I appreciate your post Porschetech3. Assuming you are correct, what would be a ballpark repair figure; parts & hours of labor?

 

The leak down test will give an idea of where to look visually for the damage ie. intake valves or exhaust valves in hopes of finding the spring broken not allowing the valve to close fully. It will require the engine be set to TDC and the valve cover and cams removed and the lifters and lifter housing remove to visually see the springs and retainers. If the spring is broken air can be applied to the cylinder to hold the valve in place while the spring is removed, some special tools are required. It is a special procedure kinda like laser surgery in that it is a lot less invasive and less expensive. It can be done with the engine still in the car , just lowered but the bank 2 side 4-6 is a bit harder due to the cam tensioner is underneath the A/C compressor it will have to be removed. There is no procedure in the labor time guide for this operation but the closest one is for removing and installing camshafts, and then extra time for the leak down test and for the in-car spring replacement. Some techs prefer to drop the complete engine/transmission block from the vehicle for easier access but I have done many camshafts and springs in the car and if you are going to replace one spring I do it in the car, if you were going to replace ALL the springs I would remove the engine/transmission block because it would be too tedious. The parts would consist of a spring, some spark plug tube O-rings ,oil pump o-ring, tensioner seal, rubber cam caps, and tube of locktite 5900,oil and filter, all costs about $200, The labor I would charge to do this would be 12hrs. The job could be done in 12hrs whether the engine/transmission was removed or not. IF the engine/transmission was removed coolant would have to be added to parts list. You should discuss the possibility of a broken valve spring with your tech, if it were mine I would be poping the cam cover and cams and have a look.

 

Here is my weird story.
Yesterday, leaving work in my 2002 C4 convertible with 135K on the odometer, the CEL light suddenly goes on, and the engine starts running very rough. No other noise noted , but it sounds like its running on less than 6 cylinders.
I thought I would carefully drive on home ( partially because I was on a call and could be called for an emergency )
I made it home, and was planning to have it brought in by flat-bed to my shop.
My Automatic ( a plug-in device which monitors your whereabouts etc ) said engine fault but no diagnosis. It offered to clear the fault.
On return from work today, I cleared the CEL and now it runs fine!
We had heavy rain yesterday and I wondered if it had something to do with this, but I have no idea....
Just glad I didn't get stranded.
This is all rather ironic since I had commented yesterday that I have driven this and my prior '89 Targa for close to 300K without ever being stranded with an engine problem. I know this will make me superstitious: I will not say that again.

 

rrruben what was the final result of your situation? Oh and Volkers , you have a bad coil , you probably already found that out and got it fixed but just in case you have been as busey as I have..lol

 

I brought it in ( drove fine ) and they found badly cracked coils and replaced those along with all spark plugs.
Next issue became a problem with the convertible top - worn pistons and a bad battery.
Turned into an expensive fix since I took it to the dealer for that issue...
I think that should be it for a while 😀

 

After spending $8,000 in the last 18 months in repairs, I decided enough is enough. With an estimated repair bill of $6,000 - $16,000, I choose not to drop another penny into this vehicle. It was just too upside down in value. I enjoyed her for six years, going into retirement early next year (don't need a money pit), and moving forward. I sold her as a rolling chassis. And, I recovered $7,000 of my 18 months of repairs. Thank you for your concern. And, once I settle into retirement: "I'll be back!!"

 

Im curious what the issues was. Was it a broken spring or something else? thx.

 

Given that he sold the car we can only hope it had valve float from a degraded spring which crashed into the piston....