3.2 Jumped time on one bank
 

I have a 2002 Boxster S with the 3.2 engine. My question is this, what would cause the timing to be off from one side to the other side. My Father was driving the car down the road when all of a sudden the car lost power. When he pulled over and stopped the car it would not restart. I ended up buying the car from him after getting word from Cory at Planet 9 Eleven that the car had jumped time. I pulled the engine out of the car to get a better look at the engine and figure out what course of action would need to take place. When I checked the timing (no tools just used the way I found on here by lining up the notches in the cams) I noticed one bank was right on and the other side was off by just over 1/8 of a turn. I looked and both the exhaust and intake cams are both off by almost the same amount. What would cause this and what should my next step be? I would rather fix this engine then get another one if I can so I have more money for upgrades such as the IMS and RMS. Thank you all for all your help and time.

Post some pics of where the notches are in both banks. Lock the crank at TDC when taking the photos. This is a somewhat common issue and has several contributing factors, some simple, some huge.
Worst case you can ship it this way and we can find why the timing moved. Don't just reset the timing, the issue is screaming that an underlying problem exists and it will find you if you don't find it first.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342498437.jpg
Pass side
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342498532.jpg
Pass side
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342498579.jpg
Driver side
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342498619.jpg
Driver side
Let me know what you think it might be. If i have to send the engine off to have the work done i will send it to you, I have heard nothing but great things about your work.

Would you know what the outside temperture was at the time it died? Did your father note if it was running hotter than normal?

In these pics is the crank locked at TDC? This is critical to understanding what has occurred.

With this much deviation you could already have bent valves. The first step will be to perform a series of tests to see what collateral damage exists as it may be too late to even care about the underlying condition and primary failure.

Have you taken off the filter and sump plate to look for metal? If so, what did you find?

I did have the crank locked at TDC. Like I stated in my first post i would really like to fix this engine if i can so that way i can spend the money on making a better engine. If i just go get a used engine i might have the same problem later down the road. Let me know what you think i should do and thank you for all your time and help.

No just pulled the engine the other day.

It did this in November and he lives in St. Louis so i dont think it would have be a really high outside air temp. I asked him about the car temp and he stated it was running fine, no problems, Temp was normal, everything was great then just without warning it lost power.

If that was at TDC, I'd expect collateral damages based on the position that the cams are in.

What do you think my next step would be? Do i need to pull the head and check the valves? Do you feel the engine can be saved? If I drove it out to you what kinda cost would i be looking at? Thank you again for your time and help

Do all the cams move when you turn the crank?

Jager, I have worked on cars for years, rebuild Ford and Chevy engines, rebuild my old 944 engine, and never once thought to check and see if that side was turning just put it at TDC and looked at the notches. NO! the one bank that is off does not turn.. Great question thank you for your help.

Is there hope? LOL

You could pop the scavenge pump off on that side and have a look see....

You have broken a timing chain..Pull that cam cover and I'll walk you through diagnosis.

I took off the scavenge pump and the chain is loose, it is not even on the chain rail.

Jake thank you for the reply, I will get the cam cover off tonight and post pics. Thank you everyone for your help.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660369.jpg
When I pulled the cam cover off the chain fell right out.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660503.jpg
Close up of chain.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660581.jpg
Pic of cams.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660625.jpg
Pic of cams.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660673.jpg
Chain
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342660711.jpg
Chain.

This is turning-out to be a fun thread! I hope you don’t have any valve damage. I’m curious to see what Jake asks you to do as he walks you through this. Keep the pictures coming!

Ok... Just as I suspected. You need to check for collateral damage now. Do you have a leak down tester?

If the valves aren't bent, I have a fix for this. If the valves are bent, or even the pistons screwed, I have a fix for that too. Hell, we pray for a failure like this, everything we have had lately looks like this.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...52000333_n.jpg

If you don't have a leak down testor you can improvise with this little trick, hook up your compressor to it and listen in the exhaust and intake for leaks.... you can also lay paper over the in/ex opening to see if any physical movement....
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342665896.jpg
Just make sure you don't seal the hole through the center...

Pull the cams first.. Otherwise you will have valves that are held open and will give a false indication.

It good to know that no matter what you have a fix. As for the leak down tester no i dont have one. Just a compression tester.

I will see about building one tomorrow after work. My compression tester has an air fitting where the dial hooks on so i will see if that might work also. Thank you again for all your help.

With a compression tester kust pull the schrader valve out so air will pass the opposite direction and you are good to go.

Pull the cam assemblies..

Todays update, I just finished testing each cylinder and here are the results, cylinder #1 gave me a nice cooling breeze from the intake, while cylinder #2 helped to beat the 105 degree heat with a breeze from the exhaust, cylinder #3 was the only one that did not have a leak.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342741333.jpg
Pic of test on cylinder #2
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1342741391.jpg
Plugs from left to right, #3,#2,#1

Did you tap on the valves to make sure there is nothing stuck under them? Chances are they are bent... but you never know........

I would test the other side too.

Exactly what I expected.. Do you know how many shops would not have done this test and tried to repair it without pulling the head?

It sounds like it needs to come see the magicians:-)
As long as you didn't hear air in the crankcase we are still in business.

I did not hear any air in the crankcase, I have bags over all the hoses and open ports in the engine to keep junk out, none of the bags showed any sings of air so i hope that is good news. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today and for all your help throughout this process. I will call you and try to figure out when i can get it out to you.

That's great. Glad to help. Dean can work with you on getting the engine shipped, he got a shipping quote today.. I'll do my part once the engine gets on deck here.

Heck, I might even post all the pics of this one here..