Help Diagnosing Slew of CEL Codes

[Tremonte986]

Have you looked at the cam deviation? If it's reading negative more than 9, that will trigger cam.timing CEL and can indicate timing chain guide wear. Could be that the failed actuator accelerated the pad wear. Something to check. And if you don't mind telling, what shop are you using? I'm in Asheville as well. We are lucky to have a decent amount of Porsche shops around here.

[-tWv-]

Originally Posted by Tremonte986

Have you looked at the cam deviation? If it's reading negative more than 9, that will trigger cam.timing CEL and can indicate timing chain guide wear. Could be that the failed actuator accelerated the pad wear. Something to check. And if you don't mind telling, what shop are you using? I'm in Asheville as well. We are lucky to have a decent amount of Porsche shops around here.

At this point I’m only getting a “Camshaft adjustment Bank 1” code and it seems like the actuator is working intermittently. For example, 8/10 times when I start out in 1st gear the car will feel great with plenty of torque. The other 2 times it feels like it’s struggling to rev (no torque) and does not respond to throttle position well at all. Leads me to believe the timing is just not quite right in those instances on Bank 1 causing the sluggish behavior. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and just get the actuator fully replaced.

The shop I’m working with is All German Performance on Hendersonville road. Daniel (the owner/lead mechanic) has been great thus far and really fair with pricing out the labor. It’s been a bit of a goose chase trying to pinpoint this issue but I think we finally have it nailed down. Going to get the part swapped next week and hopefully that will be the end of it.

[-tWv-]

Closed out this saga today (hopefully). Ended up having the bank 1 camshaft adjuster (996-105-051-58) fully replaced. Drove the car pretty hard for 2+ hours this afternoon with zero CEL codes and no hesitation at all. I was also hearing a timing chain rattle at startup that is now gone.

In summary the fix for this problem was 1) timing adjustment and 2) new timing adjuster/actuator. I also replaced o2 sensors myself to get rid of those codes. It seems like the bad adjuster allowed the chain to skip a tooth and just was not functioning properly due to oil starvation from the gunk in the feed port. Another big lesson learned here was never trust the first diagnosis of a problem, especially when said diagnosis doesn't make a ton of sense. If we would have gone with the initial Porsche dealer diagnosis I would be out $6k in catalytic converters and likely no progress made at all. Find a trusted indy with good reviews and they will likely be able to get it fixed.

The car is now running great and I'm very happy with the purchase. Was a bit more pricey than I anticipated getting this thing running, but well worth it in the end. Looking forward to enjoying the car for years to come!