Little update here for those of you sporting a 3.6 V6 FSI diesel

Whilst the upper chain tensioner definitely did make the motor quieter, since then a slightly different rattle was starting to get hard to ignore, one that was genuinely diesel-like.

This video (not mine) demonstrates perfectly the sound I'm talking about: VW 3.6 Hi Pressure fuel pump noise - YouTube

Not the high pitched ticking so much, but the lower "clacking". Mine was probably louder than the motor in the video.

Like many things v6 FSI related, I couldn't find one locally, and even in the US the price was pretty wild. Best I found was from Latvia, via the 'bay: Fuel Pump Cam Follower Tappets Audi A5 S5 A6 S6 quattro A8 S8 VW Golf Passat | eBay

03H127307A

Came in just on a month, and it was $7 cheaper then too.


Long story short, it's no longer a diesel tho it is definitely still direct injected. Very easy job, even with 17mm spanners instead of the official VW offset ring spanner with a notch to slip over the hi pressure fuel line. I put a new o-ring on the pump, $20 locally from vagparts I think, though my inner bush mechanic was confident that the old one could have gone back in without incident.

Strange that the 200k km follower from late 2012 looked to be still in serviceable condition, the roller felt pretty smooth still, no obvious play

Pic here of the old one: Shared album - Ian Price - Google Photos