Timing Chain out of Position
 

Started the car on thursday, rough idle, drove it home, drove it to and from school the next day. still idling rough. Sat in the garage all weekend and just ran the codes. Timing chain out of position and various cylinder misfires showed up. Any help or advice about what to do about the timing chain would be greatly appreciated.

How did you determine the cam(s) are out of position (what diagnostic tool), and what codes did you pull?

Year and model would be helpful.

Meanwhile , start hunting for cam lock tools or making a diy tool.Buy some green cam plugs. Then you'll be ready for the advice others will give -and not tempted to try without the essential cam lock tool.
You should probably ask if it is wise to run the engine with a cam timing issue ? If it has jumped time, it could jump again and that could be very expensive !
There are some great diy tutorials available to re-set the timing but we need to figure out why/if it jumped first. There is quite a list of possible causes - have you done any related work recently- IMSB?, Solenoids?Chain-Guides/pads? I see a 24mm socket in your future.......

Sounds like the chain adjuster is failing. Get some diagnostics on it before you go mechanically inside. If the timing is 25* out, the adjuster has failed. The other possibility is severely worn chain wear pads on the chain adjuster.

This is if its a 5 chain engine.

1999 2.5

Timing Chain Out of Position Bank 2: P1324
Generic Cylinder 4 Misfire: P0304
Generic Cylinder 5 Misfire: P0305
Generic Cylinder 6 Misfire: P0306
Generic Random Misfire: P0300

Have you checked the cam deviation values?

No, how is this done?

Do you have a Porsche specific scan tool (Durametric, PST II, PIWIS)?

A Porsche diagnostic computer or a Durametric cable can check the cam deviation values.

A dealer would have the computer; independent shops and local Porsche people may have a Durametric cable in your area.

The risk here is whether you should run your engine or not. Did you get a CEL after the problem started? If not, that's a hopeful sign. If you did, was it flashing. If it was flashing, shut the car down immediately and tow it somewhere for further diagnostics.

Starting by replacing the camshaft position sensor in bank 2 today. We'll go from there.

Don't throw parts at it, diagnose it.

It pulled a code for the sensor too. I was thinking that the sensor being bad could cause all kinds of other problems too. even if it doesn't solve the problem, it needed to be replaced anyways.

Let me know if you want a hand wrenching on it. I don't mind coming over and helping tear apart a boxster.

The car is going into Dumont Porsche in OKC this saturday for diagnostics.

Smart move, but I still wish I lived near you so I could try to convince you to let me help you tear it down and fix it as a DIY!

Thanks for your interest! At this point, its worth the money to pay someone to diagnose and fix the problems. If I attempted a DIY, I'd be out of a car for a longgg time as I can only work on it on weekends.