natef

Hi, Today I took delivery of my first Porsche. I was very excited until I heard it. Im not sure if its a normal ticking noise, after search through the forum, I found that many people have had similar issues. some attribute the issue to the injectors. With my limited knowledge of cars, I immediately thought it was the lifters. Anyway, I posted two videos of the noise. One of the videos is with my phone up against the air intake vent...

Can you guys check this out, let me know what you think? is this the normal Cayman engine noise or should I be concerned? Youtube links below

Thanks a lot!
https://youtu.be/yi6CTE2tWUc

https://youtu.be/Lijx-e7C-Rk

badabing

I think you should be concerned. That doesn't sound good to me.

danschy

Yeah, not good. When you said "ticking" I was expecting the occasional lifter noise I hear when I haven't driven mine in a while. Your noise appears more substantial, but still might be related to the valve train. It is definitely not typical and needs to be diagnosed.

desmotesta

Not to alarm you but that does NOT sound good..

I haver a 157K mile cayman S and even my old tired engine doesnt sound like that

I was expecting some valve click... this is more like a rod knock..

Don't drive and have the car looked at by someone who is very familiar with Porsches.

good luck and keep us posted

jscott82

Agree with previous responses. Don't start it again, get it towed...

Mike Murphy

desmotesta

no update ??

JC Lacayo

Update bump

PGas32

...

VolklGS

I would put serious money that what you hear is a scored cylinder. Especially if it is an S and not a base model. The 3.4 S engines, unlike the base 2.7 engines, are a high risk for bore scoring as I understand it.

Listen to the attached file of a Porsche with a scored bore.... sounds similar.

I hope I am wrong.

RobC4sX51

This is in contrast to Charles Navarro’s February article in the Panorama. He said the 3.4 rarely has bore scoring, it just wears out. Page 90 under the “what is the most common engine you receive” section.

996AE

Yep

A lot more than valve tick

Not likely belt off will change sounds

Tow truck time

PGas32

I believe a comment on the YouTube video indicated that it was a bad flywheel. It was apparently fixed and was offered for sale here and on Craigslist for a suspiciously low price. Doubt we’ll hear from the OP again

VolklGS

Listening to the original video again, it seems too rapid for a the bore scored engine - at least based on the video I posted. I jumped to the bore scoring conclusion because it has been on my mind after spending too much time online looking into the issue. Was perhaps a bad flywheel as you said PGas32.

Tangent to the OP's question, RobC4sX51 you mentioned a recent Charles Navarro article that claimed that the 3.4 motor rarely suffered from bore scoring, which seems to contradict what I posted. I don't have access to the article, but thought I would check to be sure Navarro was not talking about M97 3.4 engine that goes in the Cayman S, but rather the M96 3.4 engine that was used in the first generation 996s. Because from what I have read the 996.gen1 3.4 motor was indeed less prone to bore scoring compared to the 3.6 gen2 996 engines and 3.6/3.8 gen1 M97 engines used in the 997s. That makes more sense to me. Frankly, the bore scoring issue has cooled me on the prospect of buying a Cayman S - which in all other aspects checks all the right boxes. So if I have this backwards or if there is new information on the reliability of the 3.4 M97 motors I am all ears. Thanks.

Charles Navarro

Looking back though photos of incoming blocks, it would seem that the early 3.4 engines had more issues with cracked cylinders than scoring.

Likewise, we never see 2.5 or 2.7 engines with scored bores. 3.2s are far and few between, but cracking is more common than scoring if I were to weigh the failures.

3.6 engines we see with scoring mostly and a few cracked cylinders.

3.8 is always scored bores and right now, the most prevalent behind the 3.6 and 3.4 Cayman. I've never seen a 3.8 or 3.4 Cayman with a cracked cylinder.

Hope that helps clarify things.