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YOUR RESEARCHVariocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Leading reported evidence
Replace actuators
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Suggestion · Original poster
Is it worth the $ to just replace the actuators to avoid doing this again, what about the other guides / tensioners, anything else that I have not thought about, any common gotchas that are not expensive but a PIA with removing the engine?
Variocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'Replace actuators' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Replace actuators' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion · Original poster
I also love working on it and have done the AOS, water pump, expansion tank, motor mount and lots of other little details like replacing the broken vanity mirrors trying to get the car back to perfect.
Variocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace green o-ring
Suggestion or failed attempt
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion · Original poster
Also I intended to ask him to replace the green o-ring on the one vario cam actuator that seems to end up in so many oil pans..
Variocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Frequently discussed actions (3)
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Replace actuators
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
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Discussions
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Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
Is it worth the $ to just replace the actuators to avoid doing this again, what about the other guides / tensioners, anything else that I have not thought about, any common gotchas that are not expensive but a PIA with removing the engine?
Variocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace broken vanity mirrors trying
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Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
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Suggestion · Original poster
I also love working on it and have done the AOS, water pump, expansion tank, motor mount and lots of other little details like replacing the broken vanity mirrors trying to get the car back to perfect.
Variocam guide replacement - engine out - should I replace working actuators? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
2 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
986Forum: 1 discussions
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Generation: 20261027T075545Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
My 2001S with 53k is likely going to have the variocam guides replaced. I had discovered brown plastic in the oil, then noticed a change in engine sound that I believe is chain noise (I had another thread on that a couple of weeks ago thank you to everyone who helped!).
I have had the car a couple of years and absolutely love it. It is perfect for me and I would like to keep it as long as possible. So while increasing resale with preventative maintenance is always a good thing, it is not something that weighs heavily in my decision making process.
I also love working on it and have done the AOS, water pump, expansion tank, motor mount and lots of other little details like replacing the broken vanity mirrors trying to get the car back to perfect. I have decided though that pulling the engine at home is not the smart choice for me right now and opted to have it towed to a local indy for (likely) the chain guides, a clutch, and a looksee at the IMS to see if it is dual or single row.
I would like advise for my conversation with the mechanic tomorrow as my goal to to get any "smart" while the engine is out stuff taken care of while, well, the engine is out. I would like to avoid any pitfalls but at the same time avoid needlessly overspending.
Don't worry I am not going to bing up the IMS
I will see what comes back (single or dual) and make my own decision like a grown up.
Also I intended to ask him to replace the green o-ring on the one vario cam actuator that seems to end up in so many oil pans..
But in addition, I really would like some feedback on the chain tensioners and the actuators themselves. The car is 20 years old, and the actuators are expensive. Would you replace them if there is no sign of issue (my foxwell showed both banks actuating smoothly and ~24 - 25 degrees).
In regards to the tensioners and the other pads, it is my understanding on a 5 chain setup that usually they are okay to leave be.. thoughts?
Thank you in advance for advice. Given many of you have been in a similar situation, what would you do in my shoes? Is it worth the $ to just replace the actuators to avoid doing this again, what about the other guides / tensioners, anything else that I have not thought about, any common gotchas that are not expensive but a PIA with removing the engine?
-Brian
If you mean the green O-rings inside the actuator that`s not servicable, you need to buy the whole unit. Get the oil pan pulled and check for green rubber debris, if there`s none, I`d leave it be.
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