944 noisy lifters

[thegoat46]

Have four lifters which have gone soft and are now noisy. Porsche want a silly amount. Has anyone got any suggestions on where to get cheap ones? Cars a 2.7, if cheap ones can't be sourced she'll be scrapped which is a shame as in ok condition.

[rawkyjnr]

Sure they've gone? On the 928 they're oil pressure dependent and after a long lay up they can rattle for a while before oil fills them up

[rich888]

thegoat46 said:

Have four lifters which have gone soft and are now noisy. Porsche want a silly amount. Has anyone got any suggestions on where to get cheap ones? Cars a 2.7, if cheap ones can't be sourced she'll be scrapped which is a shame as in ok condition.

Which oil are you putting in it and what is the mileage?

I ask this question because many 928 owners are putting Valvoline VR1 20/50 oil in their V8 engines which works wonders to protect all these high load areas, whereas the thinner oils much favoured nowadays offer little protection and result in higher oil consumption, especially when the cars are older with higher miles on the clock and looser tolerances. As far as I'm aware, the engine in the 944 is just a 4 cylinder version of the V8 fitted in the 928.

Might be worthwhile changing the oil before you scrap the car.

[Richair]

As said above, these motors are fussy about oil; when I took ownership of my 951 it had recently been serviced by an OPC who used 5w40 Quantum Synta (VW's own brand of oil and a good oil) and the lifters really don't like it much as mine would rattle after a week or two of being parked up. I currently use Total Quartz Racing 10w50 and the motor run brilliantly; I fact at a recent speed event a spectator and fellow owner commented that my motor was the quietest 944 he heard a tick over...

These motors really need a 50 grade oil as per the handbook. I'm on my second change of the Quartz Racing, but will trying VR1 20w50 next as the racers over the pond rate this as the best oil for these motors when used properly as mine is. Don't be fooled by the 'fully synth myth' as there's really nothing wrong with a decent dino oil, particularly in an old motor. VR1 is very reasonably priced too.

What oil have you been using?

ETA: after spending many more hours reading and research on oil for older Porsche motors I've decided to stick with my earlier view that the Total Quartz Racing 10w50 appears to be the best oils available for our engines for sensible money (arguably one of the best available, period). So this is what I will continue to use.

It seems the formulation of VR1 has changed in recent years and the newer stuff widely available is pretty average given some of the analysis reports our friends over the pond have carried out, both from road and race cars... The Total Racing on the other hand is manufactured by one of the very few actual base stock oil producers and they have direct factory involvement in the top tier of Motorsport, including F1. Their Quartz racing oils are not the latest 'SM' API grade, but has the older SN/CF suggesting the oil has all the good stuff our engines need that our cousins over the pond seem to obsess over.

Truth be known I've wasted many an hour over the last couple of years researching suitable oils for our cars and it really is a complete minefield. It really doesn't help that manufactures are reluctant to release data and compositions of their products, plus oil analysis tests and reports are not widely available in the UK and often US oil formulations are different to our own (like Total Racing for example). All I know is that my engine runs very well on the Total and the available information backs the product up as being an ideal oil for our engines, all in my opinion of course.

Edited by Richair on Thursday 27th August 10:43

[benjj]

I use fully synthetic 10/40 on the rally car but it gets changed every 3k or so.

The hydraulic lifters do seem to suffer from draining and then noisy refilling. Mine did it before the last rebuild and still does when it's been put away scalding hot and not looked at again for a month or two.

[thegoat46]

Bugger, she's already stripped down. Worth while building it back up and trying the surgested oil? Failing that any ideas on where to purchase 4 lifters? These really are soft so dunno if they'd refil?
Cheers for the pointers :-)

[EGTE_RPF]

Try PorschApart. www.porsch-apart.co.uk 01706-824053

[blade7]

Richair said:

These motors really need a 50 grade oil as per the handbook. I'm on my second change of the Quartz Racing, but will trying VR1 20w50 next as the racers over the pond rate this as the best oil for these motors when used properly as mine is. Don't be fooled by the 'fully synth myth' as there's really nothing wrong with a decent dino oil, particularly in an old motor.

AFAIK the Racing VR1 is favoured for it's ZDDP content not because it's anything special otherwise. You pays your money etc with engine oil. I use a Millers triple ester PAO synthetic in my turbo, no myth about it.

[eldavo]

I fractured my oil pickup pipe on the 944 Turbo due to shot engine mounts and am convinced that the only reason my lifters survived was the film strength of the Royal Purple 15w/40 that I run. AAS in Newcastle are distributors and I know that Promax use it too.

[edh]

There's a VW lifter that fits isn't there? - thread on TIPEC last year I recall

If they haven't pumped up after 20-30 mins of driving then they are likely to be shot.

[GC8]

There's a common valve that fits the 2.7l head too, but I cannot remember what it is.

[tr7v8]

Two different lines here, turbos need Synthetic, the NA cars are fine on either a good mineral or semi synth, it isn't a highly stressed lump so doesn't need synthetic. Standard oil for all 944s is 10w/40 but as they age then you can up it to 15W/50.
In my 2.5 NA I always run the VR1 which was fantastic. As for the original poster talking about scrapping a 944 because the lifters are noisy I'm amazed.

[thegoat46]

Be interesting to know about vw parts fitted. Will look into that. I will now be carrying on with the car as it great fun as you all know.
My scrapping post was written while piss#ed off :-))
Once again thanks for the feedback.

[rich888]

edh said:

There's a VW lifter that fits isn't there? - thread on TIPEC last year I recall

If they haven't pumped up after 20-30 mins of driving then they are likely to be shot.

Is it this thread: http://www.tipec.net/_forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&am...

[GC8]

This is a 2.7l 8v head Rich: same family as the 3.0l 16v, but surely not the same lifters?

[Cheburator mk2]

I think the Porsche 8v lifters are identical to the VW 8v lifters which are found in a lot of different engines. The 2.7 8v intake valves unfortunately are not that common - they are the same size as a few VW 8v ones, but much shorter and cannot be cut down to size...

[GC8]

It was a Japanese valve: that's all I can remember. Well before I owned a 2.7l, and forgotten now as 2.7l engines were available for £150 for years.