New Member, and I've enjoyed the reads so far. I just purchased my first 997 TT (coming from a M5) and have enjoyed it for the week I've had it until the CEL light came on and threw code P0021.

Long story short: 2007 997 TT, 30k miles, Clean car fax, has had 20k Miles service completed, plugs done 5k miles (2yrs ago) ago. Yesterday, I had the oil changed and the 3 year service completed from the local well-know P Dealership just to be safe. I drive the car home all is good. The next morning I take the car out and it the CEL comes on about 15 min into the drive about the time the trans oil comes up to prop temp! I did notice it seemed to idle a touch higher than normal.

I am taking the car back to them in the morning, as they just had it, but I contemplating two things today: Do you think I would hurt the car by driving it? And do you think I should clear the code and drive "spirited" and see if the CEL comes on again? My fear is I just don't want anything crazy to happen like messing up the cams.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts?!

 

It amazes me how oil changes seem to be a common trigger. Sounds like something just gets dislodged from somewhere along the oil system and then gets stuck somewhere in the actuator. I am going to try and find my old one and see if I can dremel it open.

As per the spirited driving...it has fixed the issue for some people...especially when related to a recent oil change.

 

Thanks Turboslut. I took it back to the Dealer and they cleared the code and "checked" a few things. I have been driving it since and it has not come back on! Fingers crossed.

 

Hello all happy new year! newbe here and owner.

OK I purchased a 2009 911 Turbo cabriolet from car max 8 months ago and really made a MISTAKE returning the MaxCare warranty because it has been giving me some issues ever since. I tried to call back to get the warranty reinstated the agent never returned my calls so I figured they didn't want to call me back.

Here is the deal now hope someone can HELP guide me....
I purchased the car with 31k miles and put 11k miles on it in 8 months lol yes I love the car and drive alot of highway miles . Just love for driving the car.
I had the 40k mile service done and all was running fine.
Right before Christmas we had heavy rains in socal which caused a leak again that was supposedly fixed the first 30 days when purchased the car. Come to find out they only jimmy fixed the amp that was fried.

My understanding there are 5 drains and one funnel type plug in back seat that were not cleaned out with debris. Luckily my insurance told me to take it to the dealer and PAID flood damage for that repair this time (minus deductible) they fixed it, replaced new bose amplifier and sub woofer cleaned out carpets. Since the car was coming up on 45k miles told them to do the oil change.I picked up the car on the 27th afternoon and it was running great. Next day on the 28th Friday to get ready for a new year drive I took it to the car wash.

They always wash it off the rails by power spraying then hand wash. Left the wash all was fine until i got home about 5 miles home and was backing it in the car started running rough idle and the check engine light came on to take to the shop. Drove it back that very minute (3 miles) they took in right away to read codes and came back to say it may be a solenoid or something like that not really sure so left the car per their suggestion to diagnose it.

They finally called back after 2 weeks on the 8th and stated it is an intake cam shaft off alignment (fk) just luck of the bad draw, a coincidence really?, only a $8700 repair . Confused the was running fine only water damage at the time.
Couldn't do that kind of cash$. Decided to pick up the car. Get this I to picked up the car by flat bed and they drive the car up to the truck lol when i got it home took the code reader reset as suggested here, i decided to drive it ,it ran ok but at the red light the idle was very rough the light came back on. Long straight drive it runs smooth. So odd.

The light CEL started flashing after code reset to many times so called car max to vent i only owned the car 8 months the woman was nice to say we value our customers, apologized for the inconveniences and booked an appointment for service next week so I will truck it to them next Wednesday and pray they can help.

I don't know at this point what to do if they want the same amount to fix it.
Does anyone have experience with INTAKE CAMSHAFT not lining up?
Does this sound accurate?
From forum research here it seems it could be so many other things even if something got wet causing it to misfire, the wrong oil went in, or coils plugs etc.
I feel stuck here and don't feel it should go back to the dealership for that amount$.
Thank you for any help here!

911droptop
Godspeed

 

While this has not happened to me, less than $2k of the repair will be in dropping and re-installing the engine. My guess is the remainder is the cost of the cams and the time to get them out and back in and timed.

If you read through threads on this and other sites, the first step is to determine if it is the actuators (which they may have already done - what does the RO say?). If not and if the error is only on 1 side, you can swap the actuator from one side to the other and see if the problem follows the actuator. If it does, that is only about a $300 fix (for the part).

If it is truly a spun cam, then you are stuck with an engine drop and either a re-alignment/pinning of the existing cam, or a replacement of the cam (which is probably what the first quote was for).

In all cases, it may be worthwhile to check around and find a REPUTABLE independent P Shop that will lessen some of the sting of this. No matter what, do the actuator swap (if the code is only on 1 side) first.

Ed

 

 

Hi Ed

Thanks for comments. After the car goes to carmax to see what they say I will take it to a local Porsche Mechanic to ask them as well.

Here is the only action from dealer:
**REPLACE BANK 1 INTAKE CAMSHAFT AND INSPECT
CAMSHAFT NOT RESPONDING CONSISTENTLY TO ADVANCE/RETARD INPUTS
**PERFORM 4 WHEEL ALIGNMENT
NEEDED AFTER ENGINE REMOVAL
CHECK,

 

TT.BRN
Wow!! thank you so much I save this and speak to the local Porsche mechanic as well. From what I have been reading this can happen after the oil change as well which is surprising because they supposedly did the 40k service, changed the oil and it was running fine.

Thanks again,
911droptop

 

What's interesting is that this is a 2009 turbo. I've not heard cam spinning issues in 2009 ones. Most seems to be with 2007 model year.

 

Dguth
Yes so strange i just started up the car now, NO CEL, just a lite smell out of the exhaust like sulfur or something similar,

Now I'm wondering if the the dealership moved or tapped something wrong when working on trying to air out the carpets or while the oil change happened.

 

 

Hello Forum

GREAT NEWS!
I was able to find a local mechanic that knew what he was talking about and like
@lliejk and @TT.BRN stated...... he swapped the actuator and all the codes followed so it was NOT the camshaft. amen! total cost was $1850------ $(1450 labor and $400 parts) After it was fixed I drove right over to the a Porsche Dealer an hour away and purchased the FIDELITY warranty 3/36 for peace of mind!

I feel really compelled to write the dealer that quoted and diagnosed the camshaft leaving them a bad review because if i went ahead and approved it would be out tons of cash which was not correct Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks again to you all here!!!
Grateful!

 

Parts replaced saved dropping the motor expense.

 

Glad you got it sorted out and that you are happy..

Makes me feel that much better about my DIY skills, as I have done this exact procedure before, (removing both actuators and replacing the bad one) and I can say that your labor cost is super high in my opinion. Removing the actuators is not bad at all, and even time to put them back, drive it around and get a CEL, and then replace it, at $200/hr labor rate you are over 9 hours.. Seems excessive. The genuine part is $274 from Porsche, BTW, and thats without any discount, full MSRP. Online vendors can get it as cheap as a little over $200 for the same genuine Porsche part.

Porsche tax, indeed.

 

Yup, those puppies go bad. I have had to replace them twice already - it almost seems like they need to be replaced every 3-4 years...lol.