Hi....they are not hard to switch. I have done it a few times. 4 hours is plenty. I might just wait and put new part to save labor. The test is simple....just connect a battery to the contacts and see if it actuates/clicks.

Good luck,
DC

 

What part in this diagramm would the indy shop change?

The 19 or another?

I have a similiar problem with mine and would like to change the number 19, but it seems thats impossible without a car lift and lowering the engine.

 

#26 in Diagram. It is between two spark plugs one either side. Not that difficult to get to...Just takes a while to remove parts....Lowering motor a little helps...


DC

 

The Indy shop suggested a PIWIS scan before buying any parts. He seems to think that can diagnose the actual problem but I recall Porsche went through these steps and it ended up being the camshaft. Apparently it could be the wiring/ecu etc...


Rock can you confirm the actuator part number is 996 105 301 04?

 

Hi....Yes, that part number is good for your car.


DC

 

Question.....are these cam timing issues persistent through ALL 2007-2009 cars like the coolant pinning issue....or did it only affect random cars?

 

seems to happen regardless of year. Porsche I think has revised the cams, but that doesn't seem to fix the problem.

 

Can you pin the cams before they give you issues? Would it be as easy as just taking the valve cover off and pinning or do you need to remove the cam from engine?

 

cams would need to come out in my estimation. yes you can pin them before they spin.

 

Just seems I have a lot of safety/reliability items to take care of before even upgrading any part of my car.

 

I took the car to an Indy that I've used before. They put it on PIWIS and confirmed the error code. Visual inspection showed that the mounting "cage" on the solenoid/actuator was intact. I think he said it tested okay but I'm not sure how they tested the actuator, probably on PIWIS. He swapped the camshaft position sensor from one bank to the other. I only had to drive a couple of miles before the CEL came back on the same bank 1 so that rules out those sensors.


I ordered a solenoid/actuator and decided to take the car to the dealer for the install and further assessment in case the solenoid/actuator doesn't solve the problem. I don't recall anyone actually having a bank 1 camshaft problem, have there been any documented cases of a rotated sleeve on the bank 1 camshaft? I had understood that it was a bank 2 problem (maybe something different about that camshaft?).


Anyway, it's a bit disheartening thinking about what might happen next week when the actuator is replaced. I don't particularly want to get into an engine build etc....

 

I think there are cases in bank 1 and 2 out there, and from what I have been reading...if its not bad actuator then you have the slipped cam problem. Dealer will not pin your cams...just replace them with new ones which might happen again down the road. This is from my understanding of what I have read up on these forums.

 

I had my bank 2 camshaft replaced under warranty 2 years ago. There was another car in the shop that wasn't under warranty and I believe the owner of the car paid to have the camshafts pinned by the Porsche dealership with instructions from Todd K at Protomotive. If I have to pay for camshaft problem I'll get both sides pinned.

 

Does anyone make aftermarket camshafts for these cars? Any way to improve on Porsche cams?

 

I just wanted to post a followup to this problem. I found a lot of threads with this issue and many times there was no closure!


I went to the Indy first - they scanned with PIWIS and confirmed the bank 1 code p0011. They swapped the camshaft position sensors and the CEL stayed on the same side. My next step was to change the part number listed above which is part 26 in the diagram shown a few posts ago.


So I order the part and decide to take the car to the Porsche dealership b/c the Indy shop just doesn't instill confidence - they didn't properly connect the intercooler hose on the passenger side - big boost leak. Pretty much every time I go to this Indy there is an issue. I figured what the heck I'd go to the dealer for once. They scanned the car and found other codes with PIWIS that the Indy didn't find, or mention. The tech advised that I ordered the wrong part. Rock, that part you listed (starting with 996) is the solenoid for the valve lift, which apparently is nothing to do with this fault code. They replaced the solenoid for vvt which is part number 22 in the diagram. (the part 26 is the valve lift solenoid). I was charged for 6 hours labour which is painful at the dealer rate of $155 per hour PLUS TAX, lol. The crappy part was that I had assumed he had to take off the bumper to fix my issue but he didn't. So I had to pay another hour labour to re and re the bumper and reconnect the boost hose the other shop didn't connect properly (the Indy would have fixed it for free). Oh well, lesson learned. When the tech was advising that I had ordered the wrong part in a subtle "don't diagnose via the internet" voice I couldn't help think of the irony here as I use that voice all the time when people come to my office after diagnosing themselves online, lol.


I had a few other minor things done and next thing you know the bill for parts and labour is 2 grand. That's Canadian, and right now that's cheap in US dollars but it hurts nonetheless. There is no CEL and the tech says the car drives great and very powerful. However, he can't clear the p0011 and says that there is no signal to the DME from the bank 1 camshaft position sensor. He says it's not a problem to drive the car because the car will use the signal from the opposite sensor. After I thought about it I realized that doesn't make sense because my datalogs show that there is a signal for "actual camshaft position" for both banks. Oh well, I'll pick up the car tomorrow and wait and see what happens. Apparently by changing the part mentioned the timing issue is resolved. I will post a followup....