Intermittent Valve Lifter Malfunction
04-03-2008, 11:05 PM
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Intermittent Valve Lifter Malfunction
My 06 Cayman S with nearly 20K miles recently experienced a valve lifter problem. It started this past weekend when the engine seemed to misfire, then the CEL started flashing for a few seconds and went away. After a few hundred yards, the same thing happened again. When I pulled to a stop, the engine was idling roughly, and there was a very loud "ticka, ticka, ticka, . . ." sound present (however, there was no CEL).
I got the car to my local dealer, and the Porsche tech initially diagnosed it as a valve lifter problem when he heard it on arrival. However, they didn't get around to putting it on the PIWIS until today, and when he checked it today, the problem is now gone (and the PIWIS didn't show any stored faults).
Since my car was just under 20k miles, the service department initially tried to blame it on my oil being dirty - until I informed them that I had changed the oil and filter (to specs) 3000 miles ago. I decided to have them go ahead and change the oil again, so they couldn't blame it on the oil if it recurred; they did strain my oil when they drained it, and didn't find any metal or particles.
They are having one of their service techs test drive it tonight and tomorrow to see if the problem recurs, and if not, then they will return the car to me. Apparently the PCNA tech advisor told them not to tear down the engine if the problem seems to have gone away (their reasoning is that if it were a mechanical defect, it would still be present).
Anyone else with similar issue previously, or opinions on how the service department is handling this?
I got the car to my local dealer, and the Porsche tech initially diagnosed it as a valve lifter problem when he heard it on arrival. However, they didn't get around to putting it on the PIWIS until today, and when he checked it today, the problem is now gone (and the PIWIS didn't show any stored faults).
Since my car was just under 20k miles, the service department initially tried to blame it on my oil being dirty - until I informed them that I had changed the oil and filter (to specs) 3000 miles ago. I decided to have them go ahead and change the oil again, so they couldn't blame it on the oil if it recurred; they did strain my oil when they drained it, and didn't find any metal or particles.
They are having one of their service techs test drive it tonight and tomorrow to see if the problem recurs, and if not, then they will return the car to me. Apparently the PCNA tech advisor told them not to tear down the engine if the problem seems to have gone away (their reasoning is that if it were a mechanical defect, it would still be present).
Anyone else with similar issue previously, or opinions on how the service department is handling this?
04-04-2008, 12:05 PM
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They can not get a teardown authorization from PCNA without a current problem that is easy to duplicate.
I had a similar issue happen with a cam phase adjuster on my Wife's Passat 3.6. Problem went away after a stop and restart and has not returned since then. Took the car to the dealer and they said "drive it, if it happens again we will look at it again". In my case the problem has not returned.
If you have a faulty lifter it is usually on the intake side and it is usually some kind of "dirt" stuck in the lifter. If the dirt has passed out of the lifter the problem may not ever come back. If the lifter itself is problematic the problem will return.
I had a similar issue happen with a cam phase adjuster on my Wife's Passat 3.6. Problem went away after a stop and restart and has not returned since then. Took the car to the dealer and they said "drive it, if it happens again we will look at it again". In my case the problem has not returned.
If you have a faulty lifter it is usually on the intake side and it is usually some kind of "dirt" stuck in the lifter. If the dirt has passed out of the lifter the problem may not ever come back. If the lifter itself is problematic the problem will return.
