rickya130

Hi everyone I’m new to the forum and after a little info on my missis’s 1997 2.5 boxster. She got back from work last night and said the car as just started making a noise, i had a listen to it and it was making a loud knocking/tapping noise, sometimes when idling it will stop but when revving the engine it comes back and gets louder. I put the car on the drive and i asked my next door neighbour to look at it today as he’s been a mechanic for the last 20 years, he took the belt off to make sure it wasn’t the water pump or anything there but still made the noise, with the panel off from behind the seats the noise sounds like its coming from the right side of the engine, he thinks it could be a hydraulic lifter. So he put a engine flush in left it idling for 30 mins drained the oil took the oil filter out checked the filter for any metal and there was nothing, filled it back up with 5/40 oil and new oil filter started it up left it running for a hour but still the same! Is there anything else that can go wrong making this noise? Also he thinks the engine might have to come out to change the lifters will he have to do this or is it possible to change them without dropping the engine?
Cheers
Ricky

rickya130

Forgot to say its got about 115,000 on the clock
cheers
Ricky

ltusler

I'll go first, check your sparkplug tightness.

Macster

It is very important to verify the noise is coming from inside the engine. Removing the belt was a good idea.

But beyond that as ltusler mentions the noise could be from a loose plug, or another possible source is an exhaust leak.

So, you must be sure the noise is not coming from outside the engine.

If it is from inside the engine and from under a camshaft cover then it could be a bad lifter (among other things).

The camshaft cover can be removed and the lifters replaced without having to drop the engine.

But this job requires someone experienced with these engines to do this job right. The camshaft cover forms the upper half of the camshaft bearings and this cover has to be installed with the right sealant properly applied, new camshaft cover bolts, and properly torqued down.

And it is possible with the cover removed another source of the noise could be found: say a broken valve spring or a bad cam lobe.

rickya130

iv read that a few times... but just found this on youtube it sounds just the same as mine, so im thinking its a lifter might try another flush...

Byprodriver

Ricky, assuming your mechanic is correct & the noise is a stuck lifter since this is a common issue with Boxster engines. What causes this is trash in the oil enters the lifter & never comes out due to the tiny orfice in the lifter. Usually the engine cleaning additives do a great job of cleaning the interior of the engine BUTT trash that goes into the lifters never comes out. SO any that weren't clogged before may be now. The lifters can be replaced without removing the engine BUTT the labor is high enough that it's foolish not to replace all 12 of the lifters per side while everything is apart. Lifters cost $30 US each + the cam tensioner wear pads need to be changed also, so add $70 per side for these pads. Lifters, pads,oil etc. + labor+ VAT= $2,000 US for both sides minimum.
AutoFarm & Hartech are the best mechanics for these Boxsters in UK so talk to them.

rickya130

Spoke to my next door neighbour just a bit ago he said if it is a lifter he will drop the engine, im going to buy a engine stethoscope in the morning to try and find out if it is

cheers

rickya130

ok thanks for your help

Macster

The next time you talk to your next door neighbor it should be to tell him you have taken the car to a real Porsche mechanic. No reason to drop the engine for a lifter swap.

My 02 Boxster's engine stayed in the car when the dealer tech replaced both the VarioCam solenoid and actuator. To get to these the cams were removed and the lifters were exposed for removal had they need to be removed.

rickya130

He didn't need to remove the engine he easily removed cams and lifters...all of the lifters are very stiff! He needed to use a big pair pliers to compress the lifters, I don't know if this is normal didn't have time to talk to him for long and when I got home he'd gone out.

Macster

The lifter buckets are stiff because to compress them one has to over come the valve spring's force.

I'm not sure why the lifters have to be compressed to remove. They are in a lifter assembly that can be unbolted and the lifters in masse lifted up off their valves.

There is the risk of one or more sliding out so care has to be taken. For those that are not replaced each wants to go back into the same lifter bore into which was originally installed.

Once the lifter tray is loose the lifters should slide out with ease. Their fit in their respective bore is a sliding fit with not very much clearance at all to avoid the lifter banging sideways. A larger clearance is also an internal oil leak and adds unnecessarily to the engine's oil budget.

rickya130

Spoke to him he said everything looks fine in the head, valve springs etc etc so i ordered a new set of lifters will take a few days to arrive so hopefully when they turn up he'll spend a few hours putting it back together and all will be well, hopefully....

rickya130

Gutted, bad news its still the same so thats the cheaper option done now on to the expensive option! so if its not the lifters the sound must be coming from the bottom end, so do i send it in and spend i dont know how many thousands on having the engine stripped and rebuilt, or do i buy a 2nd hand engine and pay my mate to fit it...?

Macster

Not to put too fine a point on this but you sure you want the same guy that diagnosed lifters which proved to not be the case help you find a used engine and install it?

Anyhow, the engine may not need to be stripped and rebuilt. It depends upon what the cause of the noise is.

The problem is the same as it was before. Id'ing the location of the noise and from this making an educated guess as to its cause and what it will take to put right and from this then the cost to put right.

A used engine is not guaranteed to be in any better shape than the engine you already have. Ideally you would want to buy an engine you and your mechanic have heard run and have some confidence it is not manifesting any issues at least right now.

Also, ideally you would want to deal with an engine source that would take the engine back for credit towards another engine should the engine turn out to be sick.

Before I moved forward I would want to be sure of the situation. Thus I would want to know as best I could the source of the noise and the mechanic's input as to whether it makes sense to fix the engine or replace it.

If the diagnosis is the engine needs a complete rebuild that's going to cost a lot of money. And you really have to be sure of who is doing the engine work they know their stuff.

rickya130

Theres a guy not too far from me thats got a engine for sale for a good price and can be heard running before i pay for it, i don't want to send my car in and pay i don't know how much for them to tell me the engine is no good or needs a rebuild. I only paid £4500 for the car just over a year ago so i don't want to put loads of money into it, its just not worth it...

Like i say my mates been a mechanic for 20 years now and im sure not every mechanic can diagnose a problem right every time, he did say he wasn't 100% sure it was a lifter but it was the cheapest option and i agreed to give it a go hoping it would solve the problem but it didn't, but even now it sounds like the noise is coming from the right head, so maybe a big end shell as gone for the piston on the right side?