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Old 08-03-2020, 01:00 PM   #1
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Help Diagnosing Slew of CEL Codes

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Originally Posted by blue62 View Post
Good luck let us know how you go.

Mechanic confirmed today that bank 1 camshaft position is off by about 20 degrees as compared to bank 2. Bank 1 has all the CEL codes, so solidifies the variocam actuator theory. He’s going to start tearing ‘er apart tomorrow.
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Old 08-03-2020, 02:48 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by -tWv- View Post
Mechanic confirmed today that bank 1 camshaft position is off by about 20 degrees as compared to bank 2. Bank 1 has all the CEL codes, so solidifies the variocam actuator theory. He’s going to start tearing ‘er apart tomorrow.
Good luck with it.
Let us know how you go.
I always like to hear end results
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Old 08-07-2020, 12:26 PM   #3
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Help Diagnosing Slew of CEL Codes

Quote:
Originally Posted by blue62 View Post
Good luck with it.
Let us know how you go.
I always like to hear end results

So the saga continues... he got the valve cover off and found that the cam timing was actually off by 1 tooth. The VarioCam actuator looked good and didn’t look like it needed replacing, so buttoned the car back up and test drove.

He said car ran well (no codes at all) after the first test drive but he noticed the water pump was leaking pretty bad so I told him to go ahead and replace that while the car was in the shop. After replacing the water pump he test drove again and now the car is throwing a camshaft sensor (P0341) code. He replaced the sensor and the code is still showing up. He has checked the cam timing and both banks are advancing together so doesn’t seem like an actuator issue. Additionally, the car runs well when cold but starts to run poorly and feel sluggish when hot. I don’t think this has anything to do with the water pump install, it just didn’t show up until he got a true test drive with the car all the way warmed up.

He’s keeping the car over the weekend and looking into it more next week, but I’m sort of at a loss for what this could be. I guess this could be an electrical issue with the connection itself causing it to not function properly. Another thought was something is wrong with air/fuel mixture when it gets up to temp (maybe MAF, O2 sensor, injectors...?), but no clue why that would throw a camshaft position sensor code.

Any ideas?

Mechanic is going to keep troubleshooting so will post back if we figure it out.

Last edited by -tWv-; 08-07-2020 at 04:09 PM.
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Old 08-08-2020, 07:00 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by -tWv- View Post
So the saga continues... he got the valve cover off and found that the cam timing was actually off by 1 tooth. The VarioCam actuator looked good and didn’t look like it needed replacing, so buttoned the car back up and test drove.

He said car ran well (no codes at all) after the first test drive but he noticed the water pump was leaking pretty bad so I told him to go ahead and replace that while the car was in the shop. After replacing the water pump he test drove again and now the car is throwing a camshaft sensor (P0341) code. He replaced the sensor and the code is still showing up. He has checked the cam timing and both banks are advancing together so doesn’t seem like an actuator issue. Additionally, the car runs well when cold but starts to run poorly and feel sluggish when hot. I don’t think this has anything to do with the water pump install, it just didn’t show up until he got a true test drive with the car all the way warmed up.

He’s keeping the car over the weekend and looking into it more next week, but I’m sort of at a loss for what this could be. I guess this could be an electrical issue with the connection itself causing it to not function properly. Another thought was something is wrong with air/fuel mixture when it gets up to temp (maybe MAF, O2 sensor, injectors...?), but no clue why that would throw a camshaft position sensor code.

Any ideas?

Mechanic is going to keep troubleshooting so will post back if we figure it out.
So in a previous post you stated that the cams on one bank were out of sync. with the other bank by 20 degrees when the actuators were supposed to kick in.
In your newest post you state that your mechanic found no issue with the actuator but the cam timing was off by one tooth.

Did he correct the timing issue????
How did he correct it???
If the cam timing issue was not fully resolved it could be part of the ill running issue when fully warmed up.

Sounds like your P0341 code didn't show until after valve covers were removed and water pump replaced. new sensor didn't fix it.
I would look at the wiring very closely sounds like some wiring got pinched or disturbed in some way.
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Old 08-08-2020, 09:05 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blue62 View Post
So in a previous post you stated that the cams on one bank were out of sync. with the other bank by 20 degrees when the actuators were supposed to kick in.
In your newest post you state that your mechanic found no issue with the actuator but the cam timing was off by one tooth.

Did he correct the timing issue????
How did he correct it???
If the cam timing issue was not fully resolved it could be part of the ill running issue when fully warmed up.

Sounds like your P0341 code didn't show until after valve covers were removed and water pump replaced. new sensor didn't fix it.
I would look at the wiring very closely sounds like some wiring got pinched or disturbed in some way.

Yes he corrected the timing issue before he replaced valve cover etc. The car is now not misfiring at all and in time, just running poorly at operating temp.

Agree with you on the wiring, he’s checking the to ensure nothing was disturbed during the timing correction/other work in the past before I bought the car.
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Old 08-08-2020, 05:19 PM   #6
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Well with the timing issue resolved your making progress.
The ill running when warmed up is kind of a mystery.

It would be interesting to have a scanner hooked up to it and see if it begins to run poorly right when it first goes into closed loop. or not.

My first thought was a possible bad MAF sensor but lots of times you see the engine hunting at idle when cold. With a bad MF.

Another thought is:
What readings is the DME getting from the coolant temp. sensor after the engine has been warmed up.
If the coolant temp. sensor is showing cold or low temp. when the engine is warmed up then the DME will still be on the cold start map.(rich in fuel) even though the engine is at operating temp.
If that were the case it also would probably not go into closed loop when warmed up.
May be something to look at.

Last edited by blue62; 08-08-2020 at 05:24 PM.
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