Cayman S 987.2 (DFI, 2010) - can anyone diagnose these noises? (videos included)

Hello all. In the last 3 months my Cayman S 987.2 (DFI, 2010) has just not been feeling right. It feels slightly notchy when accelerating at low revs, sometimes hesitant, sometimes even lurhcing a bit. It is not terrible, but the car definitely no longer feels as smooth and lovely to drive as it has over the previous two and half years. The car has been well looked after, with regular servicing by a Porsche specialist. I will be taking my car back to my specialist this coming week, but as he is located 40 miles away, I thought I would get people's opinions first on the below. I have a Durametric cable and I am not reading any fault codes other than 1482 and 2400. I have been assured by Scott at Softronic that these codes are normal by-products of installing the Softronic map that I have, and I snould not worry about them (I would welcome a second opinion though). I have scoured Google and found very little information on these codes, other than that they potentially relate to the EVAP evaporative emissions system (my fuel cap is definitely screwed down very tightly). Today I decided to take the cover off the engine and have a look and a listen. I am going to clean the air filter (K&N) tomorrow, as it looked slightly dirty, but I do not think that is what is causing my problems. I have uploaded some videos below of what I saw and heard. I would really appreciate it if anyone can advise what the strange tapping/ticking noise is in the first two videos? And also what the air whooshing noise is in the third and fourth videos? (happens whenever I press the accelerator pedal). I am not convinced that either of these sounds is normal, but my mechanical knowledge is limited. These videos were taken over a 5 minute period between the car being fully cold and then fully warmed up. Whilst the tapping/ticking noise comes and goes, the temperature of the engine does not seem to make a difference to it. The air whooshing noise is constant whenever the accelerator is depressed. I have not been able to hear these noises in the cabin when all of the trim is on (although I have been hearing a general whine at idle, which I suspect could be one of the pumps on its way out). Ticking noise videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7z4mjxBV4 Ticking noise starts about 7 seconds in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFG4fKTkXkE Ticking noise is there at the start of the video and maintains throughout the video Air whooshing noise videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89S5N5rCvDI Pressing the throttle lightly and you can hear the sound of air hissing out each time the accelerator pedal is pressed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwdya5qC384 Pressing the throttle hard and you can hear the sound of air hissing out each time the accelerator pedal is pressed Thanks, Toby

- Are you the original owner? - Did you have a PPI done when purchasing (in not original owner) - Did you get the over-rev report form Porsche or PPI? - car being direct injection, when was the last time it went in for carbon deposit cleanup? - How many miles on car? - Is all service up to date? plugs and coils new?

Hi desmotesta, responses to your questions below. I'd be grateful if you and others could give opnions on the actual noises in the videos. - Are you the original owner? No. However I have owned this car for 2.5 years, and as described above I have had it serviced regularly, and generally spent a lot of money on it. - Did you get the over-rev report form Porsche or PPI? No, I have never had this done. - car being direct injection, when was the last time it went in for carbon deposit cleanup? I am not aware of it ever having had one of these done. - How many miles on car? 52,000 - Is all service up to date? plugs and coils new? Yes it is all up to date with servicing. All 6 plugs were replaced 14 months / 13,000 miles ago. One of the coil packs was replaced a few months ago when I developed a misfire on cylinder 6 (fault code 0356 observed and cleared as a result. I do not currently have any fault codes relating to coils / sparks / ignition.

Its pointless to give an opinion on engine noises as cameras, microphones and filters dont captures everything. That said, it could be a stuck lifter. Either way, it needs to be taken to a shop for proper diagnose. 2ndly, have an over rev counter checked. You have no way of knowing how the engine was treated before you bought the car, the owner could have over revved it 5 times a week and you wouldn't know, low mileage or excellent condition isn't always enough. Ask the dealer/ Porsche shop to see if there are any ignition counts in Range 3, 4 , 5 and 6. The whoosh sounds pretty normal to me i am not aware of porsche carbon deposit cleanup schedule, but it eventually needs to be done, on all DFI cars

Thanks for your inputs desmotesta! The ticking /tapping noise is very distinctive and doesn't sound normal to me. So I would value other people's views. It will literally take 2 minutes to watch the videos and post a comment

Listened to both video's my car makes same noise, no problems. again video hard to compare. What do you mean notchy at low revs? Manual or pdk ?

