Question for the SOHC mechanics out there.

"Desu-San-Desu" (Desu-San-Desu) 07/18/2014 at 23:57 • Filed to: None

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I'm taking advantage of my current employment by stockpiling parts for the Audi so I can do repairs and preventative maintenance on it, upgrading parts where I can. I'm currently looking at a pile of boxes in the corner consisting of a pair of tie rod assemblies (and the right ones, this time!), Hawk HPS pads (they were on sale), some CQuence dimpled and slotted rotors (also on sale), and a half-gallon of DOT4 high-temp brake fluid ($5 off coupon, baby!).

Next up on the list is a timing belt kit from Blauparts. Since I'm going to have the valve cover off, I figured now would be a good time to replace those damned ticky hydraulic lifters. However, I can't find the parts online anywhere! I did, however, find some sites selling "cam followers" for my car. My question is thus:

Are 'cam followers' and 'hydraulic lifters' the same thing, just with different names?

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > Desu-San-Desu 07/19/2014 at 00:07

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As I understand it, no. I don't deal much with things called cam followers per se by that terminology, but in general though a cam follower is anything following the cam, it seems to typically refer to the more solid mechanisms thereof. There are "solid cam followers" which strongly resemble hydraulic lifters, but are typically not oiled in the same way and cannot thus expand. Typically hydraulic lifters are seen on a pushrod engine because it's so damn easy to oil them and cause them to self-adjust, but plenty of other types have them too. They are a *thing which follows the cam*, but probably not best referred to as cam followers, because they're not something static doing only that.

Cam followers very often are bearinged doohickeys, with the mechanism for valve adjustment elsewhere.

lone_liberal > Desu-San-Desu 07/19/2014 at 00:09

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According to this illustration they are. They won't be the same kind of object in most engines now, but as I understand them they both ride on the cam and actuate the valve. Cam followers will most likely be a bearing sort of like the roller on the cam side of a roller lifter from a pushrod engine. Or think of the roller tip of a roller rocker where it rides on the camshaft directly. But like I said, that's how I understand it. I could be totally wrong.

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > lone_liberal 07/19/2014 at 00:12

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There seems to be a terminology breakdown. "Solid lifters" and "solid cam followers" are the same thing, but one does not typically refer to *hydraulic lifters* as cam followers, nor to bearing cam followers as any type of *lifter*, best I can tell - although one sort of *could*.

Karrbon Fiber > Desu-San-Desu 07/19/2014 at 00:13

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Cam follower. Audi's apparently eat those things up. I'm guessing you have a 2.0T.

lone_liberal > Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull 07/19/2014 at 00:19

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Agreed. I edited my comment to say that as I understand them they are sort of like the roller tips of roller rockers that ride directly on the camshaft instead of on a pushrod but there are all sorts of things going on in modern engines that are beyond my ken.

Desu-San-Desu > Desu-San-Desu 07/19/2014 at 00:30

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If it helps, here is what I keep seeing called a 'cam follower':

And here is what I see referred to as a hydraulic lifter for my car:

Now, they both seem to share the same part number from Audi, so all the evidence points to them being the same thing. I just want to be sure before dropping $80 on a set.

Desu-San-Desu > Karrbon Fiber 07/19/2014 at 00:33

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Nope. 2.3L 10V I5 with 250,000 miles on it. They're known for ticky lifters, but rarely for it resulting in any serious issues other than noisiness.

Ramblin Rover - The Vivisector of Solihull > Desu-San-Desu 07/19/2014 at 00:56

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Looks like it's what anyone in the US would call a hydraulic lifter, and whoever is referring to it as a cam follower is having an attack of some as-yet-unnamed autism that insists on technically correct-like but impractical words for things.

Or maybe German doesn't have two separately contexted terms like English does. Either or.