Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Ok, so spent over the odds it would seem on labour for a new Cam Chain & Top slipper pad on my 968. Have to put it behind me now & just cross that garage off my list for next time.
Like I said only one (top) slipper pad was renewed as apparently the bottom one on a 968 can't be purchased seperate to the tensioner unit (which is big money). I didn't like the sound of this so did some phoning around to find OPC parts department agrees & also a good 5 Porsche Specialists confirm only top pad & chain can be replaced on there own to the tensioner (piston). Only one garage disagreed and said that was the case for the 944 not the 968.
So, there still seems to be lots of diferent views on this Variocam system regarding servicing, if I think about it anymore I shall stop enjoying the car, so have had the belts, chain and new top pad & seen my sprockets on cams are looking good, so shall go and enjoy the car now, polishing is all I need for this year anyway LOL.

Oh yeah is Full Synthetic (all it's life so far) oil good for car or semi??

Thanks for all the advice, I shall join this club and get along to some meets!!!!!

The choice of oil depends on your mileage. Mine was filled with semi synthetic 20w50 by Hartech last year and this year I decided to change back to thinner 5w40 which is the recommendation from the hand book. This was a mistake as the engine instantly became noisier on start up and took an age before the tappets quitened down. An email to Hartech resulted in a recommendation to change back to thicker oil. The reasoning being that as the engine has reached 100,000 miles there is going to be some wear in there, so the thicker oil takes up some of the slack. Dropped the oil last week and refilled with Mobil 1 15w50, the engine is now much quieter again and the tappets quietened down almost straight away.

I had the cam chain and slippers and one cam shaft replaced last year. I'll check on the bill and see what was changed.

Just checked the invoice and it does say that the cam chain and tensioner guide plates were changed, not guide plate, so I assume that both must have been done.

Ok thanks, I seem to have Texaco 5 / 40 full synthentic in mine from previous services, don't hear any tappets.
Yeah Hartech was the only garage that say can replace both slipper pads seperate to main tensioner. Every other & Offical Porsche as well so only top pad can be done. They also said the top wears the most due to the pad pushing up on chain. I don't know, just seems weird how there can't be just one definitive answer from all garages, after all they are supposed to be 'SPECIALISTS' LOL

I've ordered two front tyres through Tyre Traders and then will get align checked at Elite in Essex.

Steve, I've checked PET for the 944 & the tensioner breakdown is far from clear but it does appear that the upper slipper is separate & the lower one is a complete assy.

Half way down this page http://www.porscheshop.co.uk/acatalog/p ... nents.html is a complete tensioner & pad for the 944 S2 but this isn't listed for the 968 the equivalent page being http://www.porscheshop.co.uk/acatalog/p ... nents.html
I don't have PET for the 968 so no way of looking it up.

As for oil I think people are being confused by Synthetic & grades. A 10/40 oil can come in mineral, semi synthetic or synthetic. The same applies for 10/40, etc. etc. All will have the same thickness at the varying temps but will be of different constituents.
The grade recommended when new for the average UK climate is either 10/40 or 20/50 & as they get older the 20/50 is better as there is less issue with the minor leaks & bigger clearances.
Which cars need synthetic? I'd suggest the more stressed turbos and a highly tuned N/A engine. Otherwise a semi synth or even a mineral is more than adequate. Mine & others I've worked on are running Valvoline Turbo 20/50 mineral which is SL grade. All are quiet with good oil pressure. This would have been 3-4 levels higher spec than when it was new in 87, the spec. then would have been SG or so.
Mine is now doing around 2-3K a year so gets an oil change every 12 months. Synthetic was designed to increase service intervals for the Co. car market so changed every 3K or so would be wasted.
My lux now has 143K on it & drinks oil when driven spiritedly, but at Gaydon on the track, around 28 Deg C ambient the gauge stayed at 4.5 Bar so more than happy.

Just looked at the 968 cam chain tensioner I have in the shed and you can indeed replace the bottom pad, undoing two allen bolts the pad will slide out.
It is also the same part number as the top pad.
The bottom pad has worn less than the top one but is worn and I find it amazing that other specialists seem to think you cant change it.
I was slightly surprised that the cam chain service kit I ordered only came with one pad.

Thats very interesting, so obviousely they aren't really recommending the bottom pad changed if the service kit has only one pad.
It sounds as though the garage who have done mine could have put a little more effort into looking into the part no's properly and renewed the bottom one as well. Obviousely the service could have been higher & the labour lower lol.
Anyway, I want to enjoy my car now so hopefully the belts, chain and one pad will see me ok for another 30,000miles where I will have done 150000 by then so maybe renew everything by then including both cams for safety.

Cams are £390 each, so I wouldn't be replacing them unless they need it!
Go and see Hartech and get them measured properly before you go spending money. That is why I took mine to them. I intend keeping the car for a long time, so that is why I went there despite the distance to do so.

Hi Steve,

Not wanting to add fuel to the fire... but having read you're previous threads, how long have you had the car? I was curious to know that if you'd just purchased the car, surely you could have got the supplying indie to replace all the necessary prior to you taking receipt of the car. Or were you made aware that the belts needed doing and bargained the price down accordingly?

Regards,

Ben

Hi Ben,

Yeah I was aware the belts were due to be changed, the car was up for £7495 and got them down to £7200. i thought this was a good price compared to others I have seen advertised so was happy with this. It's a 95 Sport with full service history (albeit chain hasen't been changed) fully stamped up book with a nice folder. With only 117000 miles compared to lots with 140000 plus I could have easily seen this sort of car elsewhere for 9k plus.

I'm happy with my purchase but a born worrier lol