[ralfgermany]

Hello experts,

is there any evidence that later 968 camshafts are of higher quality and smaller risk of loosing sprocket teeth? Or is high revs and poor maintenance the only cause of variocam and camshaft destruction.

Thank you for your answers

Ralf

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[flash]

incorrect oil selection can be a cause too - a lack of zddp has been found to accelerate wear - conventional oil has been found to accelerate wear

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[968 GUY]

A lower quality replacement cam chain would be a factor also.

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[Cloud9...68]

Mine's a '92, and when I replaced my variocam pads at 83K soon after I bought the car, the cam sprockets were in perfect condition. So were the pads. A total waste of money replacing them...

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[PorscheDude]

Not a total waste.
That's great preventitive maintaince.

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[stewhatch]

Not to mention peace of mind - that is worth more then anything IMO.

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[Cloud9...68]

Both top and bottom pads looked brand new. Completely indistinguishable from the new ones that went in. They weren't even really discolored, if I remember right. I agree that preventative maintenance is always a good thing; I'm just kicking myself for assuming mine needed replacing without inspecting them first, because of a few horror stories I had read.

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[PorscheDude]

It's easy to read other's misfortunes and think "oh no, my cars gonna self destruct"
IMHO, better safe than sorry. The alternative is not cheap either.

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[ralfgermany]

Thank you for your answers.
I am checking two cars at the moment. They were both serviced by porsche for the last years. One has 70.000 miles 92, only maintenances no bills just stamps in the service book, the other 120.000 miles tiptronic 94 car, camshaft pads and chain changed and new cylinder head two years ago bills from the last five years. But the car didn´t get new camshafts so far.

The seller (car dealer ist selling the car on commission basis ) of the 70.000 miles car told the story about higher quality cams in 91-92 cars. He doesn´t want to open the camshaft cover to get a check of the sprocket teeth and the cain. I didn´t believe it... but in christmas time we all love to tell fairy tales don´t we [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

I know that inspection of the cams is a must before buying the car. But which strategy is the best? Trying to subtract 1500 $ for new cams of the asking price as cams of both cars may loose teeth in future?

yours

Ralf

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[Johannvb]

Ralf, I doubt that at the mileage you are talking about the Cams will be in bad shape. As far as I know at 80 000Km the chain pads should be inspected and replaced if neccesaary. I think the teeth only break off if there is too much slack on the chain due to worn pads. but even if the cams are bad, you should be able to replace them for much less than $1500.

Have a look here:
http://www.rsbarn.com/968cam_repairs.html

I am sure you can find a good used pair on ebay as well.

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[blue968]

My cams had several teeth broken off at 65K miles, so you never know definitly worth having a look at them.

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[RS Barn]

There may be something to production year cams . I 've noticed several part numbering types on cams. This could mean different manufacturers. This doesn't mean cam pads would'nt wear though

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