Btw, do you know the condition of the small cam chain guides on the variocam actuator? I just thought a little more on this, and just wondering perhaps the same failure happened to your car that I had on mine. I rebuilt my 99 Boxster engine because the chain pads completely wore down, one fully came off and caused the timing to jump. This resulted in piston-to-valve contact but surprisingly did not destroy the entire engine, the bearings, pistons, even the valves survived. But for sure it was making a loud rattling. Perhaps the drop in oil pressure caused the chain pads to fly off? Or, conversely, the variocam fell apart and the resulting oil leak led to the loss of pressure?
