Magnus Granberg

I just read in a thread about ticking noise and that it could be both a lifter and a leak at the exhaust.
The car was quiet when I picked it up a week ago and now I heard it when i passed a wall with the windows down. It sounds from the right side and equal as much when I start it cold as when it is running at working temp. I cannot hear it in the coupé at all. It does not sound "stronger" after 48h at cold startup.

If it is a exhaustleak, where should I look for the leak?
If it is a lifter... is it dangerous to use the car?

I will have a mechanic look at it soon.

/Magnus (Newbie)

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Hi Magnus. Typically, an exhaust leak sound will diminish as the exhaust metal heats up and expands. A discharged, malfunctioning lifter/tapet has consistant sound. From what I've read, seems the exhaust side lifters are the first to go. I have the same problem and am going to change them all very soon.

See the thread below titled: "Whoa, $70.00 for a single lifter"

Jaime

sfbanchs

the likelihhood of an exhaust leak is slim it is probably a lifter. the safest thing is to replace them all that is what i am doing but keep in mind the set of 12 lifters which consists of 6 for the exhaust and 6 for the intake will cost almost 1000, not to mention the labor

all the best

Sebastian

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Well, you can get lifters for about 40 bucks each here in the USA. Kevin at Ultimate motorsports, and Steve Weiner at Rennsport systems can hook you up (I hope this is ok to inform). Both are Rennlist sponsors.

Jaime

fc-racer

My car is in for lifters as well, 40,000km exactly, but the car has seen LOTS of track use so I'm not complaining. I'll let the list know which ones were bad, I'm expecting it to be exhaust due to the heat from track use. It would come and go at first, but is now constant. It really makes the car sound cheap!

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Is there a design flaw with the premature wear of exhaust lifters? Kevin pointed out to some heatshields aft of heads....But maybe some bigger, more robust heat shields needed? Anybody with manufacturing skills out there??

Jaime

Magnus Granberg

Thank you all for your answers!

I hade a Porsche mechanic listing to it today.
He said that it was a little bit louder than it should but equal as much on both sides.
He asked me when the oil was changed and that is done 3500km ago and I said it was Mobil 1 15/50 and he said that was not right... 5/40 was the right one. He said that we star with exchanging the oil and see if the noise go away. What is your opinion on what he says?

//Magnus

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

Thinner oil?? Hmmm....maybe in Sweden it's reasonable. In warm climates almost everybody swears by synthetic 15-50, and even one very well known tuner whom states to use 20-50 in our TT cars.

Jaime

sfbanchs

the mechanic i had listen to the fcar said the exact same thing that to try thinner oil and see if it goes away. We didnt try this instead i just insisted we replace all of them and get rid of the ticking

fc-racer

I tried the thinner oil method, mostly out of curiosity and it did not work. Indeed, it seemed to make the bad lifter(s) even louder! At the end of the day, these cars run great on 15W50, so if it's making noise now with that oil, there is something mechanically wrong that needs to be dealt with.

I personally don't think this is premature wear, my car has seen a lot of track KM; I can't think of any other make that can withstand this much track use with such minor maintenance.

Kevin

The problem with the ticking lifters really isn't the lifters themselves.. It's the viton ORING that seals the lifter in the rocker arm bore.. The seal gets hard and brittle. It cooks itself near the heat exchanger and turbine housing.. The seals get brittle and crack. Once in this form they clog the lifter, and restrict the oil flow into the lifter.. Also, in severe cases the oil just blows out past the oring and does not provide and pressure to the lifter... Porsche has updated the oring material.

One word of caution, it might just sound like one, but trust me if you just replace one bank, you will be back replacing the remaining ones you didn't replace prior.. Been there done that!!

JasonAndreas

So how do the cheapie aftermarket lifters compare longterm to the updated Porsche versions? I learned real quick not to bother with aftermarket seals for everything else but the price differential is HUGE for lifters.

Kevin

Jason, why are you implying that they are aftermarket!!! Don't assume..

ttAmerica RoadsterAWD

I'm taking every precaution against dry-rot o-rings due to heat. I took Kevin's advice and just finished placing all new lifters in a glass jar filled with magic potion 15-50Mobile-1. Tomorrow will assess the heat shields and maybe improve on the shielding with stainless steel sheets. Maybe I can send the shields to SwainTech for a thermal barrier coat??

Jaime

Kevin, I don't think Jason was specifically referring to lifters used by anyone here on Rennlist. But, while on the topic.....is there such thing as an aftermarket lifter?? Closest I can think of is that tip to use Mercedes Benz ones which purportedly are the same.....

anyone??

Jaime

Kevin

Jaime the lifters are delived to you with orings installed...

With your ceramic coated turbine housings and the correct heat shield in place, with the new orings I think that you will be okay..