The Notorious 1.4 CAVD twin charge... a story

[allagras]

Great story. I wasn't familiar with the CAVD but from your description, and the pics, sounds like its v similar to the CAXA engine i'm dealing with right now, but you get the added pleasure of trying to dig out the S/charger from the arse end of the engine bay.

Will look forward to hearing how the rebuild goes - and you've encouraged me to post my pics from the ffront end strip down of the wife's CAXA.

Good Luck
Grant

[vorleys1982]

Sorry for not getting this posted up sooner but life gets in way.
So after a few weekends of graft (and a few more spare parts) she’s back together and running and running well I might add.



Overall I spent more on parts (and tools) than originally anticipated, but that was mostly to ensure I was doing right by the car and the next owner.

The biggest task (and expense) was having the cylinder head reworked. I had a professional skim and re-machine the head, replace the damaged valve and clean an reseat the rest and I have to say the work he did was phenomenal. Brisbane Cylinder Head Service in Tingalpa if you are interested. He’s about 100 years old and you can tell he’s done this and only this for many years, not greatly communicative, but his work speaks for itself as you can see from the before and after.

Spare parts – beyond the obvious there were a few other parts I replaced, some necessary and some perhaps not.
Cylinder head refurb $650
Gasket Kit – $190
Cylinder head stretch bolts - $65
Timing Kit - $245
3 x MAF sensors - $180
4 Spark Plugs - $110 (yes really!)
4 ignition coils - $120
Air filter - $30
Oil filter $25
Oil $50
Wiring loom from similar model VW - $120 inc. postage from UK
Tools – I bought torque wrenches to make sure everything was done up correctly and the three sizes ¾, ½, ³/₈ inch drives came to approx. $200 but I have them forever more.

Timing/locking tool – This was the only part I would suggest shopping about and perhaps getting a cheaper version of. Mine came from China and included a pin for holding the hydraulic tensioner, the special tool for locking the camshafts in place, the bolt for holding the crankshaft in place and a (surprisingly) accurate gauge to identify TDC, I was very happy with it, but it is specific to the engine so can’t really use that anywhere else that came in at $75 - bargin.

Breaker bar – I bought a breaker bar that is massive. 750mm and solid steel and a chrome finish. Approx. $60 and worth every cent! There are bolts and other applications (holding things still whilst torqueing bolts) that this thing came into it’s own for!

So what did this odyssey into this engine show me? So not only was the exhaust valve charred about ¹/₃ of the way up the stem and not closing properly it was also cracked (almost completely through) I don’t think it would have lasted much longer.

Between the duff MAF sensor connector and the valve there was a lot of Sooting in the engine as well. Whilst the Loom was off the engine, I got a friend who repairs electronics equipment for a living to remove the faulty MAF plug and replace it with the one from the second hand wiring Loom (gotta love solder and heat shrink). Incidentally trying to get my hands on a second had Loom here was very very difficult, hence why it came from the UK (thanks Dad).

If you have faulty wiring/plugs in your Loom, this is my recommended fix as I have found that repair kits from VW and aftermarket plugs are not well made and rarely fit (this is the third repair to this plug ($150 & $120 respectively for each previous repair).

Reassembly was reversal (almost) of Disassembly. Putting the head back in place was a day in itself. First was assembly of the head. The spacer/injection rail which is a single complete unit had been removed for the refurb and the injectors numbered and given back separately. I could have replaced these as well, but they cleaned up nicely in some brake cleaner and the replacements would have been $500 +

CONT....

[vorleys1982]

CONT....



(left: injectors back in the head. Right: spacer/fuel injection rail reattached)

This engine relies on hydraulic lifters as part of the mechanism and the guy who did the refurb also gave me these back separately as well. He also taught me that they need to be bled before re assembly so that they don’t make the valves stick out when tightening down the cam cover. This is done using a suitable thin narrow tool, in my case a paperclip and then whilst applying a small amount of pressure to the lifter you move the tool around until you open the one-way valve and the oil is released. This was a great tip.

