chamilka

Hi All
I had another post regarding rough idling, in a nut shell, the Cayenne was diagnosed with a bad camshaft actuator in bank x. Currently the car drives well except there is a very slight rough idling plus slight performance degradation (hardly noticeable) due to camshaft miss alignment.

Here is the other post for more background:
https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...ease-help.html


Questions:
I was told by my mechanic (100% Porsche shop) that the fix require removal of the engine, while replacing the actuator I should replace the tension chain (best practice). The cost is over $5800. He recommend that I drive it as is now since the cost does not justify the repair given the age and value of the car.
Q1: By not fixing the issue, can things get worst or brake?
Q2: This car has been babied and all Cayenne bugs have been fixed (except the current issue). So I have invest lot of money over the years. In addition the car looks new inside and out and it would be a shame to let it go. If I deiced to keep it for 3-4 more years does it make sense to do the repair, if I do should I change all 8 actuators?
Q3: Does Porsche sell replacement engines, if so do you know how much it would cost?

Thank you
Chamilka

TozoM8

Sometimes it is the solenoid that activates the adjuster. It is on the top so you don't have to remove the engine. #14 is the adjuster #13 is the solenoid. Sometimes it is just gunked up.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PORSCHE-OEM-...5de490&vxp=mtr

XR4Tim

The solenoid that TozoM8 referred to is what "actuator" usually refers to. It's pretty easy to install, I think only the valve cover has to come off.
The cam adjusters are also replaceable with the engine in, though it is not as simple as the solenoid replacement. I would only recommend pulling the motor if you were going to replace the timing chains and guides. What kind of mileage is on this Cayenne?

CaptJim

That type of Valve train failure, if it is truly mechanical and not fuel or spark, solenoid or actuator, would show up on a vacuum gauge when connected to the intake plenum. Did you confirm this with a Vacuum gauge?

Come to think about this, Where is the Vacuum test port on a Cayenne?

chamilka

The car is 2004 Cayenne, with 114k miles. The shop took the covers off to prove that the actuator is bad. The shop is a serious Porsche race building shop so I took their word when that said the motor has to come out. But I will give them a call again with your information here.
thanks

TozoM8

They will tell you shop hours called by the book. It doesn't have to come out, but because the guy who wrote the book like to work with the engine on the bench shops use it as a reference to estimate the cost of repair. That is the maximum they are alowed to charge without being sued for overcharging the customer. If they are busy, they can pick what jobs they take and it will be over $5800. If they have nothing else scheduled they will do it for much less. I doubt that it would take more than 10 hours + ~$1000 in parts.

chamilka

Thank you for the input TozoM8.
Is there anybody in this Cayenne forum who has replaced Camshaft Actuators without having to remove the engine?. I did ask two other shops they said the same thing, in addition my google search also tends to say the engine typically comes out to do the procedure.

Would be interested to know form someone who has actually done it, so I can challenge the shop.

gbratk

Do you want to change Camshaft actuators, or camshaft adjusters?
Like XR4Tim said, actuators are easy to change, just have to take off valve covers.
Camshaft adjusters are big deal, I believe, they can be done with engine in the car, but probably whole front end has to be disassembled.

chamilka

Thank you for the infor.

The initial shop only talked about replacing the camsharft actuator. I called another shop in Fairfax and he mentioned that replacement of the camsharft actuator will cost $1600 including parts which will not require the engine out, so guys are right. Now I need to call the first shop get more infor on his theory

XR4Tim

I've done both on a 957 S before, but not on a 955. I don't imagine there's a huge difference between the 4.5 and 4.8 here. I didn't have to remove the engine, or even take too much of the front apart. There's a special tool for the timing chain tensioner, and another for locking the cams. Otherwise it was pretty straightforward. It wasn't a quick job, but I don't think it took me a whole day or anything.

Switchfoot614

ugg..

I just posted a huge reply and it was lost..

CaptJim

I know how it feels. If you want to put your thoughts down again, when you have time again, I will read it. I want to learn more about this valve train, in detail. I was looking for some technical drawings, anyone know of a good source? I will google later to see if I find anything.

blackland

They are replacing the Electronic Cam Controler on our 2012 CT as we speak. It was causing a check engine light to come on, otherwise it was not noticable.

koboudi1

Wondering if this group can help. 2008 S with 67K miles (and i'm mechanically challenged so rely on Indy shop).

CEL came on last year, driver side actuator needed replacement. Done.

Light on again this year, intermittently with same error code (per Indy) but for passenger side. I tend to believe it was the issue as had a lot of the hallmarks i read here, slight performance degradation and a little rough at idle, so after a couple months, had the actuator replaced last week.

CEL came back on after 1 day. Back at Indy and he said the timing of the ??(cam maybe, missed exact part) is off compared to the driver side, throwing up the error code. He said to take her out for a good drive to see if stuck due to actuator. Worked for a couple days, now on again. He quoted $3-4K to fix if needed as needed to take engine apart and part was also ~$1500.

No other issues i can see / feel with car with CEL on, and have to sell her in 4 months so hesitant to put $4k in her. Any tips / additional checks i can do (prefer not to buy Duramteric but can if needed to validate codes).

Thanks (and sorry for the lack of technical detail)

bbb bbb

So what ended up fixing it? I have replaced both actuator solenoids, but not the actuator itself. The actuator on the front of each csmshaft is $800+ and dealer says front engine cover, as well as valve covers, needs to be removed. However, they said it is done with engine in the Cayenne, not removed.