alwayswantedone

Hi all, I've had my 997S (2007) for about 3 months now. Yesterday, while driving, the check engine light came on (solidly, not flashing, with message "visit workshop") and about a minute later the central warning red exclamation point. I came home and parked it. Per the owner's manual and information found here, I checked the gas cap, washer fluid, etc. Nothing I've done has made the light turn off, so I guess I don't get off easy! The car hasn't been washed aside from waterless spray, nor has it been in the rain since I've owned it, so there's been no water intrusion into the engine bay or elsewhere. It sleeps in the garage. Car behaves exactly normally. Oil level and all other fluids are within range. I don't have a code scanner or Durametric, so I guess it's to the dealer next week. Anyone else have both of these lights come on at the same time? I know it's impossible for anyone to diagnose with what I've written, just hoping to ease my mind a bit. I love this car!

SoCal C2S

You can go to an Autozone or O'Reillys and borrow a basic OBD II scanner and read any stored codes. That way you have a hint of what is wrong.

mcfisticuffs

Search for ELM 327 Bluetooth OBDII on ebay. You can get a basic code reader for under $5, and then use an app like Torque Lite or OBDII Dr. I'm sure there are several others which work well. Point being, for a few bucks you can get 80% of the info the dealer can, which can give those wiser than I on the forum the info they need to help you even more.

alwayswantedone

Thanks guys, I found a cheap OBD reader locally and I'm about to go pick it up. Will report what I find later tonight.

alwayswantedone

Code retrieved is P1346. Researching now, but found "valve lift control bank 1". Sounds ominous, hopefully not.

SoCal C2S

That's the Variocam solenoid on bank 1. To be sure your mechanic should hook it up to the PIWIS system to rule out some simpler issue....but the solenoids do fail from time to time.

alwayswantedone

Thanks SoCal, I saw that as a possibility in another thread. I'll get her into the shop this week. I assume driving it there won't be hazardous to its health.

alwayswantedone

Should it be the variocam solenoid, is this a complex repair/replacement?

extanker

it aint cheap

alwayswantedone

I figured that. Glad I have an extended warranty that will hopefully cover it.

alwayswantedone

Maybe I hit the jackpot. I hadn't yet checked the oil fill cap. I did so a little while ago, and it wasn't in the "clicked shut" position. Seemingly tightish, but went another 1/8th turn or so and clicked. I assume it's supposed to click. Anyway, maybe that's it? The last oil change was before I owned it. They may have opened it during the PPI in May too. I'd never messed with it.

So I cleared the code and went for a drive until it was at operating temperature, maybe 20 minutes or so. No recurrence of code yet. Maybe?

Iceter

BTW, the red exclamation point is not a warning in and of itself--it's just there to remind you that you have a warning stored in the computer and you need to do something about it. If you get almost any kind of warning, then switch to a different informational screen on the dash, the exclamation point will illuminate so you don't forget about the warning.

Just thought I'd throw that out there to make you feel a little better. You really only got one warning light. See, there's always a silver lining.

motopix

Seems unlikely that a loose oil cap would throw that particular code. But let's hope so.

SoCal C2S

Low oil level can throw this code....so maybe you got lucky as a loose oil filler cap can throw off the oil level reading.

alwayswantedone

So far so good. Put about 60 miles on today, runs perfectly, no CEL recurrence. Keeping my fingers crossed!