981 CGTS - Valve Lift Solenoid

[J_Hale]

Hello Everyone,
A week into 981 ownership and it's already been to the OPC for a repair!

Quite obvious given the title of the post but wasnt easy for me to find a post from the symptoms I'll describe.

Saturday on a drive back home while slow rolling on the PDK in traffic a sudden appearance of a shudder like the engine was going to stall. Followed by a really uneasy idle with rev hunting and 1st & 2nd gear changes were rough with shudders. As I was on a newly laid (chuck gravel down) road at first I thought the PDK crawl was just struggling with the surface. Once into 3rd and slightly higher speed it all but disappeared. There were no error messages on the dash and after 5 mins of queued traffic I managed to turn into a side street. Switching the car off and on again it started fine, no rev hunting and I finished driving home with no issues.

So, a few hours later just as we were going to go out for dinner... Upon start up, que the rough start up followed by a clear misfire and PCM and Engine Management lights. Porsche assistance were called and once he arrived the misfire was confirmed on start up (obviously...) however there were no dash lights and once they plugged the computer in it was showing no error codes. Recovered/ hire car sorted Sunday and then monday it was delivered fo Silverstone Porsche Centre.

Given the symptoms and forum post searches I was 90% sure it was going to be something ignition related, Coil Packs or Spark Plugs but after a call from Silverstone Tuesday they diagnosed it as the Valve Lift Solenoid.

It turns out that on 981 Caymans this can be a common issue to look out for if it's not been run for many miles per year. I can confirm Porsche have said it wouldn't be found by a 111 point extended warranty check. So may catch a few low mileage used buyers out there regardless of their private or dealer purchase.

By today it was all fixed for me under warranty I dont have a job sheet for part + labour but its another shout out for the extended warranty. Service at Silverstone was excellent.

Apologies for the long read but hopefully this can be lost in the forum ether and anyone worrying over/ searching for the same (kind of dramatic) symptoms, coil packs, spark plugs or valve lift solenoids can find solace in my experience.

Hopefully my next post will be something more positive!

 

[StevenG]

Yeah I had that on my 981 Cayman S. Thankfully all sorted without drama under warranty too. They made it sound like it was quite an easy and inexpensive job, but it felt like it would be expensive when I was juddering around in it!

 

[J_Hale]

Yeah it's quite dramatic when it happens isnt it!

 

[66BoxBox_-DM]

Hello Everyone,
A week into 981 ownership and it's already been to the OPC for a repair!

Quite obvious given the title of the post but wasnt easy for me to find a post from the symptoms I'll describe.

Saturday on a drive back home while slow rolling on the PDK in traffic a sudden appearance of a shudder like the engine was going to stall. Followed by a really uneasy idle with rev hunting and 1st & 2nd gear changes were rough with shudders. As I was on a newly laid (chuck gravel down) road at first I thought the PDK crawl was just struggling with the surface. Once into 3rd and slightly higher speed it all but disappeared. There were no error messages on the dash and after 5 mins of queued traffic I managed to turn into a side street. Switching the car off and on again it started fine, no rev hunting and I finished driving home with no issues.

So, a few hours later just as we were going to go out for dinner... Upon start up, que the rough start up followed by a clear misfire and PCM and Engine Management lights. Porsche assistance were called and once he arrived the misfire was confirmed on start up (obviously...) however there were no dash lights and once they plugged the computer in it was showing no error codes. Recovered/ hire car sorted Sunday and then monday it was delivered fo Silverstone Porsche Centre.

Given the symptoms and forum post searches I was 90% sure it was going to be something ignition related, Coil Packs or Spark Plugs but after a call from Silverstone Tuesday they diagnosed it as the Valve Lift Solenoid.

It turns out that on 981 Caymans this can be a common issue to look out for if it's not been run for many miles per year. I can confirm Porsche have said it wouldn't be found by a 111 point extended warranty check. So may catch a few low mileage used buyers out there regardless of their private or dealer purchase.

By today it was all fixed for me under warranty I dont have a job sheet for part + labour but its another shout out for the extended warranty. Service at Silverstone was excellent.

Apologies for the long read but hopefully this can be lost in the forum ether and anyone worrying over/ searching for the same (kind of dramatic) symptoms, coil packs, spark plugs or valve lift solenoids can find solace in my experience.

Hopefully my next post will be something more positive!

My Boxster 2015 GDK had exactly the same symptoms with orange light on the dashboard.

Low speed judder and pick up, almost stalling….. was thinking the worst, as you do.

Took it to the excellent Select Motorsport in Newbury and code identified with fault clearly the valve lift solenoid.

A couple of handy hints they gave; if you don’t do many miles always change the plugs once a year. Always premium fuel. Limit journeys less than 20 minutes where possible and if the valve lift solenoid does need replacement, make sure the plugs are done at the same time if not new.

£600 fix which strangely I seem resigned to and not unhappy as I have my little girl back up and ready to whine down those country lanes

 

[Motorhead]

Yes,

Assuming rough-running can be attributed to faulty ignition rather than fuelling, after dodgy plugs and coil packs the controls for the variable valve timing and lift devices are the next stage for investigation. Unfortunately any warning messages won’t necessarily give any direction, and it requires a Porsche-specific diagnostics plug-in to check the error codes.