Unlike other manufacturer's cars I have not heard of Porsche's 9A1 engined cars needing carbon cleaning of their valves. Have any of you 2009+ Porsche owners had specific trouble with this?

The tapping/ticking noise is the fuel tank vent valve. If u unplug it the noise will go away if u want to check. It sounds completely normal. The air noise sounds normal as well they are pretty noise engines with all the foam out of the way. Far as the drive ability issues that is another story. Can't really help you with that over the Internet but I would start with the mass air flow sensor check and clean. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

the engine makes a symphony of mechanical noise and it does sound different without the cover in place. did you recently change something like the fuel used?

Thanks for the replies everyone. My car is manual and I have consistently been using the same fuel (Shell V Power Nitro + (97 RON) and oil ( Mobil 1 New Life 0W-40) for the past 2.5 years. The only performance/engine related things that I have changed on the car in the last few months is adding the Softronic map. However I'm not here to slag off the map, as my car worked really well for the first month with the map on, so I think I do have an underlying issue which the map is perhaps now exacerbating. When I say notchy, it just slightly hesitates sometimes when I step on the gas at low revs, and sometimes when lightly accelerating it feels as though the engine has "skipped a beat". I am convinced that the engine has a small underlying issue to do with either air or fuel input to the engine. I think the map might be exacerbating this underlying issue, because when I remove the map the notchiness virtually disappears. However when I remove the map and go back to stock, I do also get a new fault code - 1517, which from Google seems to be something to do with the intake manifold? So I think carbon cleaning and/or general cleaning of the air filter / air box / MAF / throttle body are good shouts. I'm cleaning the air filter tomorrow and will attempt to clean the other parts. Is it possible to clean the throttle body without removing it? I' m going to leave the map off for now, but would like to be able to reinstall it one day. I am relived to hear that the sounds I heard in the engine bay are normal though. I have the car booked in with my Porsche specialist on Wednesday, so he can have a further look at it then. I'll keep the thread updated in case people have similar worries / problems in the future.

What does this do? Is it prone to failure, and if it did fail, what problems would that cause in the running of the car? Thanks in advance!

Sounds like my 987 3.4 on a cold winter day after sitting for a week. Really does not sound any different. One real cold day last month the lifters were noticeably louder. Porsche Dealer told me not unusual. Loudness went away after it warmed up. I have also heard of 981 's with this noise after not being started in a week or so. Hydrolic lifters. Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

Your engine's symptom of engine hesitation sounds familiar to me as I experienced the same on a 3.4 engine in a Porsche 996 a few years back. The problem was corrected by a thorough cleaning of the MAF and the throttle body. In your case, you mention cleaning the air filter which I assume means you have an oiled reusable type K&N filter. Over the years I have read several times about owners finding that oil droplets from an oil type air filter can foul the MAF. Because of this, and also because the air filters our cars come with from the factory are generously large in area, I have never been tempted to use an oil type filter. As suggested by Porschetech31 and others above, I would start by cleaning out your intake tract especially the MAF and throttle body. If you find any oil residue inside the tract, I would seriously consider bagging the K&N and use a safer paper based air filter. Let us know how this all turns out. We all benefit from each other's experience with issues and solutions.

Not saying this is the issue with your car in particular. But here is some general info that could be related. Like ^he said, some MAF sensors can be sensitive to contaminants such as K&N filter oil. If you want to stick with the K&N, just very lightly oil the filter in the future. Might as well get some MAF cleaner and spray the MAF down in the mean time. Direct injection cars in general accumulate a lot more carbon buildup than port injection engines. I doubt its a serious issue with the Porsche engines, but if there is a lot of carbon buildup, it can cause hesitation. Those two points are by no means a diagnosis, but they are valid points to consider for any car. Especially a DFI engine with MAF.

I have exactly the same at my car. Same sound tickling and the woosh. I Also have an K&N filter wich al allready cleaned last weekend. What was the problem at your car?