Tye

My car is in the shop for a timing belt, etc. and the mechanic has pulled the cam cover to give things a quick inspection. He can not find in any of his manuals or bulletins a way to determine if the tensioner worn or out of spec. He's a GREAT 944 guy, but doesn't see that many 968's. The wear blocks do not appear to worn. Neither are the sprocket teeth. But to him, the tensioner looks extended (meaning the shaft is pushed out pretty far to keep the chain tight), but neither of us is sure if this is normal for a variocam motor.

Any help or experience in this area would be GREATLY appreciated. Regards,

Ty

jgporsche5

This site has a library that will tell enough to be dangerous.

http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showforum=16

BruceWard

How many miles are on your motor?

Most people check the pads for wear and if they are not worn put it back together. Many recommend replacing the chains and pads at or before 100K.

When the timing belt is changed is a good time to change the chain and pads. Otherwise you need to remove the timing belt to change the chain and pads. Parts are around $100 so if the timing belt is off I would change them. There is a heavy duty chain replacement that is available now and stronger than the factory chain.

Tye

The motor has about 85k miles on it (if you can believe the dismantler). I'll do the pad and probably the chain.

So where could I get this stronger chain? It's not a Porsche product?

Thanks for the help!

Ty

RajDatta

For peace of mind I think this should be a 75K change. I would 2nd Bruce's recommendation of swapping out the chain and tensioner pads. Its cheap insurance. You don't want it to take your cam sprockets and valves when it goes.
I have 1st hand experinece on a car that had only 63K on it. The chain snapped, took both the cams with it and 4 valves. All in all $2500 of damage when we did it ourselves. It could have been worse if the valve to piston contact was severe.
Raj

Stephenwz968

I still thank you for doing all that work that every time I drive my car....I agree 100% that the pads and chain should be a 75k mile interval for replacement.

Steve

flash968

if you are contemplating the replacement of the chain, carefully inspect the cam gears for wear, and more importantly loss of hardness on the teeth - a new hard chain on worn gears, or even ones that look fine but have lost some of their hardness, will result in rapid wear - granted it's better than not changing it at all, but you could easily burn through them much faster than you want to, causing you to have to do it all over again

RajDatta

Thanks Steve, it was my pleasure. Hard to believe it was a year ago, time flies.
Raj

BruceWard

There is some documentation for inspecting online at http://968s.com/DIYPDF/Procedure for... Camshafts.pdf

Tye

Thanks for the info. I've decided to button it up and complete the other work that I had scheduled. I'll order a chain and pad and put it back in the shop in January.

Ty

ether_joe

hey Bruce that's a tremendous document. Thanks for the pointer to it and I will email the authors also.

Just getting started in my 968 search, this helps me understand what exactly 'Variocam' is.