987.1 - 2.7L: Possible Rod/Main Bearing Knock or Normal Flat-6 Noise? *Video Added*

Hi, Recently became the owner of a 2006 (European), Base Model Cayman , with only 58,00kms. After around 1,000kms of semi-spirited driving, unfortunately, it has developed a knock/rattle noise. It only occurs when up to operating temp (no knock at idle or when cold) and around 2000-2800rpm... Here is a video, heard some other 2.7Ls with a similar noise, so I'm hoping someone here has dealt with it before. Knock/Rattle can be heard around 2-3k rpm (MY CAR): Additional info: PPI done a month ago, came back clean. Oil: 0w40 Mobil 1, got some Motul 5w50 for the next change. Transmission is the Tiptronic. Has original water pump, thermostat, AOS, injectors, coils, exhaust, belts. Taking it to a local Porsche Indy, but my appointment is not until mid June... Will get a stethoscope to try and locate the noise. No CEL. Primarily concerned about possible rod/main bearing wear, checked oil and filter just in case and there is no noticeable metal shavings, however oil is slightly shimmery/glittery under light. Thanks for your time, this is all new to me, so any help is appreciated.

Did you send this file to the Porsche Indy mechanic? If it is an internal knock, and you want to keep all numbers matching engine and body, you have to park it till you know what you're dealing with. If you ignore it and drive it to failure, there is no saying whether it will be repairable but the odds of that repair being quite a bit more will be a certainty. Unless you can identify it as not internal and render a repair, you shouldn't run it, that's my two cents.

Thanks for the reply , it has been parked for now. I did send the video to the mechanic, waiting on a reply, as you know, it may be hard for him to diagnose it just based on the video! I did find this thread after posting, seems like this guy is having the same sound issue, no conclusion other than it may not be too serious but I'm not convinced. New to the Porsche Club! Engine tapping at low throttle... Hey All! This weekend marks me finally achieving a dream of owning a Porsche! My E36 M3 was totalled and now here I am. Coming from an inline six, the Cayman makes plenty of new noises to me. I was wondering if it was normal to hear a kind of faint tapping/rattle at low RPM? I've read to cruise... www.planet-9.com

FWIW., the 2.7 M97 Cayman only became available in 2007. In any case , I would not rely on someone else's video clip, similar or not and neither would be any mechanic Best way to make sure is to put the car up on jack stands , run the engine and have a look/ listen before rushing off to a workshop or worse, to a dealer. If I was a gambler, my money would be on the ( original ) WP, drive belt tensioner/ pulley, or possibly something loose on the exhaust system

Thanks for the reply . As for the production year... Long story short, the car is originally from Finland and was manufactured in 2006, which was the first production year for the 2.7L in Europe (have maintenance records lol). Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, I will get the car on a jacks today and use a stethoscope to try and determine the origin of the sound, starting with WP and drive belt, will also record my own video of the sound.

Definitely a bit of a rattle, but not sure it's internal as per rods, or piston slap You are very close access wise to removing the drive belt and checking WP pulley and belt tensioner so that may be the next step. You can also start it and run for a quick moment without the drive belt and if the noise is gone , it will confirm the WP/ pulleys, tensioner etc.

I have never heard rod knock on these engines, but I heard many in the Subaru world. I also had terrible piston slap for 5 seconds on my 04 WRX when it was absurdly cold out It scared the hell out of me, but that was 100k miles ago. I don’t believe that is rod knock or piston slap. But get it checked out for sure.

Max, Did you ever find out what that cause of this knock was??

Hey Max, I have exactly the same noise from my engine. Did you ever find the cause?

This thread is a little old, but I and many others have the same noise coming from the 2.7. See this thread on "that other forum": https://THATOTHERFORUM.com/forums/987-forum/1350787-987-1-2-7l-knock-rattle-normal-noise-or-potential-problem-help-appreciated.html I hope it's ok to post that link here. There seems to be quite a bit of talk about this problem (and no resolution), and linking the discussions might be helpful to others new to the discussion. Cheers.

My name is also Max, and I also have a white 2007 2.7 making this same noise. I brought it up in a bunch of groups and ended up making a facebook groupchat with a few other guys who have experienced the exact same thing. The bad news is, no one has been able to figure out exactly where the noise stems from. However, based on our combined knowledge, it seems very likely that it is the dual mass flywheel. One of the guys changed theirs, and the sound went away for a few months, then reappeared. We have collectively replaced almost every other part on our cars to no avail. The good news is, these guys have been driving their cars hard for years while experiencing this noise, with no issues at all. It seems that it is likely the DMF, and if it is something internal, it's proven to be harmless. I've only had my car 6 months, and have been dealing with this the whole time. At first I was super worried same as you, but now that I know it's probably safe it doesn't affect me, except for the obnoxious noise when my foot isn't flat to the floor or my music isn't loud enough! We all agreed to stop worrying and enjoy our cars!

Could it be the spark plugs , not being tightened properly? A few month ago I replace spark plugs and coils on my 2010 2.9 Boxster , I first did the passenger side, looked up the torque and found 25Nm on the first google hit, so that's what I used. I then closed everything up and went over to the drivers side. Somewhere while searching for some other issues, I came across the proper torque values (25Nm when re-using plugs, and 32Nm for new plugs), and properly torqued the drivers side. Since I was kind of worn out, since the whole job took quite some time, due to seized plugs, I decided to just give it a try and not re-open the passenger side and re-torque the plugs. Test drove the car, and all was good. And it was good for a week, or two, but I started hearing a knocking sound whenever the engine was warm. So, when I had the car at my indy for some other work, I had them look at it, and they couldn't find anything. Said, that's just how Porsche 's sound. Fast forward to me continuing to search for answers, I came across some note that the spark plug torque could be the reason (I think it was on this board, but can't find it anymore), so I opened up the passenger side again, re-torqued the plugs to 32Nm, and voila, all is good and she purrs like a cat again. It's hard to hear on the video, but it pretty much sounded the same.

Does the car still make the noise? Has it got any worse?

Does your car still have the noise? Did it get any worse?

Do you still have the noise? How long has it been? And has it gotten worse?