Timing chain deviation

Hi there guys, I bought a base Porsche Cayman 987.2 base, manual a year ago. A couple of days ago I went to my local Porsche dealer and wanted to do a full health check on the engine, because I was feeling a slight rough idle. Also I had an check engine light come up couple of times of cylinder 4 misfiring, however replacing the coil packs and spark plugs seemed to have fixed it, but the rough idle stayed. After seeing the timing chain deviation in Porsche , which was -1 on one bank and -1.9 on the other, they told me that according to them I need to replace the chain (engine out job). However I wasn't going to do anything before I asked around for a second opinion. Most people I showed the results to, told me that 0.9 degree deviation is nothing to be worried about and I should look else where to fix my slight idle issue. Like vario cam solenoids or timing chain tensioners. I will attach a photo of the results they printed for me and I would be extremely grateful for your input guys, because I'm getting mixed answers and I'm kinda wondering where to go from here. P.S. I apologize for how wrinkly the paper is, it was raining the day I got them and they got wet.

So I can't help you on appropriate cam deviation, but my 987.2 has always had a very slightly rough idle, and I've been told this is kind of the nature of the DI engine. It's not like super noticeable or anything but it's also not super smooth. So that may not be too unusual? I might just check the fuel trims, see if there's anything unusual going on there. If you haven't done it then it would probably also be a good idea to run some strong fuel injector cleaner through it. Here in the US we get Techron but I'm sure you can get an equivalent product: the important ingredient is PEA. For problem cars there was a TSB back in the '80s to do this for three successive tanks, but I can't tell you if that's still applicable to the modern cars: https://members.********.com/jandreas/TSB-8510-TECHRON.pdf There's also a really good product called BG44K that I've had excellent results with, but again not sure if that's available in Europe. I'll let others chime in on the cam deviation, no idea what's appropriate there.

Ah the link got censored, lol. But it's the other Porsche site.

First and foremost, after the engine has reached its appropriate operating temperature, does the car pull hard and smooth to redline?

Thank you for the info I will keep that in mind.

I have never went flat down to redline, but in general the car pulls smooth. The only times I had an issue and that's when I had the cylinder 4 error was before changing the coil packs and spark plugs and it only happened if I floor it from super low rpm. Let's say I floor it from 1.8-1.9k rpm on 6th gear. Then I could feel a vibration and got the error. But I would say now it's super smooth when I floor it.

Any car you “ lug “ (seek torque from) in a high gear is going to do that to some degree. Don’t be like my elderly mother with a blood pressure cuff. Go enjoy the car. Keep the fluids all at the appropriate levels and keep an eye on the temperature and drive it. PS These days you go to a repair center and say “ does it need a repair “ ? The answer is going to be yes.

Thank you for your input, appreciate it. The more opinions I get the more I'm begging to think I might not need a timing chain replacement. Let's see if anybody else has done the test I have and if the results were close to mine. So far everybody except Porsche have said the set deviation is perfectly normal and within limits.

Injector cleaner and Italian tuneup

How many miles are on the car? It may explain so timing chain stretch. Also, my ipunderstanding, is that the 987.2 “S” has the DFI..the base with the 2.9 engine does not have DFI.. DFI engines may have carbon build up..

Hello, Thank you for your reply. Yes, 987.2 base should be port injection and from what I've read it doesn't suffer from carbon build up. The car has 128,000 km or about 78,000 miles. However every source I've seen so far state that +/- 6° is kinda still within deviation limits and considering I'm at -1° and -1.9°, timing chain stretch seems unlikely at this point. Of course it's just an assumption. I was thinking of ordering the cam timing solenoids, but wanted to gather some opinions before is start throwing parts.

Yes, DFI engines can have issues with excessive build-up on the valves because the back of the valves aren't cleaned by fuel. However ALL fuel injected cars can have issues with injector clogging or carbon build up on the valves and in the cylinders, and you should be using PEA-based fuel injector additive regularly (like, every 5-10K miles). Porsche recommends it, Bosch recommends it: it's the one additive that everyone agrees works. So if you're having rough idle and you haven't done it in a while, I'd strongly suggest running at least one tank of injector cleaner through it. If you can find BG44K in Europe it's the most effective stuff I've tried.