Green plastic in oil, presumed variocam plunger. - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hello all, as the title said, as part of the spring refresh, just changed all fluids in the new-to-me 2000 S. 126k kms. Runs great. No current issues. Had a mild heart arrhythmia when I saw the chunks as I was pouring out the filter housing, and found them to be non-magnetic, and pretty much confirmed to be the variocam actuator seal. Everything still reads fine (I have a PIWIS), but of course I'm not sure how long it will work for. There was only a tiny bit of chunks (pic attached for fun) but it'll fail eventually I'm sure. I'm planning on replacing them in the car, not pulling the engine. It looks to be decent single day job once I get ahold of the camshaft tools, etc. I know how to wrench, but this motor is new to me. I have the pelican book, Bentley Manual and aformentioned PIWIS 3, , but my main question is, what else can and should be done while I'm in there? Variocam pads, Chain guides, etc? Thanks so much- like I said, very new to this engine.

Definitely the chain wear pads between the cams, they are a wear item and updated parts are available.

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If they're between the cams that's the variocam pad correct? Thanks, I was planning those likely and ill out them on the list. What about the timing chain guides?

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Change also the VarioCam chains between cams. Chain guides that run from IMS to exhaust cam could be also changed, but couple of high mileage M96's I've done have seen basically no wear on those guides (of course those come brittle with time too...). Also, to change these chain guides, for bank 2 you most likely need to pull the oil pump housing & 'water gallery' out front of the engine - very tight place if the engine in in the car.

Instead of changing the VarioCam actuators, you can rebuilt the units where is those green seals inside. Just did mine this past winter during engine out service - not very complicated and Hartech provides very good parts setup and instructions. Here's the images of bank 1 VarioCam actuator open and also image of the old seals with Hartech instructions. Be aware, that bank 1 and bank 2 are different also with the seals placement.

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Hey that's terrific information, thanks. I had been reading about how expensive the units are. Nice just to do a seal job. Thanks

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They are a bear to replace with the engine in the car.

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It's easy to test a actuators with compressed air. If they work, I wouldn't touch them, they rarely fail. I took apart like ten of these to see the differences between the versions, just out of curiosity, and they were all fine. Did yours throw a code? Did you find any of the seals failing? (Apart from the two identical green O-rings that break when you pull the plunger out).

@homeoboxster Everything still works for now, just the seal bits in the oil. I didn't document the cam deviation exactly when I checked it last year, but it was about -1⁰ on one bank and around ‐4 on the other. Since I now have this warning sign I'll have to monitor and document it every few months. Not planning on doing the repair preemptively unless it goes out of spec this summer. I might just pull the motor over the winter and do the clutch+ims anyways along with the rest. Right now I'm in the research phase.

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I tested the actuators with Durametric while those were still in the car. Result was that on bank 1 it showed for actuator 'slow operation', but all still worked. As I opened those up, one green seal was completely missing (found parts of it in the oil filter...) and two seals had fractures before I even touched those seals. No seals broke as I pulled the actuators apart - parts where the seals move should have no disruptive parts that would brake the seals on 5-chain engine -> otherwise new seals would get damaged as you assemble the actuators again with new seals. I'd recommend to change the actuator seals (or actuators with $$$) on these approx 25-year old engines if you do work on the VarioCam parts like chains or chain pads.

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The housing has a groove where those seals sit in. In one direction the groove is tapered, to the other direction it is not. As a result, you can assemble it such that the seal won't get damaged, but when you open it up, the seal will break, there's nothing you can do about it, or at least in my hands they all broke. But the seals were intact before I took them apart, which is not surprising, as they don't touch any moving parts - the cylinder with the two green seals do not move. Only the plunger moves, but that seal is not included in the hartech kit, it's not even rubber. There's that small diameter, but thick green O-ring, visible in the bag, that I believe serves as a stopper: this is the one that sometimes disintegrates, hence it's missing on your picture. I suspect that this happens only when the car is not used for a long time or the pump is not primed at reassembly, or when the variocam rails are worn down or missing. This is when the plunger can move in and out at a high frequency and can smash the stopper apart and release a bunch of green rubber pieces into the oil channels within the variocam causing it moving sluggishly. The actuators I've come across were all fine. I believe if they respond quickly to pressurized air and you don't see signs of green rubber debris it makes no sense to take them apart. But that's my 2 cents.