986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - 1997 Boxster

MNBoxster · 05-21-2006, 03:53 PM

Hi,

What do you mean by variocam units? The VarioCam is a system, not the actual Camshaft. In the '97 you have VarioCam vs VarioCam Plus in the later Cars. With VarioCam, an Electrical Solenoid is used to shift the phase of the Cams and this is what I suspect has gone faulty. Still, at 35k mi., it's somewhat unusual.

Swapping out the units is not that difficult, getting to the units is where most of your money will be spent. Try contacting a local Porsche Service Advisor to see if something can be done £-wise.

There's no way to tell if your 10 y.o. Car will now start to cost you more in maintenance except to say that it will. At 35k mi., it will cost you less than at 100k mi. + 10 years, but maintenance will likely go up some. Consider that you've had many years with no maintenance expense and it all evens out. Sounds like a pretty good Car and I'd keep it, at least for now, if it does become untrustworthy, dump it. Good Luck!...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

05-21-2006, 03:53 PM	#5
MNBoxster Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Posts: 3,308	Hi, What do you mean by variocam units? The VarioCam is a system, not the actual Camshaft. In the '97 you have VarioCam vs VarioCam Plus in the later Cars. With VarioCam, an Electrical Solenoid is used to shift the phase of the Cams and this is what I suspect has gone faulty. Still, at 35k mi., it's somewhat unusual. Swapping out the units is not that difficult, getting to the units is where most of your money will be spent. Try contacting a local Porsche Service Advisor to see if something can be done £-wise. There's no way to tell if your 10 y.o. Car will now start to cost you more in maintenance except to say that it will. At 35k mi., it will cost you less than at 100k mi. + 10 years, but maintenance will likely go up some. Consider that you've had many years with no maintenance expense and it all evens out. Sounds like a pretty good Car and I'd keep it, at least for now, if it does become untrustworthy, dump it. Good Luck!... Happy Motoring!... Jim'99