projekt-h

Last I heard was early-mid October parts should be available. Mine shows no symptoms of pending failure, but I suppose this could be something more sudden. My only fear is the loaner car would be nicer than mine and I'd feel like such a peasant getting back into my own

I mean, at least it's a few month's worth of miles you're putting on their car. Though, I doubt they'd be too happy with me if I had a loaner that long, seeing as I've already put nearly 5500 on my Cayenne in 2 months.

DNorby

It happened to me on a 2011 Panamera base model. About a month left on my warranty my car told me it was powering down and I should pull over. The bolts were hollow aluminum with steel shafts and sometimes the shafts were not long enough. The aluminum would snap and the bolt goes into the running engine. Eventually the replaced the engine which was priced at $28k (warranty covered it). Another thing about that motor is that it used a quart of oil about every 800 miles.

deilenberger

I believe the steel-shaft thing was a Interwebz generated rumor. The bolts used on the V8 engines are simply aluminum. What some people mistook for a steel shaft is an anti-tamper pin put in the Torx recess in the head of the bolt to keep errant mechanics from trying to remove or tighten these. A special bit is required for use with the anti-tamper Torx bolts.

When you say this was a Panamera "base" model - do you mean the V6? Failure of the bolts on the V6 isn't unknown, but it's relatively rare.

DNorby

The motor was a V6. I could not find much about how many were failing. When I brought it into the dealer, the service desk people acted like this never happened. The guys in the back working on the cars said it was common. They would not warrant the new engine because the warranty expired while they were working on it. I traded it in on a used 911S when it was repaired-I did not trust the car after that.

Jessica R

Shopping for car & decided on a whim to test drive 2011 Cayenne S. I was in love within the first mile! However, it died on the freeway as I was driving it. No big deal, I was optimistic it could be something simple....nope. The good news is that Porsche is putting in a brand new engine in @ no charge under the recall. The bad news is it may be 3 weeks before it's done. Call me crazy...I still put a deposit on it!

dporsche74

looking at two 2011 TT and both do not have the cambolts updates? any suggestions?

deilenberger

Is that a question or a statement? The "?" is a bit confusing.

Suggestion - look for a 2012. Or.. gamble on it not grenading the engine before Porsche gets the parts in place for the recall.

That's about the only choices I see.

Tom M

FWIW - My view would be if the vehicle is exactly what you're looking for then use the info to get the best deal you can. If it grenades before the recall repairs actually start you're still covered. Either way you'll have the car you wanted.

As mentioned, the other route is to get a newer model which isn't impacted by the recall for more $$$.

dporsche74

Thanks Tom.. I only have two 11 models close to me i cannot find a 12 too close. and like your logic..

I am pretty hands on , built many 911 engines in the day.. can i buy the updated bolts?

any DYI project you guys seen online or vids>?

thanks so much...I cannot wait to have a 500hp flappy paddle off road Porsche soon..


off topic*** but does anyone else have problem posting in the classified section as of late?
I cannot post anymore after being a member for more then 10yrs??? mod never resond to pms? who is the mod here??
All the Best. ..

deilenberger

I'm not Tom.. but..

You can't buy the bolts. They are not available as a part. It's not clear they could be changed if you could buy them. I had no luck removing ones from my Variocam adjusters when they were out of the engine. Hence - no DIY, no video.

As long as you don't mind if the vehicle is off the road for what may be a considerable period of time - Tom's logic is flawless.. but Porsche does not have the parts to fix this yet, and its dragging on for months now (recall announced in July) and aside from an initial letter from Porsche announcing it - nothing is forthcoming and the when it will be available to be done date is still unknown.

So - if the engine grenades good enough to need a new engine, you will still have to wait for an engine from Germany to get here, and some people have reported at least weeks, and sometimes into months to get the new engine. If it doesn't fully grenade (valves aren't bent, bits of bolt don't go missing) - Porsche still has to supply the parts, which even back a year ago when I had mine done - were in short supply.

Your choice. If that's acceptable to you.. go for one of the ones you've found if they fulfill your desires.

