Hey

I drive a 1988 944S with 150 000km on it.

I was checking the chain tensioner shoe to see if it needs replacement. from what i have read either you change them often every (100 000 mile? or km???) or try and never change it and hope for the best (plastic breaks, chain breaks, engine toast!). Anyone know the mm of the OEM part so you can compare the wear?

I took some photos of mine. I dont think it needs to be changed as the groves dont look to big. Also i was wondering if this is more of a Turbo S or S2 issue. I have an S non turbo.

Thoughts?

Also found some bubble hot spots under the cap. I was thinking of scratching them off and painting it with some heat resistant paint ? or just leaving it idk.
i think this might be because the previous owner chipped the car. which in my mind may be causing it to run hot as its rev is higher. idk.

Here are some links for anyone reading this with the same issue. Pelican has this part and lindsey racing.

92810550901

 

As long as you have the cam cover off I would go ahead and change the guide rail. Yours may not be too worn (hard to tell from these images) but it could be getting brittle. A new top guide rail is only about $11 from Porsche. I'd probably leave the cam cover as-is unless you plan to totally strip it and repaint, and have you confirmed those are actual bubbles and not flaws in the magnesium casting?

 

Around 100k miles on my 944S the chain snapped due to the guides failing and destroyed my camshafts. No bent valves. This is in the fall and I was scheduled to have the guides serviced over the winter.
I got lucky even thought I had to shell out $2,500+ for new camshafts. Others have ended up with wrecked cams, destroyed head and bent valves.

I've never heard of anyone recommending to leave it go and hope for the best. The 944 Turbo engine doesn't have this chain, it's a single cam engine. This only applies to the 944S / 944S2 and 968.

 

Thanks for the heads up Tyson. Glad I caught it. Sorry to hear about yours.


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They feel like paint bubbles from heat. They are squishy.

 

We just replaced our tensioner pad. It was pretty straightforward, but takes a little muscle to press the tensioner down to get the pins in to keep it down for removal. be careful of the banjo fittings on the oil J tube. You don't want to over-tighten and strip them. And you DEFINITELY don't want to drop anything down in those holes. 944 Online sells the kit. When you take the tensioner out, make sure to take photos of it from all angles so you don't put the pads on backwards (ask me how I know - grr).

 

So, it sounds like you replaced both upper and lower guide rails since you mentioned the kit from 944online. Their price for kit 944-105-949-00 is $152.35; I purchased the same kit from Delaware Porsche for $99.80. Both costs are ridiculous since you can buy just the upper guide rail, 928-105-509-01 for about $11. Guess those two little screws for the lower rail cost a lot :-)

 

LOOKing good ...Clean those blisters in the valve cover , when they fully bubble off they will add debris into the motor.

David Pagan Promotion Porsche 944 16 valve engine Service keeping them alive