DJF1

The pics speak for themselves. I now have 2 springs broken on the exhaust side. All new springs ( not OEM) were done about 20K kilometres ago and almost exactly one and half year ago.

They are sent now back to the vendor/manufacturer who for the time being shall remain nameless.

The question I have for you guys is. Is it unreasonable to expect some short of compensation from the vendor with regards to the labour that I have to endure now?

The second part is that apparently the vendor will not send a new set to replace all the springs, he claims he does not have them on the self at this moment. So obviously i feel the whole set that is in the car is a ticking bomb and sooner rather than later I will have another spring broken. What I would expect is to replace the springs and when the vendor finds out what the problem is to have them send a new set and pay for the labour to install them. Is that reasonable?

I welcome your thoughts.

Mrmerlin

was the spring height checked on the dry fitting?,
springs don't usually break unless they have been poorly MFGd or over compressed,
what cams are you using?
What was wrong with the factory springs?

Leon Speed

Wow, not pretty. Had to do a double take to understand what I am looking at. If two springs broke I would not feel comfortable with the rest of them. Is it reasonable to ask for compensation, I don't know. Many factors here, are the springs rated for your engine, who did the installation, what were the operating conditions, etc. Good luck,

BC

Danny - Can you tell us at this time the spring type? What is the part number? When were they actually purchased?

Tom. M

ARen't these the Lindsay springs..and haven't they already acknowledged that there were issues?...

i'd replace all with something else... And I suspect the manufacturer is only on the hook for replacing the part..very rarely do they cover the labor...

good luck..

Mark Anderson

I know this doesnt fix your current problem but I'd consider using the 944S2 springs. They use to be about $12 a set and I know many have had great sucess with them including myself.

michael j wright

If anyone should pay labor, it would be the manufature. The vendor merly sells the part, that to the best of his knowledge, is of good quality.
my .02

Speedtoys

interweb photo rule 1:

PULL BACK, then zoom in.


Not hold phone 3" from object.



Sorry for your pain, vendor would be _nice_ as we may be sharing the same vendor, but how can I tell?

GregBBRD

Not any more....the "bargain" price of $12.00 apparently got noticed by the Porsche bean counters. Now $36.45 each. More in line with other factory springs....was always difficult to understand why that one spring was so cheap.

DJF1

Thanks guys for the input.

In 2011 we discovered that my cams were pitted. So at that time I replaced them with the Tri-flow cams.
As the cams are more aggressive, my understanding is that the stock springs wont do as they are too soft and they will bind. So the springs changed to match the cams.

Re the vendor, I'm of the opinion that all vendors deserve an opportunity to make their customer whole within reason before their name gets dragged in the interwebs. If the manufacturer has a defective product and corrects the defect while making the customer whole, who in the first place trusted the vendor, then it's one of these things that happen.

Yes things happen, but I have an issue happening at my expense...

So the S2 springs are suitable for my application?

I really appreciate your input guys, while I know a thing or 2 in the aircooled world, I'm a bit at a loss here.

anakilat

I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the US nobody compensates for labor unless they're trying to convince you not to sue them.

GregBBRD

Turns out that springs that break are much more common than springs that do not break. The job that a valve spring has to do is very tough....do the math and figure out how many valve spring compressions have occurred in those 12,000 miles....it's pretty crazy.

I once had a spring made for use in the 911 engines. I learned, firsthand, how tough it was to get a spring that lasted. After two or three attempts, from different "expert" spring makers....I got so tired of replacing broken springs that I gave up. Still have boxes of the damn things, sitting on my shelf, to this day.

After that "lesson", I always try to find an appropriate Porsche factory springs for my engines. I figure that they need to build springs that last for many cycles. The 944 spring works well on cams with "minor" increases in lift.....and has very good spring pressures....especially if you use lightweight lifters. I use a factory Cup Car spring for cams with higher lifts. (Since I would never use a used lifter on a new camshaft, I always run the lightweight lifters on any replacement camshafts.....they are "cheaper" than the original heavy lifters.)

Neither factory spring is cheap....but dropping a valve into a piston isn't very cheap, either. I'm going to guess that the aluminum bore that the broken lifter you have shown isn't very happy. Are you going to have to replace the head?

I did have a set of the Lindsey Racing springs to measure and "check" out, for a client. The spring pressures were just crazy high and I was not able to use them.

ptuomov

I am curious about why this happened. Some questions from me, this is just for me to learn and I doubt I can help with it:
- Did only the exhaust side springs break, or did the both intake and exhaust side springs break? I am guessing that it's just exhaust side.
- Did only the inside springs break or both inside and outside springs? I am guessing that only inside springs broke.
- How far from coil bind were the springs installed?
- What seated load and max lift load were the springs installed?
- How did you pick these springs? Did the camshaft manufacturer provide you with the acceleration profile and the spring supplier took that profile and the reciprocating weights and picked the spring? Or did the camshaft manufacturer recommend these springs for the known camshaft / reciprocating weights combo?

Since you didn't drop a valve, I would guess that your spring loads were very high, I might even venture a guess that they were too high.

Not at all pretending to be an expert, just trying to learn.

69gaugeman

Looks like just the inner spring broke, ergo no dropped valve.

BC

Crap