Dan@SharkWerks

The different bolts is normal. A few of the bolts on one exhaust adjuster attach to a vacuum pump drive. The other side has the same bolts but no pump drive.

996FLT6

^ so which ones are for pump? So why not keep all screws the same? I take it the vacuum pump screws are better or vice versa? I'm trying to see why not keep all the screws the same. Just doesn't look rt. Mike

Red Bear

Engine sounds like it is not hitting on all 6 then engine light starts flashing. My suggestion would be to have the cam bolts tighten to spec and your good to go.

ShakeNBake

Apparently there is no spec that the dealers can obtain. They (PCNA) don't tighten/re-torque the bolts, they replace the actuators assemblies or the heads only. I wish I was able to get a little closer to what they are doing to see if the parts they are using have rev'd.

Red Bear

^^ then do what he suggest.

Ducati5150

Got the car back yesterday. Tech was able to replicate the sound, turned out to be a problem with the brakes. Appreciate everyone's insight and guidance.

WSH

Why doesn't Porsche just issue a recall for both the cam bolts and the POS exploding 3.8 clutch ?

I guess they like to spread it out....CL in 2012, Intake 2013, Cam bolts 2014, clutch 2015

Or maybe they will just blame it on the owners as they did with the 3.6 GT3 RMS issue.

Bill

ShakeNBake

Maybe the cost of recalling the fleet is way more expensive than replacing the odd blown motor. The bill I've seen (and thankfully not paying) for replacing the actuators is ~10, not including the original labor to remove the motor. I'd also guess that the majority of worldwide owners don't track the RS (not my experience in Texas, it's pretty common to see 2-3 RS at a club event) and put very few miles such that they are unlikely to experience the issue in their ownership of the car/under warranty.

Emmanuel

Mine failed a month ago and it was repaired under warranty by BH Porsche. Work done included removal of engine, replacement of both exhaust cam actuators and re-tightening of intake cam actuators. Failure occurred on Sunset Blvd after steep acceleration, no over rev. Noticed a right side metallic noise at idle and loss of low end power, drove the car to the dealer immediately.
A bit scary considering it did not happened at max RPM.
E

JS

Looked at an private party sale 11 RS yesterday that had this cam work performed back in 2015 with 4700 miles on the car and it now has 5000.
Attached is a photo provided to me, what concerns should one have here?

bonehead

Exactly what 'work' was done and why? Screws all look like the witness marks line up. None of the bolts appear to have backed out.

Bxstr

Agree on all of this. I'd want to know why it was done. Was it preventative? Did bolts start backing out? Did bolts start grinding against the cam cover? I'm surprised that the pictures are actually included when it was done, that is good.

Like mentioned, looks like all marks line up.

JS

I'm told strictly preventative while the car was covered under warranty.
Just surprised to hear about these issues on the 3.8 and do not want any future headaches as much as possible.

Bxstr

Look into the Dundon Harmonic Dampener.

ranger22

I can't speak to the work that was done there. I have a thread in this board about the preventative maintenance I did on my car. You have two options: build the cam actuator bolts so they won't back out or use a harmonic dampener. Pros and cons to both, but I preferred to not add weight to the rotating mass partially offsetting the LWFW.