professsorz

Having trouble pinning down when the base Cayman went to DI. Could someone help shed some light on this?

zedcat

I believe it was with the 981 when the displacement went from 2.9 to 2.7.

professsorz

That's was my guess as well but wanted to get some independent validation. I actually prefer non-DI, given the choice.

charlesr

I have a 2012 base 2.9l with DFI. I was told DFI came with the new engines per my mechanic. I would also like to know when DFI and PDK upgrades were made on the .2 cars. Thanks

Zach L

I think your mechanic is confused. The 'new engine' he is referring to is the 9A1 engine group (2009+) and the only one of those that was NOT equipped with DFI was the 2.9L version found in the base Cayman/Boxster. Although DFI was used on the 3.4L "S" model Cayman/Boxster from 2009-2012, DFI did not start on the base Cayman/Boxster until 2013+ when the base engine was switched to 2.7L w/ DFI.

professsorz

Yup - that matches my understanding. Just half the line in 987.2 times and all of them in the 981's.

charlesr

is there any visible way to tell if it has DFI?
Porsche told me initially it was a dfi engine but I cannot find the document. thanks

charlesr

BTW I was also told my car was probably made with the black edition/ s/r versions at the Stutgart factory. It would be good to know. Is there any way I can find out. Thanks

professsorz

Just pop the hood and look!

Oops - no hood over the engine to pop. ;-)

Seriously, being buried and inaccessible, there's no way to tell that I can think of. But the prior answers in this thread are on point. The Base engine went from 2.9 to 2.7 liters with the 981 and saw a power increase. Only way that's gonna happen is through DI.

One other way to tell - if your mechanic tells you your valves are gunked up and you need them to be physically cleaned ... then you've got DI! (The primary "bad" of DI is that the valves are no longer washed by gasoline flowing past them and into the cylinders).

professsorz

For that I'd just look at the build sheet. It'll call it out.

charlesr

Thanks for the help (except the hood joke!). It seems no one really knows what really happened in the 2011/12 years when production shifted. I would like to know for maintenance purposes. If I find additional info I will post.

professsorz

I'm not following what you mean when you target 2011/2012 and production shift. AFAIK (and my knowledge is by no means definitive) the base motors were constructed in the same way from 2009 through to 2012. Then they switched to a smaller displacement, DI engine, with the resultant improvements in efficiency and power that DI brings. Are you concerned about valve crud buildup?

zedcat

Do you mean the production location? If so that is position 11 in the vin. If your vin has an S there then it was built in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen. U is Finland. I've never heard of a 2.9 9A1 with DFI, they were all port injection.

KrisA

Perhaps he is referring to the 2012 production shift from Valmat to Germany? 2011 was the last year for Finnish production, for 2012 all cars were made in Germany. That said, I've read nothing that would indicate that there were any changes to the 2.9L 9A1 engine from 2009 to 2012.

charlesr

It is an S in position 11. Thanks