very soild.

My "old" cam which was stock was in great nick though - That stock cam was what replaced my worn out race cam. It and the lifters were fine, but I got new lifters just in case. Sold my old stock cam for £100 a few days ago as it was just so good.

Cheers for that mate. Think I will get the garage to pull the rocker cover when the timing belt is done next year and check for any wear of the cam and lifters. Will have to minimise my DIY stuff to the Moggy Traveller I think the £300 no quibble extended warranty from Warranty Direct, is looking like a sensible option.

Good to hear your original cam was in good shape Do you know the mileage it had covered before the modding began?

Edited 28 February, 201016 yr by MoggyTech

surely this is happening on more higher mileage pd engines

surely this is happening on more higher mileage pd engines

Yeah, and more to the point, those which have perhaps been run on slightly the wrong oil, or not serviced when they should. Oil does detiorate so changes are essential.

I've also never heard of this before

I'm now wondering if a combination of remap and flexible servicing by its previous owner, could well be the cause of my PD105 having to be nursed to get decent figures out of it around town.

If i whip the cam cover off for an inspection, does the seal have to be replaced or more often than not can they be re-used?

Rocker cover seal does not need replacing every time, but this time I am doing mine as my cover has been on and off a few times now....

pd105 should be less susceptable to be honest.

What makes you think it would be less susceptable Jason? (Dont mean to sound angry or clever).

My thoughs are that the map that was on the car was smooth, but upon inspection by Ben it didn't look to be very well wrote, it pulled 150bhp at the wheels with a dollop of 260ft/lbs on awesome's rollers. (If the rollers are accurate).

Which i think is the limit of the PD105 injectorst?

As it didn't half smoke, as Ben and Oggy found out at The Snipe meeting. Im not sure if the map is the cause of the 2nd turbo to start breaking up but i dont think its done it many favours.

Just seems to be a pd130 and 150 thing. Pd100 (same more or less as pd105) uses a different setup which I bet is not as aggressive and therefore less susceptable to wearing out prematurely.

Oh right, hopefully this isn't the the problem with my car. As i've just looked at some pics over on the mk-ivs forum, i've never seen a hydraulic tappet wear through!

I also forgot to mention that at times it sounds rather tappety, but as of lately its behaved its self.

Usually a hoon down the motorway can cause it to start tapping quiet loudly whilst being parked up. Allowing it to idle for a while it gradually quietens down.

i've only heard of issues on the PD150s, never on 130s, i've seen some high mileage ones as well, 200k, i think the correct oil is paramount to cam lobe longevity, and anybody that says i don't need to change the oil every 5k is missing the point

aren't most of the Golfs with PD150 engines, and with cam lobe wear issues on long life servicing, that says something to me which is pretty obvious

why would have a remap make any difference, other than you might rev the engine a bit more

I would have imagined a remap would load the engine more throughout.

i've only heard of issues on the PD150s, never on 130s, i've seen some high mileage ones as well, 200k, i think the correct oil is paramount to cam lobe longevity, and anybody that says i don't need to change the oil every 5k is missing the point

aren't most of the Golfs with PD150 engines, and with cam lobe wear issues on long life servicing, that says something to me which is pretty obvious

why would have a remap make any difference, other than you might rev the engine a bit more

After some more research it does indeed look like it's the PD150 that is worst effected, and some were indeed on long life service.

Remap issue I would think is down to more power which means the engine has to work harder. More so the bottom end certainly, and if the torque curve was spread over the rev band, it may in fact be kinder to the engine in general.

I can only find a couple of BLT engine top end failures, and both were using the wrong oil. I will be doing 5K oil and filter from now on though, Can't hurt.

I know someone who bought a Passat TDi 130 when it had over 130k miles and the engine was as tight as a nut. No smoke, good power and quietter than the Passat Tdi my wife had at the time.

It seems to be that the correct oil is the that some peopel miss. I've just had a hell of a time getting a Ford delaer to service my Fabia VRs with the correct oil. I got a service package with the car when I bought it and I had to hassle them a lot to ensure they used the correct oil. They didn't know anything about the oil requirements for PD engines which is absolutely unbelievable seeing as the Ford Galaxy is available with the PD130 engine.

There are lots of comments on some US TDI forums about oil. A lot of people in the US are having problems sourcing VW505.01 spec oil so are just using an old Wallmart specila stuff. A lot of the failures are likely to have been caused by incorrect oil use as there are many reports of the TDI 130 engines running to very high mileages indeed.

Lots of taxi drivers in West Yorkshire run TDI PD engined cars and they cover huge milegaes. It may be why lots of car parts shops stock PD oil in West Yorkshire I guess.

mines on 148,000k now and still pulling like a train only smokes at high revs being driven hard normal driveing nothing going to do an oil change soon just been looking at oil at halfords there own is £35.99 and mobil 1 i think it was was £40 ish for 4 ltr's but need to shop around i think but your right in west yorkshire (bradford) plenty of the stuff

If you go to your local TPS (trade parts specialist) you can get the VW Spec Quantum PD stuff for £18. I don't see why you should pay through the nose for the same spec oil from Halfrauds etc.

second that of what devonutopia says its got to be good stuff, if the dealers use it

They didn't know anything about the oil requirements for PD engines which is absolutely unbelievable seeing as the Ford Galaxy is available with the PD130 engine.

only the MK2 Galaxy had the PD engine, but i get your point, there is no excuse for not knowing or using the correct spec oil for the engine,

we had to book out 5 litres from the parts dept when we did the service