Car camshaft

Camshaft is a rod equipped with a few knuckles. Knuckles are lugs located near the camshaft. When the knuckles rotate, the camshaft in a certain way opens and closes engine valves when turning the camshaft. Camshafts are made of steel. In the past very popular were so-called regular camshafts. They consisted of separate parts which were connected to each other. That type of camshaft was made of different materials to regulate the weight.

Faulty camshaft can lead to serious consequences - damage of the piston. At the best, only the timing belt will be damaged. In this case it will be enough to replace this part. In older car models the camshaft wears out. The shaft is installed in such a way that it works without problems during the operation of the vehicle. But the reason of damage can be a defective material or overloading. Let a specialist to replace the camshaft, especially if the other engine parts are damaged.

At the first stage of reconditioning work remove the valve cover. Carefully follow the sequence of operations when replacing the camshaft. Install the spare part carefully as moulded pieces are subject to damage. If you need other spare parts for your car, visit our Internet shop. In our assortment you will find spark plugs, brake shoe facings, stub axles, cooling system nozzle, brake master cylinder, tie rods, air filters, clutch bearing, fuel filters, air conditioner compressor and many other original and inexpensive car parts.

Camshaft failures

• wear and burrs of cams;
• defects of the camshaft pulley;
• drive belt displacement;
• wear of the bearing journals of the shaft;
• shaft bend;
• wear of key slots or bearings;
• screw thread wear.

Camshaft kit failures signs

• reduction of the engine power;
• incorrect work of timing system;
• extraneous sounds at the unit;
• metal rattle or scratches;
• incorrect functioning of the engine at any rpm;
• occurrence of the system failure signal at the dashboard.

Causes of the camshaft failures

• lack of oil in the system;
• excess of power unit temperature;
• leak of fuel into the grease;
• engine wear;
• drive gear parts deformation;
• incorrect valve timing setting;
• low-quality service of the car;
• gaps in the system.

Diagnostics

You should inspect this system every 75 000-100 000 operational kilometers. It will be right to diagnose camshaft at the service station where servicemen can check wearing level of each part of the unit. You can only check the cooling, engine current supply and lubrication level yourself.

Repair and replacement of the camshaft

Only worn out cams can be repaired among all of the camshaft parts. Electric impulse chrome surfacing helps to restore their original thickness. We’d like to remind that standard free movement is 0.03 mm. In other cases you have to replace particular parts or the whole camshaft. For this purpose do the following:

• remove the air filter, and then take off the cylinder-head cover and the both rocker-arm shafts of the valves together with the rocker arms.
• disconnect a wiring harness terminal board from the timing sensor;
• remove the sensor housing;
• remove the mounting bracket of the air filter  ;
• dismantle the cogged pulley of a camshaft;
• remove camshaft;
• install a new shaft, performing all the actions in the reversed order.