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Author Topic: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump  (Read 4631 times)

Offline Madone

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increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« on: April 24, 2015, 01:25:54 pm »
has anyone noticed any increase in the cam follower wear when the pump is upgraded. the new pump will obviously put more load on the follower, does the standard follower still handle it ?

Offline pudding

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2015, 03:08:05 pm »
I'll let you know when I check mine at the next oil change.  I had the Loba pump fitted about 6000 miles ago and you know what? The exact same thought popped into my head when I felt how much stronger the plunger spring was on the Loba compared to stock.  "Is this going to eat through my bucket a lot quicker?"  I bet it does tbh.


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Offline Madone

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2015, 03:24:55 pm »
the reason i asked was i saw this video
of someone fitting a roller follower, they were removing a standard follower from a APR pump after less than 1k miles and it was showing wear !, ouch

Offline pudding

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2015, 04:01:48 pm »
Eeek, sounds like I'll be scheduling in a check sooner than anticipated then!   I change my oil (Helix Ultra AVL 5/30) every 3-4K though, which ought to buy me a bit more time.

Has that roller follower conversion been proven yet?  I seem to remember some heavy debating between INA engineering and some boffin bloke about the fact a roller follower needs a completely flat cam lobe, but the TFSI lobe is like a normal cam lobe to spin the bucket.  Rollers don't like that apparently.   Others were saying you need the EA888 cam as well, which makes it a bloody expensive mod!


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Offline Madone

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2015, 04:35:21 pm »
I read up what I could and it does look like there is some debate on the roller follower, and it didn't look like a simple swap.

The wear on that standard follower was alarming for sure !, i changed mine when I got the car, not a single bit of wear on the old one. But it's still the standard fuel pump. it makes sense there would be more wear with higher loading from the updrated pump. Hopefully that level of wear is a freek one off !

Offline GrayMK5GTI

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2015, 11:15:39 am »
Uprated pump does increase follower wear for sure. From what I've read, switching to Millers Nanodrive oil pretty much eliminates follower wear anyway  :surprised:

Even so, I'd swap the follower every 20,000 miles to be on the safe side. The yanks seem to get through followers much quicker than us in the uk
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Offline Madone

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2015, 11:35:13 am »
Thanks Gray, so a new follower with each oil change at 10k should be good to go ?

Offline GrayMK5GTI

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2015, 08:43:07 pm »
Thanks Gray, so a new follower with each oil change at 10k should be good to go ?

Yeah, plenty safe with that  :happy2:
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Offline Gti_Mad

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2015, 11:12:40 am »
Statlers run this conversion on there demo mk6 R,

Hopefully @Hurdy can shed some light on this


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Offline Markyed30

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2015, 07:00:34 pm »
I changed mine 3 weeks ago after running 11k miles with autotech internals and using nanotech not a mark and as new I changed it anyway and will prob change it every 20k from now on

Offline duncatr

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2015, 05:44:23 pm »
My 2010 Cupra R (CDLA engine) was ~40k miles and standard when I bought it and was on the original follower. Only ever run on oe Quantum 5w-30 oil.
I changed the follower and fitted an APR HPFP. The follower has some light wear round the skirt but nothing on the faces between the cam and the pump.
I then tuned it to 360/360 and have changed the oil with oe Quantum 5w-30 every ~3,300 miles. So 2 oil and filter changes between the usual 10k mile services.
I change the follower every 10k after the service and they have all looked brand new, not even the skirt wear that the original had.

I'm not convinced that all followers were created equally. Obviously the cam and the pump internals and related mating faces will have an effect.
I'd like to know how much wear is being seen on newer followers v's original ones.

I dont think its true either that swapping oil instantly solves the problem of follower wear.
I am considering changing to Millers Nanodrive but its based on the opinion of others who have been working on these engines for years and claim the damage is far less with better oil on a tuned engine. I've yet to see any ill effect of using the oe oil but I've only done 20k miles. Its possible that the regular oil changes are helping reduce any wear but I've certainly seen none at all. Infact if it wasnt for the old oil on the old follower I wouldn't have known the difference when I've changed them!

Offline rich83

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Re: increased cam follower wear on uprated pump
« Reply #11 on: May 21, 2015, 05:45:45 pm »
Statlers run this conversion on there demo mk6 R,

Hopefully @Hurdy can shed some light on this

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