CEL On 2005 Boxster

[987Berto]

Some background first... almost 2 weeks ago now I'd stopped at a store for not more than 5 min and came back outside, cranked up and the CEL came on. I went to AutoZone to have them read the code for me to see if it needed immediate attention before I go to the dealer and it came up as P0018 - Crank/Cam Position Correlation (Bank 2).

If in fact it was related to powertrain it seemed serious but engine seemed to be running fine and smoothly. I know most codes/CEL has to do with emissions system but I've not seen a powertrain code like this before. Is it drivable with this error without causing problems?

FYI, I've got about 16,500 miles on my 2005.

So after nearly a couple of weeks and dealer working with Porsche Tech Support they've finally come to the conclusion it does have to do with the camshaft. Along the way they tried resetting the ECU and even re-programmed it only for the CEL to still come on. Then they moved on to visual/mechanical inspection since the sensors seemed to be operating properly.

Conclusion is that the camshaft was causing a timing problem and that while they could get it just within limits it would come out of spec again thus a new shaft would be best solution.

HOWEVER, there are no camshafts available world wide and short of waiting 8-12 months for one to be manufactured, Porsche approved a new engine. They expect arrival tomorrow and should be ready by Friday. In a way I prefer a new engine from Porsche to my old one being broken down to get fixed. And I know there's lots of info about new engines on this board, and thus I join the Porsche Engine Replacement Porgram... never would have expected it. Upside is I get to skip out on the 20,000 mile service that was coming up in less than 4000 miles. Downside is I have to start break in over again after I was soooo very happy with the break in I'd done while on European Delivery 2 summers ago.

I guess my certificate of authenticity is bogus now with the engine s/n not matching, lol.

Is there anything else I should know or look out for as a result of a new engine? As for warranty, it's the balance of the new Porsche warranty I had so I still have 2.5yrs and about 34,000mi. Anything to do to shake it out a bit sooner since I don't have the benefit of 4yrs/50k on the new engine?