Chris,
Thanks for chiming in. When I started researching this last week I read your post where you listed the part numbers and one of the one you listed (ending in 73) did not come as as the correct number as Porsche had it listed as a GT3 part. When winniGT2 listed the part numbers they were the same except one of them ended in 72 which does come up as a correct Gt2/996tt number. If I understand you correctly you had the "72" part number put in as opposed to the "73" you initially listed last year. I will verify tomorrow that is what is going in. Even though it sucks that this manifested itself I'm going to be glad to have the updated parts in the motor. Evidently it doesn't take much for the lifter to start ticking. It's not that the lifter is necessarily fully stuck but rather that it doesn't have it's full range of motion there by creating a gap which in turn causes the ticking sound. At least that's the way I understand it....

I'm going to do a separate write up on the cooler with pictures shortly. Stay tuned....

16 hours of labor plus about $1700 in parts...

So I find this thread very interesting as I had recently replied to another thread questioning the use of "Sea Foam". I didn't go into detail why I gave it a try. However, it was for a "ticking" we could not resolve. I had a light ticking coming from the lifters (1998, 993CS2, 120,000 miles). We replaced the lifters and the ticking was now even louder. After my mechanic tried a few other ideas/options...still no resolve. While driving the car the ticking would come and go. Sometimes at start-up, sometimes after longer drives, and idling. It was inconsistent, but it would occur more than not.

Think I heard about Sea Foam on one of those late night car shows on SPEED, like Gearz or Two Guys....???? Not too sure, but I added a can and with 30 miles or so of driving the ticking went a way and never came back!

intake lifters are the main problem.....outlet lifter do not fail but the renew is to recommend too

and its not a real common problem.... not every 996tt will have this failure in the future

this engine is not easy to analyse with his noises ...under 2000rpm it is a little orchestra from a race engine in it

before you open it be shure what it is....oilfilter check...noise analyse from a good repair shop...

to add a good additive is sometimes the first cheap try.....

ok but other than that as i understand most of the time is for pulling and putting back the engine in but do you need to take the heads off or can it be done with only taking the valve covers off?

16 hours x $120/hour = $1920. Equals OUCH!!!

Labor costs are ridiculous

11 hrs R&I of motor. 2.5 hrs per each side of motor to swap the lifters. Heads do not need to come off, camshafts do.

These guys are hot John! 11 hours to remove and install an engine on a 996 turbo, this is very very good! A good part of your misfortune is that you are dealing with a good shop!

that is good, John, you need to tell me who that is?

Ok, so the cam covers are off and camshafts are coming out next. Just as my mechanic told me, it is the #3 cylinder on the drivers side. Specifically one of the hydraulic exhaust lifters is bad. You can press on it and it collapses fairly easily so it looks like the internal spring is bad. Everything visible including the cam lobes look to be in perfect shape so that's a relief. Now they just need to pull the right side and swap out all 24 lifters and assembly can begin. Should be wrapped up in another couple of days.

John, I have heard sticking lifters in american cars often, and it can be loud when you pop the hood. Is the sticking lifter in these cars very noticeable even over loud exhaust and LWFW? Also did you get pics of the overall car and area as they do the work? I'd love to see that.

check the exhaust valve under the lifter...i am wondering that a exhaust lifter fails

maybe the reason is a def exhaust valve or spring

Thanks for keeping us up to date John. After reading previous post from Sharkster (https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...e-engines.html) I was wondering if there is a possibility, while the engine is on the ground , to check looseness of the intermediate shaft?

Yes, you will definitely know it if you have a sticking lifter even with a loud exhaust. It is a fairly pronounced ticking or rather clicking sound and you can definitely isolate it to one side of the engine or the other as opposed to a loud IMS for example which comes from the motor itself. I've got some pics when they were putting together the gear box cooler, LSD, and other stuff. I'll post it when I get a chance..