[firefish]

Is it safe to unplug the variocam connector on the cam cover as a way to determine if the variocam system is operational or not? If so, what kind of behaviour is to be expected, assuming that vc was operational to begin with?

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[ds968]

Bob.. do you want to answer this one ? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

Until he does, yes, it's safe to disconnect but not sure you'll be able to tell the difference in either sound or even performance unless you have an incredibly sensitive seat-of-the-pants meter, and something to compare it to because if the connection was not functioning well before.. as you said, how will you know ?

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[flash]

i can tell you that mine ran for well over 2 years with it effectively disconnected - it did seem a bit lackluster though - i spoke with pete, and from the research i can also find from porsche, it accounts for about half of the 29 hp increase from the S2

there is a way to verify the variocam function - i am about to conduct that very test myself tomorrow

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[Kim]

If you hook up a test wire to the leads fitted with a small 12V bulb that you can lie under the wipers, you can then just drive the car and see for yourself. The bulb should come on and stay on from 1500 rpm to 5000 rpm. It will be off above and below those limits.

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[flash]

yup - that's exactly what i planned to do - i was going to do a write-up on it before i posted on it though, just to make sure i get it right and not have anybody else toasting their stuff

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[Kim]

I tried it and it does work.

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[Jamie '92 968]

Better than a test wire, if someone were to productionize a wiring harness that plugged in-line with the variocam connector and drove a nice LED indicator (or series of LEDs to show magnitude), it could become a must-have piece of 968 equipment.
Apparently, there are a lot of latent, undetected failure modes to worry about. This was a topic of discussion at the Hershey tech session that Pete provided.
It would also look way cool [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

Just a thought. I'd buy one.
Jamie

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[flash]

i just did the test yesterday - worked great - relatively simple - will post DIY soon

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[firefish]

The problem with said test is that it will not tell wether the system is working or not, but only tell you that the DME tells the solenoid to open the flow of oil. Or is it so unlikely that the mechanical part of the variocam can be stuck or that the solenoid itself is broken? My seat-of-pants aren't very reliable but perhaps a WOT pull in third from 2000 to 6000 rpm with first the connector attached and then a new one with it disconnected. Have a friend time both runs and compare. Not fancy but perhaps it would suffice.

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[Johannvb]

Hmmm...I always thought the sudden burst of power at 4000 revs was due to the variocam [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img]

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[flash]

correct that this test only shows that power is getting to the circuit - you would need a hammer or something like it to show whether or not the timing is actually being altered

the sudden burst at 4.2k is due to the dual resonant intake manifold - it achieves "boost" at that point

the variocam comes on at about 1500 and shuts off at about 5k

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