How bad are my cylinders or are these marks normal? This is a new to me 2009
Cayman S
with 40k miles. Sorry for the poor quality pics, these were taken with a cheap
Amazon
borescope.
Cylinder #6 (2 different marks):
Cylinder #5:
Cylinder #4 (2 different marks):
Cylinder #3:
Cylinder #2:
Cylinder #1:
I see nothing that would keep me awake nights in your photos. Use a good quality oil and get out and drive the thing.
I'm with Don, a little burnishing/polishing there of the lining is normal and not anything to worry about. It's hard to tell if it's an issue without getting in there and like running a fingernail across it.
Even if it were bore scoring, nothing you could do about it anyway. So don't worry about it, just drive the car and monitor oil consumption, as long as that's okay then you're probably fine.
That looks pretty normal to me. I bet if you pull the cylinder heads off and looked at those marks with the naked eye they would be nothing. I'd be inclined to run it without worry.
Thanks for the responses and calming my fears! After getting the car home to AZ I noticed a lot more chattering from the motor than when I test drove it in nice cool Ohio. Add to that a couple smokey starts and I was getting pretty worried.
I haven't had any more smokey starts but it's still making a lot of noise. I'm starting to think it's either valve or fuel injector noise. There was more buildup/sludge in the top end of the cylinders than I was expecting.
Has anyone used Seam Foam or something similar to clean the cylinders? It's a pretty common preventative maintenence on my rotary engine RX-8 to keep carbon buildup out of the apex seals.
The buildup is a bit more than I'd expect to see. Lots of short drives? Ever take it out for an extended high-speed drive? By extended - perhaps a full tank of fuel?
I am not a
SeaFoam
fan. I am however a
Techron
fan.
Techron
's base material is "PEA" Polyetheramine (detergent). It cleans up deposits like the ones you're seeing. It won't help with carbon'd up intake valves on the S engine (direct injection - a now outmoded design, hybrid injection is the hot setup), but it certainly should help with those deposits since they will be exposed to the injection spray and combustion.
The usual recommendation is a full strength 12oz dose of it into a full fuel tank before you plan to change the oil (there is some fear, I think unfounded, that it may get past the rings and slightly dilute the oil - I think not, but..) Once added to the fuel tank, go out and burn through that tank (good time to take the high-speed drive to nowhere..) then come home and change the oil and filter. All done.
Techron® Complete Fuel System Cleaner | Chevron Lubricants (US)
www.chevronlubricants.com
Good stuff. I've been dosing FI cars with it back to the late 1980's when BMW relabeled it BMW Fuel Injection Cleaner and sold it at a markup...
I think if you search the ProjectGarage - you'll find a comparison between various FI cleaning elixirs and Techron remains the standard to meet.
Available at your local auto parts superstore.. (or Amazon)..
Porsche motors tick. It's just the way they are. It's one of the first things many new owners notice that starts them worrying. I changed from Mobil 1 0W-40 Euro to Liqui Moly 5W-40 Leichtlauf and that helped calm the tick a bit. After a bit you won't even notice it.
Thanks for the recommendation. I definitely haven't driven it much as I'm waiting to get
PPF
done before I really start driving it. So yeah it's only been short local drives. I've only had it a month though, I assume most of the buildup is from the PO only pouring putting 40k miles on it in 15 years.
I just changed my oil on my
987.1
Boxster S
. I went from
Mobil 1
to DT 40, (both 5-40 wt.). I was astounded, it sounded and drove like a new car. Note: split open the old filter and no plastic or metal shavings of any kind.
Thanks, I went from
Mobil 1
5w40 (in it when I bought the car) to
Mobil 1
5w50 and noticed no change. I will try a different brand on
next
change
+1 on the DT40 in my
987.1
. I also use only Top Tier fuels.
I've found the same sort of difference but using euro-manufactured oils.
Porsche
owners commonly use Lubromoly, but I found Pensotin 5W40 (no longer available) to result in a quieter running engine.
FCPEuro
passed on the news about Pensotin, but pointed out that Pensotin was and still is owned and was manufactured by Fuchs Oils - and they have brought the formulations from Pensotin over to their oil offerings. So - I have 10 liters of 5W-40 Fuchs on its way to me for my
Cayenne
.