Then I cleaned the block mating surface with a craft knife blade and a plastic non scratch scouring pad and then vacuumed (several times) the bores and channels to make sure no nasty debris was in there. It is very important to not use harsh abrasives or scratch the mating surfaces in anyway.
With the head in place, I then tightened it down to the correct torque (30nm, then 90degrees, 90 degrees and a final 90 degrees) every engine will be different and there is also a correct order to do this in so please if you decide to do any head work yourself please consult the correct manual.

The hardest part was reconnecting the exhaust. To ‘make life easier’ in the beginning I decided to not remove the turbo or the manifold and leave it all in place and move it away, this turned out to be a real bind later. I did watch some videos of how the pro’s do this and there are literally 6 bolts holding on the front of the car, they remove these, disconnect the wiring loom for the lighting, Then the cooler, aircon and water pipes and the whole lot come off in one (by the looks, a professional can do this in approx. 1 hour.
Needless to say, I am missing a significant amount of skin from my knuckles as a result of my decision. I also used an exhaust putty to make sure there was a good strong seal and a new gasket.

Then the cams. In the timing kit there were replacement cogs for the cams (intake manifold is a left-hand thread so watch out if you do this yourself) the chain was about 8mm longer than the new one (note that VW consider this a non-serviceable part i.e. it will never need replacing within the lifetime of the car), they do stretch over time and while this one wasn’t in the danger zone, it does suggest that my assessment about how many KM’s this engine has done is probably correct.

After the head went in, I replaced the hydraulic lifters and put the cam cover on, this took several attempts as it is easy to knock the lifters out of place and then they do not line up and you have to start again. I also drenched these in oil prior to assembly.
Once this was sealed and bolted down the rest was pretty straight forward. The timing chain and tensioner went in smoothly, the gasket kit had a replacement oil seal and timing cover gasket which I sealed and bolted in.

(new cogs, timing chain, guide runners and hydraulic tensioner)

The engine mount was easy enough (breaker bar came in handy here).
The loom was a bit of a challenge as it needs routing and laying down in a particular order with the components that go in as well e.g. the MAF sensor wiring goes under the intake manifold, so when I put that in the wrong place, the manifold had to come back off and the wiring re laid.

I also (where access was possible) replaced the hose fittings with screw fit hose clamps (Jubilee clips). The VW hose clamps are a massive pain in the arse to remove without the special VW tool which is too expensive and unnecessary. I would recommend this as the replacement clamps are cheaper than the special tool, easier to work with and in my experience, make for a more reliable seal.

After this, there was the inaugural test firing. (note. that hydraulic lifers are very loud and crunchy when they don’t have oil in them). It didn’t fire first time, but the second time it fired and then got much quieter as the oil filled the lifters and channels etc. I was very very happy.

OBD2 reader shows no error codes so the electronic repairs have obviously worked and when driving, it seems to have got its Mojo back.
All up (including tools) I’m out a little over $2k. I could have saved $650 with parts that didn’t really need replacing (timing kit, coil packs etc. but it wouldn’t be doing the right thing for the next owner.

It also took a significant amount of time. I’m lucky in that I have access to another car, all up I would say there was close to 60 hours into this engine (hence why the quotes for a garage doing it were so high)

I also did some tidying up e.g. I replaced the expansion tank as it was discoloured and dirty, it was only $35 and it made a big difference after I cleaned the rest of the engine bay. Next is to clean, photograph and sell this car and hopefully the next owner will have years of trouble-free motoring.

Thanks for reading and the comments and messages of support. If anyone else is tackling something similar, please feel free to contact me and I’ll offer any advice I can to help.

[vorleys1982]

Great story. I wasn't familiar with the CAVD but from your description, and the pics, sounds like its v similar to the CAXA engine i'm dealing with right now, but you get the added pleasure of trying to dig out the S/charger from the arse end of the engine bay.

Will look forward to hearing how the rebuild goes - and you've encouraged me to post my pics from the ffront end strip down of the wife's CAXA.

