I joined the ranks of the "low maintenance" VW owners in 2006 with my Jetta. Not so for my TDI, even though I follow the maintenance schedule, the bad design of the camshaft is looking really expensive. I would like to read the post on how to change it and all the associated parts. I replaced the heat exchanger in the exhaust, the mass air flow sensor, the small cooling fan, etc., etc. I think my car was produced on lemon day. I just replaced the timing belt, I wish I would have known about the lifter problem or at least that my mechanic would have known about it. It would have saved some money. I believe most of these other problems were caused by the bad cam causing carbon buildup and soot. It looks like the cam is a poor design. The ramp is a little to steep, the width is definitely too narrow to have long life, the cam followers are too weak to take the pounding of a deformed cam, and last but not least is the fact that VW's quality control is terrible. The reason I say this is that only certain lobes are worn. This seems to be a clear pattern. This is either due to the lifters having quality problems or due to what I believe is bad quality control in heat treat for the cam shaft before final grind. The cam lobes are supposed to be case hardened probably about .030 to .060 inches deep to a specified Rockwell c hardness on all of the cam lobes. From the looks of the wear this is not happening consistently, especially at the peak where the pressure is the greatest on the oil film barrier that is practically non existent due to the lack of width of the cam lobe. I haven't looked at my cam followers too closely yet, but I am willing to bet they are the chrome style instead of the carbo nitride hardened ones. And to think I bought my Jetta in January 2006 thinking I was going to have fantastic mileage and low maintenance for 250,000 miles. Man, has my bubble been burst. Now I am just trying to get out alive at the lowest cost to repair so I can, yes, trade it for something better with a clear conscience. Besides with the high cost of diesel fuel in relation to unleaded, the savings over a good gas engine is negligible. Toyota Avalon with $2.54 unleaded at 30 mpg vs Jetta with $3.00 diesel at 37 mpg yields 8.5 cents vs 8.1 cents per mile. Add the $3,000 dollar repair bill divided by 106,000 miles for the Jetta and the diesel cost per mile comes to 10.9 cents per mile. Jetta loses by $2,544. I also miss the old days of not having to change the timing belt. Who says belts are better than gears when you have to change a belt every 80,000 to 100,000 miles at $800 to $1,000 or more a pop for the average driver who can't change their own. Enough whining, I guess I need to get some cheese to go with it. This is a great site with a lot of good information including where to get OEM parts for the repairs and also a place to rent specialty tools. Thanks for everything.