My 2001S with 53k is likely going to have the variocam guides replaced. I had discovered brown plastic in the oil, then noticed a change in engine sound that I believe is chain noise (I had another thread on that a couple of weeks ago thank you to everyone who helped!).
I have had the car a couple of years and absolutely love it. It is perfect for me and I would like to keep it as long as possible. So while increasing resale with preventative maintenance is always a good thing, it is not something that weighs heavily in my decision making process.
I also love working on it and have done the AOS, water pump, expansion tank, motor mount and lots of other little details like replacing the broken vanity mirrors trying to get the car back to perfect. I have decided though that pulling the engine at home is not the smart choice for me right now and opted to have it towed to a local indy for (likely) the chain guides, a clutch, and a looksee at the IMS to see if it is dual or single row.
I would like advise for my conversation with the mechanic tomorrow as my goal to to get any "smart" while the engine is out stuff taken care of while, well, the engine is out. I would like to avoid any pitfalls but at the same time avoid needlessly overspending.
Don't worry I am not going to bing up the IMS
I will see what comes back (single or dual) and make my own decision like a grown up.
Also I intended to ask him to replace the green o-ring on the one vario cam actuator that seems to end up in so many oil pans..
But in addition, I really would like some feedback on the chain tensioners and the actuators themselves. The car is 20 years old, and the actuators are expensive. Would you replace them if there is no sign of issue (my foxwell showed both banks actuating smoothly and ~24 - 25 degrees).
In regards to the tensioners and the other pads, it is my understanding on a 5 chain setup that usually they are okay to leave be.. thoughts?
Thank you in advance for advice. Given many of you have been in a similar situation, what would you do in my shoes? Is it worth the $ to just replace the actuators to avoid doing this again, what about the other guides / tensioners, anything else that I have not thought about, any common gotchas that are not expensive but a PIA with removing the engine?
-Brian
Boxster
Hybrid Mode