As far as having a problem posting in the FS areas - dunno. I'm a moderator (but not of the FS section) and I haven't received a PM from you - but I have from other people and I generally try to answer them as soon as possible. This is such a highly paid job ($0,000,000/year) that you'd think we'd all be just waiting around for PM's.. I guess some guys just aren't earning their pay.

BTW - I just noticed you are not a PAID MEMBER. Only PAID MEMBERS can post in the FS section, even if you've been a "USER" forever. I'm sure there is a link somewhere to find how to pay and get the cool RennList.com decals for your Porsche.

dporsche74

wow really?... you cannot remove the cam bolts? what are they 8 mm 10mm>
do the heads snap off ?.. you cannot tap it out? I wonnder how does Porsche tech in the shop do it? you seem so negative mod guy...

I remember back in the day the some 996 guys crying about the IMS bearing. and the 2.7 engine some guys crying about pulling head studs.. and 964 with the flat cylinders.. now cayenne cambolts...that seem ****,,
always a simple fix..

deilenberger

I'm guessing you haven't read the entire thread here on the Variocam bolts, or the one on 6speedonline.

People have attempted to pull the bolts. They are made from soft aluminum. They have a VERY shallow security Torx recess in them. They have a special profile of the bottom of the head that makes them prone to breaking.

With a brand new security Torx bit - I was unable to remove a single bolt from a Variocam adjuster I had clamped in a vice. One person did report that using a brand new SnapOn bit they were able to remove a few. Doing it in place will be difficult just due to access to them (on the back of the adjuster) and attempting to do it in place poses a very real risk of snapping the head off anyway, and having to R&R the Variocam adjuster.

Porsche themselves in the several recalls they already performed on many tens of thousands of Cayennes in Japan and China did not just replace the bolts - they replaced the entire Variocam adjusters - which involves retiming the cams. While the recall here mentions bolt replacement, no details on what they're actually going to do have been released. If it was just bolts - I suspect it would have started happening already.

My WAG is - it's going to be replacement of the Variocam adjusters, at the expense of the manufacturer of the adjusters. Since the bolts are part of the adjusters - you'll get new bolts for sure - as part of the new adjuster.

I'm certain if you can come up with a simple way to do this Porsche would pay you handsomely to train their techs to do it. They have 17,000+ of these engines in the US, so that means 34,000+ Variocam adjusters need replacement (or less likely - repair.)

As far as how the techs in the shop do it - they replace the Variocam adjusters per WC-22. If reality equals negativity to you - then yup, I must be negative. But before making that judgement - I'd suggest you spend a long evening reading: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...s-failure.html

It's about 600 posts on exactly this problem. Then you can decide if I'm negative. I'll withhold judgement on an opinion on you until you've done that.

dporsche74

info is much needed thank you ..

vmitrader

Hi all, first post here. Had the bolts in my 2011 Cayenne S (95k miles) snap and car totally died without about 1 minute notice from light on to zero power. Was in the shop for 3 weeks while the parts were manufactured and sent from Germany. Once I got it back the "check engine" light was still on and engine was making a rattling noise, brought it back to dealer and after two weeks of zero communication they said the camshaft solenoid had to be replaced at a cost of $1400 to me. Seems pretty coincidental those two things happened at the same time. Anyways, replaced that and just got it back but it's still making a loud rattling noise when accelerating although no engine lights are on. Any thoughts on what this could be?

deilenberger

Hi VMITrader..

Where are you located? It would seem that more was damaged in your engine when the Variocam bolts failed then just the bolts/Variocam adjusters.

The fact that the check engine light was on when they were done with the work shows it wasn't right when they completed the work.

At this point you may want to get Porsche involved. The dealer is stonewalling you. If you're in the USA - you may also want to let Porsche know that you'll be contacting NHTSA about their dealer's failure to correctly complete the recall work on your vehicle.

The loud rattling noise may be a cam-chain tensioner being damaged by the failure of the Variocam bolts - leading to a rattling cam chain on acceleration. That also could account for a misdiagnosis of the "camshaft solenoid" (this is a valve that controls the oil flow/pressure going to the Variocam adjusters - the oil pressure relates to the amount of cam-advance..)

Good luck, let us know what happens..