Hey guys,

I recently picked up a 2007 997TT and while doing some reading in this section I came across a thread describing a cam sleeve issue that is believed to be most prevalent in MY2007 and early MY2008.

Given that there are very few threads about this problem I'd like to think this is a very rare issue but I wanted to ask all of you with 997.1TTs what your experience is with this issue. Is it something to consider when owning the car?

For example, I pinned the coolant lines on my 996TT as a preventative measure but when thinking about it the rate of failure seems to be pretty low given the number of cars out there.

Is this one of those very unlikely to happen failures or is it something that 997.1TT owners should think about?

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Edit: The car is modified with a Fabspeed sport exhaust and headers and a Softronic tune. It was done by the PO and it made 478/524 on Vivid Racing's dyno while the PO owned the car. I don't know if mods/tuning has any bearing on the cam issue so I thought I would share that info.

 

I've not heard of anyone pinning the cam shaft as a preventative measure - if it happens, you'll get a CEL, and you'll need to get it sorted. If it doesn't (which anecdotally looks unlikely) then you won't. I wouldn't bother.

 

It happened to me. I don't think it's worth doing anything preventative. If it happens, you fix it.

 

if it ain't broke, don't fix it

 

I ended up getting the CEL typically associated with the spun camshaft, but it ended up just being a dead actuator. While fearing the worst and waiting for the parts to get to me, I went through every scenario in my head. The only thing I could consider preventative/cost effective is if you are taking the engine out to do a bunch of upgrades or coolant pinnings etc, then you can just drop in some EVOMS cams which already come pinned.
http://www.evoms.com/product_p/engcam9967tt.htm

Pinning spun cams costs like $800. These technically only cost $2395 when you factor in the impending cost of pinning the stock ones. You can even prob get something for your un-spun OEM cams which would also reduce the final cost.

The labor is the real cost...which is why most just wait for it to happen before doing anything about it.

 

I did a poor job of wording my original message, I have no intention of taking any preventative measure as it relates to the cam sleeve but it does make wonder if I need to plan on it failing at some point. My question was more along the lines of how many 997.1TTs are having an issue with the cam sleeve now that the platform is getting older and there a good number of them out there with more than 30-40K miles on the clock.

I brought up the coolant pipe as an example because it's something that gets discussed quite a bit but it's a failure that affects a pretty small percentage of the cars that are out there. There's no rhyme or reason just luck from the look of it. I know a couple that has a 996TT which is exclusively used for track events. Aside from a transmission issue the car has never given them any trouble. It's got 25+K track miles on it. Conversely, you read stories about folks that use their cars on weekends and after 20K miles the car evacuates all of the coolant in the middle of the freeway while on the way home from cars and coffee.

A418t1, is this thread: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...t-story-3.html you had mentioned that the cam sleeve problem is most common in stock MY07 cars with between 30K-40K miles. You also mentioned that the coolant pipe failure is more of a when issue than an if issue on the 997.1TT. Can you elaborate a bit on this?

 

I'm sure that the being an actuator was a relief given the alternative.

I didn't plan to pull the engine on the 997 but if that day comes where I have to pull it I plan to pin the cams because the engine is already out of the car.

 

You will be cool my dude! Good find and due diligence but I agree it's too rare. Guys like Grayson (A418t81) have also put up great information on what to expect f it does happen.

 

There is so much added labour I dont think its worth it ... Its a very specialised process, turnaround is a few weeks for the cams, and you will need someone to set the timing .....

As said before, best thing is to attend to it if it happens, or if you ever get the internals built ...

 

It doesn't seem to be a super widespread issue, but there do seem to be more threads about it these days than in the past. That said, you can pull up threads from back in 2009-2011 where people talk about having this failure repaired under warranty (and subsequently having to have it repaired again on their own dime years later because they just used another stock cam). Again, it seems like the 07s and 08s were most affected, but any year can have it happen. Cars that make a lot of torque seem to be some of the ones affected the most. If you plan on running E85, might be a good idea to keep a "rainy day fund."

The coolant pipe issue does seem to be a "when, not if" issue. Every single person I've known with a Mezger has ended up with a leak if they didn't do the fixes preventatively. I pinned my pipes and did the Sharkwerks elbows before anything could fail.

I still don't think I would worry with the cams even with the engine out for coolant pipe/ clutch work. It's still another 3+ grand in parts and labor to do the cams even with the motor out, and setting the timing on this motor is difficult at best.

 

Thanks, Sam. I had pinged you right about the same time I started the thread. I am asking all of these questions because this is something I never want to deal with and want to better understand if failures from the 07 led to a revised design in late 08 and 09.

Maybe I'm overthinking it.

 

I've had it happen, and it was repaired under CPO. I certainly wouldnt proactively do it, but I also wouldn't own the car without a warranty to cover this or the coolant issue..

 

Thanks for the detailed reply! I had planned to pin the coolant lines at some point, probably when I need to put a clutch in it. I figured since the car has low miles it would be a while before I have to think about this stuff, and that doesn't seem to be the case.

I don't intend to go crazy on modding, probably turbos, intercoolers, and a cobb. No e85 or big torque and hp numbers. The fact that some folks are having repeated failures is a bit disheartening but, as you say, it doesn't seem to be a widespread issue so I don't want to give it too much thought and I don't it want it to sour the experience of owning the car. It runs great right now so hopefully it stays that way for quite a while!

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

 

Good point on the warranty, I just don't know if that's possible with the car being modified. I would presume that's a deal killer.