$3,000 Repair bill - Cams

Jesster1.8t · Nov 18, 2004

Hey all. My brother in law has a 2002 Jetta 1.8t automatic.
The car died on him this morning, and the service department (Jack Daniels VW, Fair Lawn NJ) told him "The cams need to be replaced" And its going to cost $3000. And its not covered under warranty unless he can come up with all of his 5000 mile oil change receipts. He had approx half of his oil changes done at the dealer, which they have record of. The other half were done at local repair garages. He is accumulating as much paperwork as he can. Can they deny coverage if we are missing a receipt or two? Any help here is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Jesse

TyrolSport · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

How many miles on the car and how many dealer oil changes did he have done?

Jesster1.8t · Nov 18, 2004

He has approx 40000 miles. About half were done at the dealer.

Golf4_18T · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

That sucks man. The dealership is always trying to scam us loyal customers. Anyways, I got a set of Schrick 252/260 Camshafts for 1.8T sitting in my room if your brother needs to fix it himself.
Herman

16vracer · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Golf4_18T)

aftermarket cams can be had for $550-900.
Labor for me when I had a set installed was $200.
I'm sure he could find a set of used stock cams for waaaay less than even the $550 that I quoted.

SlvrBllt · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (16vracer)

Why did the cams fail? Timing belt?

Frank aka Rick · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

His first mistake was taking it to Jack Daniels...I haven't heard one good service story come out of that place yet. Otherwise he should be able to get the parts and labor MUCH cheaper elsewhere if they screw him on the warranty (which unfortunatly is most likely to happen

).

chris86vw · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (SlvrBllt)

Something is defnitly up.
If he had even 4 or 5 oil changes in 40K miles their shouldnt' be a problem with the cams related to the services.. So I'd fully find out what is being done.
As for the dealer trying to scam you.. nope that is VWs policy for any powertrain warranty stuff VW requires the dealer to provide proof that the car has been serviced.. its more of a why should we pay for a car that you neglected if you didnt' give a *** till now....

3K bucks sounds like it includes a remanned head.. it is very unlikely that the cams are bad at 40K and it did not take out something on the head.

VDUBNDizzy · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

Never trust a dealer named after whiskey.

There were some OEM NIB AEB cams on ebay the other day. But yeah, I'm guessing something else was taken out when the cams did whatever they did.

chris86vw · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (VDUBNDizzy)

remeber he has a head with the cam adjuster.. so it needs cams for that setup.. AEB cams wouldnt' work right

VDUBNDizzy · Nov 18, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (chris86vw)

The cams themselves are different? The gears on the driver/adjuster side?

fast_a2_20v · Nov 18, 2004

I'm pretty sure the cams will work fine actually chris. I had both sets on my bench and they are very similar, the cam adjuster is all done in the chain tensioner. I might be wrong, i'm running an AEB ehad with AEB cams the other set was for the small port parts head i had and i didn't look at them very carefully (why would i?)

anyways, my guess is a cam journal and cam is ****ed up.
you wanna hear something ghey, this is OT but sorta on topic too.
my little bro's 337 the ebrake button (the release button) had the chrome peeling off. It was coming off easy every time you touched it little flakes would stick to your finger.
He took it in, and the dealer looked at it, said he had an abrasive thumb, and told him it would be 275 bucks! ??? wtf!
i got it straightened out after i reminded the service manager how many P cars we've bought from there porsche dealership, but its just sad you have to pull strings to not be treated like ****.
who has an overly abrasive thumb anyways!
if they try to dick you on the head, as long as you really DID do the services, fight it, if you loose that is a big bummer, but cut your losses and get that thing towed to a GOOD independant vw repair place. Buy a small port head off vortex from someone upgradeing to big port.
good luck.

chris86vw · Nov 18, 2004

Re: (fast_a2_20v)

Quote, originally posted by fast_a2_20v »

I'm pretty sure the cams will work fine actually chris. I had both sets on my bench and they are very similar, the cam adjuster is all done in the chain tensioner. I might be wrong, i'm running an AEB ehad with AEB cams the other set was for the small port parts head i had and i didn't look at them very carefully (why would i?)

The cam part numbers are different for those with the cam adjusters and without.. People who have tried to put schricks in their car who had the cam adjuster have had to modify something on their head.. theonly cams I have laying around right now are AEBs and the schricks..I only have AEBs, AWD and my schricks so they all are interchangeable. I have never remembered to compare them when I worked on cars with adjusters.

Jesster1.8t · Nov 18, 2004

Any good NJ repair places that anyone may recommend as an alternative. If we are going to have to lay out some $$$, I'd rather go to a good shop than a dealer.

chris86vw · Nov 18, 2004

Re: (Jesster1.8t)

sent IM

Jesster1.8t · Nov 18, 2004

Sent back

01 Wolfsburg · Nov 19, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

How would it need new cams?

TyrolSport · Nov 19, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (01 Wolfsburg)

A simple question, not to start a fight, and with no underlying negative intentions whatsoever:
If cams can be swapped from head to head, why can't the cam caps also be swapped? Should the cam caps follow the cams from head to head, or should they always remain on the same head, regardless of cams?

Modified by tyrolkid at 9:01 PM 11-18-2004

slickfisher · Nov 19, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (Jesster1.8t)

What do you mean the cams need to be replaced. It died on the road and it was the cams? What happened did they seize up and break. Give details. How did the camshafts cause a sudden died on road catastrophic failure?
$3000 for camshaft replacement?

Slickfisher

glicruiz909tech · Nov 19, 2004

Re: $3,000 Repair bill - Cams (slickfisher)

datails??? cam caps should not be changed from head to head, they are machinede on that individual head. take it to another "repuatable" dealer. complain about your powertrain warr. should be 60k miles?. give us details on the damage.

$3,000 Repair bill - Cams

Jesster1.8t

TyrolSport

Jesster1.8t

Golf4_18T

16vracer

SlvrBllt

Frank aka Rick

chris86vw

VDUBNDizzy

chris86vw

VDUBNDizzy

fast_a2_20v

chris86vw

Jesster1.8t

chris86vw

Jesster1.8t

01 Wolfsburg

TyrolSport

slickfisher

glicruiz909tech

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