xzoom77x

I never had CEL, but I knew something was off. Bits of plastic in oil changes, and deviation going up a bit every drive. I knew something probably wasn't right, considering the variocam pads were changes 20k miles ago, and I shouldn't be seeing them in oil at the rate I was.

As it turns out, my variocam was engaging when it shouldn't have been, which was causing excessive wear on the pads.

Replaced variocam on both banks, along with other guides within the motor. While engine was out I had IMS, AOS, coils(997), plugs, tubes, water pump, coolant tank, RMS, and a few other things taken care of. It wasn't cheap, but the car drives completely different, and I've got some piece of mind that I'm good for many more miles.

Before
bank 1: -5.27
bank 2: -1.30

After
bank 1: -.96
bank 2: -.19

Porschetech3

Picture of the wear on the 20k mile vario cam pads ?

xzoom77x

They saved all the parts, I looked at them, and had them dispose. The two heavy wear pads were extremely chunked, one of the oil fed pads had so much wear that the oil outlets were almost ground all the way down.

yelcab

Why was it engaged when it was not supposed to ?

xzoom77x

Unknown, it was the first time they'd see a variocam do this. I didn't want to spend even more cash to have them investigate. Could've just done bank 1, since that what seemed to be slipping most o deviation, but decided to go with bank 2 to not worry again.

sublm8

Interesting, and weird.

Did you have any CEL codes, such as codes for variocam solenoid failure or misfires? Was your idle rough?

Stuck actuator, car would drive fine but idle and top end would be wonky. Curious as I just did my pad job and would like to know if a "silent" stuck variocam actuator is a thing.

sublm8

Interesting, and weird. The pad condition suggests it's been going on a long time.

Did you have any CEL codes like variocam solenoid failure or misfires?

Wouldn't a variocam actuator that's stuck "on" cause increased wear to the top pad, but minimal wear to the bottom pad?

hbdunn

Those variocam units would be worth several hundred dollars since they now have rebuild kits. Just the actuator is very expensive new. I would have definitely kept them. You don't even know if one was bad. How did the wear on bank 1 compare to bank 2. Seems odd not to take pictures for those that have been following your thread so we could have reference of their condition.

dporto

“Local shop wanted to see the car back in 5k miles, but I brought it back after 800 miles to have them do some winter work on it. Long story short, the bank 1 deviation number of -5.8 has them hesitant to do any work. They recommended cam tensioners, and $5k of work, but when I pushed back on how they got to that conclusion they've now said they aren't comfortable, because they aren't sure it would fix the deviation on bank 1. I actually was game to do that work, as the main guides were all changed 22k miles ago, and seems logical that perhaps the deviation on bank 1is due to VarioCam pads, but again, no CEL so not much to go by.”

Was it the same shop you were referencing in the thread above that did the work? If so, what changed their mind about doing the work?

xzoom77x

Good follow-up, not the same shop, I ended up going to a great shop that didn't focus so much on air cooled. The stance at the previous shop was "drive it until it dies, the work is expensive, enjoy the car", I didn't want to go that route and they didn't want to take my money.

Really happy about the work done, and to be done with dealing with all the uneasiness around the car.

yelcab

My experience has been the replacement of the actuator, small chain, and pad on a 5 chain engine only improves the cam deviation by 1.5 degrees or less. To get more, you probably would need to replace the other chains that need an engine split.

Also, I have only seen actuator going bad on Bank 1, never bank 2 and I cannot explain why.

sublm8

This would depend on severity of deviation though. My bank 1 pads were almost worn through. I got almost 9 deg of improvement on bank 1, and 2.5 on bank 2 replacing pads and small chains. Didn't change actuator.

dporto

^^^ Or actually adjust the timing better…