E30 Zone

Just been told that the noisey top end on my motor is being caused by cam wear as opposed to tappets, and that the only way to sort it, is with a new cam. (Ԛ£700!!!) Has anybody come across this before? am I risking serious damage if I don't get this sorted?


(1990 H reg 3251 sport 101000 miles)

Is that Ԛ£700 including labour for fitting it? Thats a tad high.

yeah thats Ԛ£700 all in, they say you have to remove the head to change it, hence the price.

Im not a mechanic and Ive never had to change a cam but I know whats involved and surely they only have to take off the rocker cover.
Ive had some mad quotes to do things like clutches before just out of curiosity. Vauxhall wanted to charge about 400 to do my clutch. I asked how come it was so expensive and they said they had to take off the gearbox and it was about 6 hours work. I laughed and said no you dont, you change it through the inspection plate etc and walked off.
I did it myself first time in just over an hour for nothing. It just shows how bad garages are if they think they can get away with it.

Maybe someone on here could do it for a few quid? I'd rather trust an enthusiast who cares about cars and what theyre doing than some dodgy garage anyday.
Anyway, thats just my opinion. I just hate to see garages ripping people off.

Thanks adam, I think I will try and ask some different places and see what they quote for a cam change. assuming it definatly needs one.

The cam has to be slid out the front of the head which I think means it hits the front bulkhead so the head has to be removed. I'm not totally sure, anyone done it without removing the head?

To check the cam lobes just take off the oil filler cap and have a look inside. If there are noticeable steps in the lobes or the shiney surface looks pitted or discoloured then it's worn and needs changing.

thanks mate, going to have a look tonight and see what I can see. at least that explains why you have to remove the head just to take the cam out. I presume that if the cam is pitted and worn its not going to be doing my valves much good ,sorry, I ment rockers of course

whatever the labour cost is, a worn cam would certainly cause a ticky top end, my 3.5 is quite noisy no matter what i do with the tappets.

think the head does have to come off to remove the cam. so you're looking at a headgasket job plus a head rebuild job, it won't be cheap i'm afraid.

i've just bought another engine for mine instead as the old one was generally a bit tired!