Good Luck
Grant

Luckily I didn't have to take the supercharger off. The plastic cover that sits over the supercharger however.... I'm pretty sure it was designed by Satan himself or at the very least used in 'enhanced interrogation' in Guantanamo.

Let me know how you go with your rebuild. Yes I'm pretty sure the CAXA is of the same lineage. I did read an interesting article on the web somewhere of people replacing the CAVD with a CAXA to deal with the piston issue. I don't know how that would work out as i'm sure there are enough significant differences to mean this would need a EMS update of some description.

What is the issue with your wife's engine? Please post some picture of your rebuild as well.

Good luck

[Lucas_R]

Cracking effort mate - a well deserved pat on the back. I am pretty reasonable with mechanical knowledge and ability but would not have attempted a task this big. Glad to hear its running well which is a testament to your hard work and dedication.

Congrats.

[vorleys1982]

Cracking effort mate - a well deserved pat on the back. I am pretty reasonable with mechanical knowledge and ability but would not have attempted a task this big. Glad to hear its running well which is a testament to your hard work and dedication.

Congrats.

Thanks! Its not the first cylinder head I've done and I have to admit that I was nervous, this engine is far more complex than anything I've done before. But once I got into it, its obvious that it still relies on the same principals as any 4 stroke engine and treat it as several small jobs rather than one massive one and it is fairly straight forward.

Manuals and you tube are your friend. My default go to has always been the Haynes repair manuals (they come in pdf as well) but they never made one for this engine series. probably because it was only made for a short period of time, or because even Haynes said 'I'm not touching that.' I also found a YouTube video of a guy from eastern Europe doing a timing chain change on this engine, it is the ONLY video I could find. The translate tool on YouTube made for interesting dialogue but watching the video did help even if I couldn't really understand him.

Four Rings Auto in Perth on FB/YouTube were a good source of info as well.

Thanks again for the encouragement!

[The_Hawk]

That is an insane amount of work! Hats off to you, that's awesome... especially if you're planning on moving it on anyway, it shows a real commitment and just underlying pride in what you're doing.

[vorleys1982]

That is an insane amount of work! Hats off to you, that's awesome... especially if you're planning on moving it on anyway, it shows a real commitment and just underlying pride in what you're doing.

Thank you very much. I have to confess to feeling very proud of the work now that its back up and running. I promise to not get to big headed...

[Benji2391]

Thank you very much. I have to confess to feeling very proud of the work now that its back up and running. I promise to not get to big headed...

Mate!! Good work on the Twincharged engine rebuild. I’ve just bought the same car and unfortunately I did my research on the car after I bought it so no going back on the purchase now. Can I please have your contact details if in need of advice if/when mine fails on me. I would love to find a way somehow to keep the car running in good order but I don’t like what the near future seems to hold for me in this respect. My number is 0435744749, would love to have a chat.

Ben

[Martin]

Great read, I know this thread is old, I came across it due to doing some research as I have to do a water pump and belts on one tomorrow at work

The VW hose clamps are a massive pain in the arse to remove without the special VW tool which is too expensive and unnecessary.

eBay sells the (cheap) tool needed to work with these hose clamps
You can also use angled pliers
These clamps are used on a all euro cars and are not a failure item
These clamps normally have a tag that holds them in the open position making re-installation very quick and easy

The enitre EA111 engine range is like the hand grenade series - more problems than you can poke a stick at

The CAVD needs to be driven on 98 octane petrol

Direct injection engines put more soot into the oil than inlet injection
The soot in the oil wears the chain links leading to stretch
This has caused manufacturers and consumers grief world wide: BMW, Mercedes, VAG and even Toyota
Running the oil for 15k (especially on the daily commute) does you no favours
Doing an interum oil/filter change between services (6 month) can be very effective at minimizing this risk
The EA211 engines switched to a timing belt and are wonderful (but are still plauged with water pump failures, as are most VAG TSI engines and BMW and Mercedes)