Variocam thoughts and questions

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by sfkjeld

Just picked up the car. Turned out the new computer did not clear the CEL as they thought. At least they Didn’t charge me for the new computer. What they did do was replace the cam solenoid and replaced some wiring they thought could be causing the 1341 CEL. They said the oil pressure to the actuator is moving the cam now. But not to spec. That said, the car still passed the CA smog test. So they asked me to drive it 500-1000 miles then they wanted to flush the engine thinking it might clear a plugged oil gallery. They also changed the oil and said the oil filter was clean.

30 miles after picking up the car, the 1341 CEL returned. So I guess I’ll do the engine flush, but seems a long shot. Otherwise, I may just drive the car with the CEL. Hopefully I can clear the CEL and it will still pass smog next year.

That must be disappointing, sorry to hear When I rebuilt my heads I flushed the actuators with fresh oil a couple times with a syringe. The oil that came out didn`t look good. I can imagine that if the solenoid is not working for a while the old oil inside the actuator gets cooked and the small oil passages get clogged, so maybe it works out after a couple more hundred miles. Did you confirm the solenoid was faulty?

[sfkjeld]

Originally Posted by Homeoboxter

That must be disappointing, sorry to hear When I rebuilt my heads I flushed the actuators with fresh oil a couple times with a syringe. The oil that came out didn`t look good. I can imagine that if the solenoid is not working for a while the old oil inside the actuator gets cooked and the small oil passages get clogged, so maybe it works out after a couple more hundred miles. Did you confirm the solenoid was faulty?

Thanks. I asked the shop whether the solenoid was bad. They concluded it must have been because it was not moving the actuator at all when they first tested it. After replacing, it does move but not to spec. They referred to it as “slow”.

Hence they want to do this engine flush in the hopes of clearing an oil gallery to increase oil pressure in the actuator. Again, that sounds like a Hail Mary. But after your syringe experience, maybe the flush might clear out something.

Must say, I am stunned at how little difference the vario cam seems to make. If as they said, it wasn’t working at all on bank 1-3 when I brought it in, and it’s not working well now, why does the car run so well? I can’t tell the difference. Seems like a lot tech for not much performance.

[Homeoboxter]

Originally Posted by sfkjeld

Thanks. I asked the shop whether the solenoid was bad. They concluded it must have been because it was not moving the actuator at all when they first tested it. After replacing, it does move but not to spec. They referred to it as “slow”.

Hence they want to do this engine flush in the hopes of clearing an oil gallery to increase oil pressure in the actuator. Again, that sounds like a Hail Mary. But after your syringe experience, maybe the flush might clear out something.

Must say, I am stunned at how little difference the vario cam seems to make. If as they said, it wasn’t working at all on bank 1-3 when I brought it in, and it’s not working well now, why does the car run so well? I can’t tell the difference. Seems like a lot tech for not much performance.

Well, the solenoid just operates a valve that controls oil flow within the actuator. It still can be totally fine if the actuator is bad, or the oil passages are blocked. It’s not too parsimonious to replace a $500 part without making sure it’s faulty. If you have the solenoid you can easily test it with a battery.

[sfkjeld]

Originally Posted by Homeoboxter

Well, the solenoid just operates a valve that controls oil flow within the actuator. It still can be totally fine if the actuator is bad, or the oil passages are blocked. It’s not too parsimonious to replace a $500 part without making sure it’s faulty. If you have the solenoid you can easily test it with a battery.

thank you. Could they have tested the solenoid before replacing it? They also claimed a failed actuator is extremely rare.

[blue62]

Originally Posted by sfkjeld

thank you. Could they have tested the solenoid before replacing it? They also claimed a failed actuator is extremely rare.

A solenoid is just an electromagnetic device.
It could have been tested with a multimeter via back probing the wiring connections.
Also the function of the actuator can be tested with a OBDII scanner that has test functions.
With my $175.00 Foxwell scanner I can trigger my actuators then not only hear the difference in how the engine runs.
I can also see the cam timing change and by how many degrees.
Very simple tests that verify function.

[sfkjeld]

Originally Posted by blue62

A solenoid is just an electromagnetic device.
It could have been tested with a multimeter via back probing the wiring connections.
Also the function of the actuator can be tested with a OBDII scanner that has test functions.
With my $175.00 Foxwell scanner I can trigger my actuators then not only hear the difference in how the engine runs.
I can also see the cam timing change and by how many degrees.
Very simple tests that verify function.

Thank you, very interesting. I recently purchased a Foxwell scanner, probably at your suggestion. I’ve used it only to clear the CEL. Are you able to see the timing change on the scanner?

[blue62]

Originally Posted by sfkjeld

Thank you, very interesting. I recently purchased a Foxwell scanner, probably at your suggestion. I’ve used it only to clear the CEL. Are you able to see the timing change on the scanner?

I can on my scanner.
It is the Foxwell NT520 Pro

I went out and hooked it up to my 2000S so I could refresh my memory on how I do it.
I will attempt to talk you through it.

Hook up the scanner
Go to the Porsche program and hit enter.
Go to manual selection and hit enter.
Go down to 986 Boxster/Cayman hit enter.
Go to Diagnosis hit enter.
Go to control units hit enter.
Go to DME (its the top choice on my scanner) hit enter.
Go down to actual values hit enter.
Go to all data hit enter.
Now you should be looking at a list of all the data the DME sees.

With the car running you can watch all this data under different driving conditions.
You can watch all the data the DME sees in real time. You just have to learn what your looking at and what it means.
I have hooked mine up and watched various data over a 320 mile run several times.

Now go down till you see camshaft deviation for each bank
Below that is actual camshaft angles.


so if your at idle watching camshaft angle you should see changes when your Variocam timing actuator kicks in. I think that is around 1500 RPM. then I kicks back out around 5000 RPM. Not positive on those RPM's but I should be in the ballpark.
You can graph it with the graphing feature and see changes over a short period of time.
I think you can also Data log with this scanner but I have never tried it.

Now You can back out to where you found actual values and go down to
Drive links active.
Hit enter
Now you can activate your fuel injectors and your Variocam timing Actuators.
sort of a test mode.
You will hear and feel the difference when you activate the injectors or the actuators with the engine running.
Now simply activating them does not tell you that everything is within spec. but it will tell you if they function, or not.

So that is how it works with my scanner on my 2000S

Hope this helps
Let me know how you go