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Forgive me, but what exactly does a Valve Lift Solenoid do on these engines?

 

[Motorhead]

Graham,

The 987 and 981 have the solenoid-controlled Porsche Variocam Plus system which provides variable valve timing and 2-stages of valve lift on the inlet cams, although I think that 718s have it on both the inlet and exhaust cams.

Jeff

Edit: Here’s a useful explanation of the system:

https://www.import-car.com/variocam-operation-understanding-porches-vvt-technology/

 

[Schuey]

Forgive me, but what exactly does a Valve Lift Solenoid do on these engines?

Belief it works just like Honda's VTEC system which is more well documented in the car scene.

 

[ianthow]

In respect of identifying the cause of a misfire, diagnostic tools from Foxwell and iCarsoft are available at around £250. These read Porsche fault codes via the standard OBD port. In the case of a Variocam fault, multiple faults will be reported pointing to misfiring across all cylinders on one bank and possibly faults with the Variocam signal/response.

If a coil or plug fails, there will likely be a single cylinder misfire. The fault code will point to the specific cylinder. In this case it could be due to either an ignition or fuelling fault. If there are no other faults reported, simply swap the ignition coil into an adjacent cylinder and fit a new/different spark plug in the failing cylinder then clear the fault codes. On restarting, the misfire may not show immediately, a good run may be needed to get the coil back up to temperature before a misfire returns. If the diagnostic tool now shows that the misfire has moved to the adjacent cylinder, problem identified and a new coil will be needed. If the fault has stayed with the original cylinder, it is unlikely that it will be the spark plug (if this was changed). If no other fault codes are thrown up pointing to another issue, specialist help may be needed to check the fuelling on the failing cylinder.

On my 987.2, the coil on cylinder 4 failed at 11 years and 70K miles. Cylinder 4 is the front-most cylinder on the left side of the car. Of the six coils number 4 is likely to have the least amount of cooling air flow around it. As a precaution, I changed all three coils on the left bank. On the right bank, the original coils are still going strong after 15 years and 92K miles (and I still have my two used coils as spares if one does go). The right side of the car has a cooling fan which draws cool air from the intake on that side into the engine bay so coils on this side may be less prone to failure. The opening on the left side of a 987 only supplies air to the engine intake.

To date I have not had a Variocam solenoid failure but have used my Foxwell tool to read faults on a misfiring 991.1 confirming the suspicion of a failed unit. The 'solenoid' is actually an electro-mechanical valve which directs oil under pressure to an actuator, altering the valve timing/lift as required. Failures can be due to either an electrical fault or a worn/jamming valve. Oil quality and regular use are important factors on ensuring a long life for precision mechanical components. I have always been nervous about two year oil and filter changes and have carried out annual changes in my 10 years of Cayman ownership. This may be one reason why I have (touch wood) avoided solenoid failures which appear quite common, even on low milage cars.

 

[StevenG]

Forgive me, but what exactly does a Valve Lift Solenoid do on these engines?

It's for the variable valve timing, of which Honda's VTEC is a famous example, but the concept is widely used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_valve_timing

 

[JohnCRS]

Mine went last April, with exactly the same symptoms. In my Indie's opinion they just randomly fail - mine was at 75,000 miles.

 

[ianthow]

Forgive me, but what exactly does a Valve Lift Solenoid do on these engines?

The solenoid valve itself does not lift the intake valves, it controls the pressurised oil feed that operates the rotary vane adjuster on each inlet camshaft. This is how Porsche describes VarioCam:

 

[Motorhead]

Quite so Ian. In fact there are two solenoid valves per VarioCam Plus mechanism: one for valve timing and the other for valve lift.

Jeff

 

[Derek H]

I replaced my bank 2 valve lift solenoid about 5 years ago. Easily diagnosed with my Durametric cable and a simple and inexpensive (£95) DIY replacement, though I do recall needing to get my better half to reattach the securing screws as my hands were too big!

 

[JohnCRS]

Having responded. above, that my bank 4-6 went last April, the other side has just failed. Ironically I was within 4 miles of RPM where I was going to discuss this year's service, so I did not have too far to splutter my way there.

 

[MartinH1988]

Good to know thanks

 

[G981]

I suspect one of my camshaft solenoids may be starting to fail at 106k miles, although there’s no check engine light or warning messages.

The idle feels a bit uneasy, dropping as low as 500 RPM, and it has even stalled a couple of times shortly after startup.

Once the car gets moving, everything smooths out, and it runs fine for the rest of the drive.

 

[JohnCRS]

When the first bank went on mine, one of the initial symptoms was dipping revs when coming to a stop. The car seemed on the point of stalling. As Ian has explained above, this was probably because the valve timing actuator was not adjusting back to the low RPM. Mine also drove OK for another 100 or so miles after that, until the dashboard lit up. I was able to get the dealers (but only after finding out how stressfull is is driving at 45mph on a busy dual carriageway.) If it does go, you may get all sorts of messages, e.g. PASM failure, but don't worry about these until you can get a code reader attached to the car.