Cayman S misfire - not coil packs...

Evening all, Just picked up a 2006 Cayman S but unfortunately appear to have developed a misfire. I have had the coil packs replaced but im still getting an intermittent misfire on cylinders 1, 2 and 3 (all the same bank). I have since swapped the VVT solenoids around to see if the fault moves to the other bank of cylinders but alas, no joy. I have also changed out the air/fuel separator but to no avail. If i start the engine from cold and do not drive it, in fact, do not touch the throttle at all and allow it to come to temperature, i have no misfire and the check engine light and fault codes do not appear. If i start it from cold and drive it immediately it misfires and flashes the check engine light up. If i keep driving until the engine is up to temperature, then switch the engine off and back on again, the fault code and check engine light disappears and it runs fine. Has anybody ever experienced anything like this before on their Cayman ? Frustrating me no end to have the car in the garage when im missing the best of the British summer! Your thoughts are greatly appreciated! best Paul

this guy had misfires too on 06 cayman http://www.planet-9.com/987-cayman-boxster-chat/86725-2006-cayman-s-engine-failed.html

Thanks Kolyan! that has done little to allay my fears! Ive read as many posts as i can on this topic and many report CEL warnings and fault codes which indicate misfire and then they disappear after a good run or simply turning the engine off and on again. i think ive been trying to convince myself it is "normal" (or at least not uncommon and not serious) but then in the back of my mind i have the catastrophic lurking. The car has done 73k miles and has a full main dealer service history. It has never wanted for anything in its life - one owner from new...

i wish i could tell you something but i am not even a Porsche owner when I had multiple misfires on my S2000 , it simply needed valves adjusted ($200-250 job at dealer with valve cover gasket) Would be interesting to know what problem you have....I am considering Cayman S myself but scared.....

mg1pa1, What fault code(s) are reported with the CEL, just miss fire? Do you hear the air injection pump running at cold start up? What are the state of the spark plugs ? Good Luck, Rob

See if you can get a fault code readout to pin it down to a bad component. Also, from the Pelican site: Another way to check the engine is with the factory PST-2 tool, or the Durametric tool (see Pelican Technical Article: Reading Fuel Injection Fault Codes / Diagnosing Problems ). You can compare the deviations in the timing between the two camshafts to see if they vary widely, particularly when revving the engine (see Figure 18 ). Sometimes a failing IMS bearing will also trigger a “check engine light” warning on your dash, as the car's computer realizes that there is a significant deviation between the two camshaft readings. I also wonder about the oxygen sensors.

Hi all, just picked the car up from the mechanic. He has switched the solenoids over but we cant get the CEL to stay on now. It comes on, flashes 3 or 4 times and then disappears. It did this around 5 times on a 20 min blast out. Hoping that we can get it to stay on and read the code again to see if the miss fires have moved banks. Spark plugs all ok. We can hear the air injection pump running. once i can get the fault codes back ill publish them on here but running out of ideas... Really dont want to take the car back after a month of ownership as it has an incredible spec that i searched a long time to get!

I had a similar issue a couple of years ago. I threw a CEL almost immediately on a cold start up in early November when I happened to let the car idle for a minute before I moved it, and took it to the dealer. They diagnosed a bad coil on one of the cylinders, and replaced it. Drove the car home, everything fine. Go to start it up a week later, happen to let it idle for a minute again, and the CEL comes on again. After the tech at the dealer spent a week with the car, because it had happened only on cold start up, he found that the miss fire jumped around from cylinder to cylinder, so he came up with 2 suggestions to see if we could make the CEL go away for good. First, he removed the Underdrive Pulley that had been put on about 6 months before (by him, along with the IPD plenum , GT3 throttle body , and Evo remap), simply as a starting point. Then, he suggested I run Chevron gas only and add a bottle of techron for a few tankfulls, as he thought it may also be contributed to carbon build up on the valves (note, that this does nothing on DFI engines, as the fuel does not go over the valves). No problems since.................. dont' know if it was related to the UDP or carbon on the valves, or anything else for that matter...........

Thanks everyone. I hooked up the car and have managed to obtain the following fault codes: P0300 - Random/multiple cylinder misfire P0306 - misfire cylinder 6 This is good news i believe as previously i was getting multiple misfire, cylinders 1,2,3 (all one bank). We then switched the VVT solenoids and the fault has followed it over on to cylinder 6. Apparently the solenoid in the centre of the head does not throw a CEL if it is faulty. Ill get that solenoid replaced and see if this cures the problem. ill keep you posted!

Apologies for the tardy response. i have since had the VVT solenoid replaced and i am pleased to say, engine light and miss fire have completely been eradicated. Very pleased! i do however now have 3 coil packs spare. These coil packs were brand new in November of last year and have been in use for no more than 4,000 miles. If any of you guys want some spares then please make me an offer. First refusal goes to those members who replied and assisted in my thread.

how much did it cost to replace the variocam solenoids, and how long did it take?

I think the part was around £125 (i live in Jersey, Channel Islands so only 5% GST). I believe it was quite a simple job to undertake and could be done within half an hour...

OK, I'm no expert but thought I'd mention my son's recent experience with his Prius (sorry!). CEL was on and per his diagnostic sw there were misfires on multiple cylinders. He initially figured it couldn't be the coil packs because they had been replaced about 6 months prior, he had used OEM ones from Toyota dealer, and surely multiple new coilpacks couldn't all fail at the same time. Turns out it was exactly one coil pack that had failed, and on replacement the CEL disappeared and the car ran perfectly. Keep in mind the misfire detection used on cars is pretty crude (based on rotational speed of the flywheel) and a single bad coilpack can show up as a misfire on multiple cylinders. Just sayin' for what it's worth......

I have a 09 2.7, runs perfectly until I stop at lights, and is idling, quick switch off and back on and it's perfect. Shows fault on 1, 2, 3, I've replaced plugs and coils, did discover that when it's missing, I removed lead to 1 and 2 and had no change but when I removed 3 also the engine stopped. I think when it breaks it's on two cylinders as one coil removal is only barely noticed. Frustrated Phil

Paul how did u resolve this I have totally the same issues! Thanks