[flash]

i sure wish more people felt that way. we'd have a whole lot more "i love my 968" rather than "how do i fix my broken car?"

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[parptarf]

Pretty much, I learned this the hard way on my old Audi.

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[JWahlsten]

Okay, I'm preventative maintenance guy, but between deployments, shoulder surgery, and retiring from the military, I haven't gotten to pulling the head until now. Long story short, I think at 120,000 miles you are on borrowed time if you haven't done your head gasket yet. The following photo shows the truth of what I am saying... BTW the car ran fine, but I can't tell you how much longer it would have. It started overpressurizing the coolant on the track. I would surmise some of this damage was due to age as well.

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

With that kind of mileage i would do a valve job .



Since youre there

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[MCL968]

Are there "better" grades of headgaskets, or did you go with the stock unit?

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[968cabx2]

928 motorsports supposedly makes a higher end improved head gasket for the 968. I wonder if it is that much better and if anyone has any experience with it.

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[ds968]

Be very careful about which one of the two different 968 head gaskets you order ; Porsche has two versions ( well they HAD two versions about five years ago ) - the original , and for some inexplicable reason a THICKER one. Maybe "machining / shaving" the head after a top end job is common enough where Porsche felt carrying a thicker gasket makes sense, but if you don't have that done and get the thicker gasket instead of the regular one you'll mess up your compression.

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[az968]

Ok, not to demonstrate my ignorance or anything, but what are the symptoms to look for to know it's time to replace the Variocom pads? Since these are $100k cars, from another thread, best to get ahead of the problem curve. But popping for $3k-5K just to be on the safe side is not always easy to talk my wife out of when she has the cruise line book in her hand......

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[ds968]

Not sure but I suspect by the time you have ANY symptoms from the variocam it's already too late. Popping tne valve cover is easy so just have a look at the top pad and see if it has cracks or deep tracks / grooves. Whatever that shows, know that the bottom pad ( which you will not be able to see adequately even if you use a a special mirror to get a peek at it ) typically wears out at double the rate of the top one . I'm still puzzled as to why that's the case, makes no sense to me , but it is a well documented fact. If the top pad looks really good, you're probably ok.

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[az968]

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

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[paulzebo]

I had mine changed when I bought the car. This is what they looked like at 150,000 miles.

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[az968]

So how were those bad pads affecting the drivability of the car? Were there any symptoms? My car has abt 80k miles and runs like a top.

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[Ryan]

Pads in no way effect the drivability of the car. The only way to find out their condition is pull the cover and look. The bottom pad can't really be seen without pulling the tensioner cams and chain so most people just look at the top pad.

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[flash]

not true. depending on the condition of the rest of the system, it could be preventing full engagement of the variocam, which will cost power. also, depending on the condition, it can cause wear on the chain, which can then cause wear on the cam gears. that one can get expensive.



everyone should be inspecting these pads at 80k or so. typically they need to be replaced at about 100k.

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[JWahlsten]

If you're over 100k, do the Vario-Cam job. I did mine after I purchased my car, so they are good. The old ones get brittle in addition to having the grooves. You can pull the valve cover pretty easily, but seeing the bottom pad is difficult at best. Mine was in worse shape than the top one. I'll try to find my pics.



I am having the head done while it's off, and I will be putting an OEM stock thickness head gasket on in all likelihood. I won't know if the head needs decked until the machinist checks it out. I'm guessing it's fine as I had no overheating or leaking issues. I started a thread a while back on all the stuff I was going to do. I am now in progress on knocking out that list.

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[kwikt]

Joel, are you having the head done locally and about how much are they charging you? Thanks

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[flash]

as a general rule, the bottom pad will always have about twice as much wear on it as the top one.

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[ds968]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1402409771' post='158463']as a general rule, the bottom pad will always have about twice as much wear on it as the top one.[/quote]



Yup. But has anyone explained what causes that to happen ?! ( it may be in some post, in some thread from a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away , and I'm too impatient to do a search lol ) . Logically, there should be equal chain pressure on both pads, shouldn't there ?

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[Ryan]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1402336243' post='158428']

not true. depending on the condition of the rest of the system, it could be preventing full engagement of the variocam, which will cost power. also, depending on the condition, it can cause wear on the chain, which can then cause wear on the cam gears. that one can get expensive.



everyone should be inspecting these pads at 80k or so. typically they need to be replaced at about 100k.

[/quote]



I fail to see how this effects drivability. Most people with these problems don't even know it till they pull off the lid and see it with their own eyes.

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[flash]

lol - they should probably be driving a camry then. it's a pretty big difference when the variocam isn't working, or when the cams aren't right, and if they cant' feel it, i would say they are not using the car for what it was intended.

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