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The Variocam chain tensioner only works for the correct direction of engine rotation. When I applied enough air pressure the piston went up. There was no up and down when turning the crank. No voltage applied here enables to fill the interior of the chain tensioner that supports the force of the springs. With +12V applied the solenoid forces the piston down.
I took the solenoid off yesterday and tested it with 12 volts. Worked fine. However the piston that it is supposed to push on in the Chain tensioner wouldn't budge. Also the piston in the chain tensioner is pressed down a little and the solenoid pin wouldn't reach it anyway. Don't know if that just because of the current position it's in (about middle of travel). When I get my cam gear screw in I'm going to test it without air pressure with the oil line off and with air pressure and I'm also going to see if that piston that the solenoid is supposed to push on moves when I move the crank. Should be interesting to see what happens. I really don't want to take the cams out and put another chain tensioner in. I will probably put dynamite in the car and blow it to smithereens at that point.
Hm, the piston in the chain tensioner shouldn't be down, that the solenoid pin wouldn't reach it. But I had indeed this problem on my variocam module. The former PO let some agricultural machinists do the change of the blown head gasket. But that failed in this way, that they lost the spring in the Variocam module. Obviously they knew nothing and understood less than nothing in what they were doing. So the Variocam didn't work and the piston in there moved always up and down and made a terrible ticking when the engine run. Because of the missing spring I bought a used Variocam. Below is the opened Variocam with spring.
Do you know if that piston should move up and down freely?
I have no ticking noise. But the entire chain tensioner is definitely moving up and down. I'm probably going to have to take that thing out. Where can I find a used one if I need it?
Last edited by Boeing 717; 05-18-2019 at 10:02 PM.
You should be able to poke that piston out from below, it should move pretty freely. In the lower diagram above you can see the green oil path through this bore and spring and you can poke up that way with a pen refill or similar.
On my old variocam unit, which was noisy, this piston was kinda sticky in the bore but not too bad. My spring was in place.
You should be able to poke that piston out from below, it should move pretty freely. In the lower diagram above you can see the green oil path through this bore and spring and you can poke up that way with a pen refill or similar.
On my old variocam unit, which was noisy, this piston was kinda sticky in the bore but not too bad. My spring was in place.
You should be able to poke that piston out from below, it should move pretty freely. In the lower diagram above you can see the green oil path through this bore and spring and you can poke up that way with a pen refill or similar.
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Hm, the piston in the chain tensioner shouldn't be down, that the solenoid pin wouldn't reach it. But I had indeed this problem on my variocam module. The former PO let some agricultural machinists do the change of the blown head gasket. But that failed in this way, that they lost the spring in the Variocam module. Obviously they knew nothing and understood less than nothing in what they were doing. So the Variocam didn't work and the piston in there moved always up and down and made a terrible ticking when the engine run. Because of the missing spring I bought a used Variocam. Below is the opened Variocam with spring.
Holy cow HFB, you are awesome!!
I just looked at your posts gain after taking the Variocam tensioner out and I have no spring either. I made a video to show you guys how it was behaving and then I looked at your post again and realized I have no spring.
Here's the video.
There is really no need for the 9248 special tool. But I wanted to work like a pro, so I bought one.
Now look at the picture what I got!!
A Porsche special tool with the a plain wrong drill hole. I didn't return it to the Porsche dealer because I wanted to finish my camshaft work, so I drilled a hole, where it should be.
It's nice to work with this tool, it makes it easier because of the chain tensioner. If you don't have it, just tighten the brakets down evenly step by step. Porsche Special Tool 9248 with a flaw
Jerry, when you get the cams timed and variocam working you are really going to love the performance. Without the spring I assume you have not ever experienced the variocam working. I need to do the cam timing and check my variocam. I had a 968 years ago and I believe it had much better pick up than my current 968. When I put my engine together I just set the cam timing in the middle not having the tools to do it properly.
05-17-2019, 07:42 PM
