Engine oil additive

I have a hydraulic valve lifter tick that comes and goes. Mechanic recommends an oil additive to clean the lifters. Can someone recommend a good product for this?

I'd get a second opinion. Search these forums and you will see lifters aren't what makes the ticking sound in these motors... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Additives are not recommended for 996 engines. Are you sure it's a lifter tick? Very rare that happens. Do a search of this forum for more info.

The regular synthetics are really high in detergent effectiveness. No additive is likely to do much better.

It�s probably not the lifter. I would have the engine bore scoped from the bottom.

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Sounds to me that you may have potential cylinder bore scoring. Jake Raby states that many shop misdiagnose bore scoring as lifter noise. You're better off having the cylinders bore scoped. I wouldn't run thicker oil or pour in additives. They just "mask" the problem, not solve it.

Gooogle “Porsche swepco 502”

You don't need an oil additive. You DO need a new mechanic.

JR also said, the only time he uses an additive is "NEVER"! Watch all of these on ;bore scoring"... You Tube

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No, you probably don't... The lifters in these engines will not make noises if they are problematic- they will register misfires. When the sound of a "lifter" is heard the first thing one must do to avoid wasting a ton of money trying to remedy the "lifter noise" is to do an extensive search to rule out cylinder bore scoring. This means an inspection through the spark plug holes, as well as through the sump, to see both sides of the cylinder. You can't do just one.. I see people waste thousands of dollars on these issues that they believe are lifter noises. The record is 14K wasted on an engine by two different Porsche dealers, swapping out valve train components, and even camshafts. I found bore scoring in less than 30 minutes when the car arrived here. As soon as I heard the engine start, I knew that it was not a lifter, and it was just required to gather conclusive data to pull it apart. Again, when you heard this sound you MUST think the worst, not the best. You must rule out bore scoring on all 6 cylinders beyond the shadow of a doubt BEFORE you march forward with any other practices. So far this year my log has 94 cases of bore scoring, which have resulted in 66 engines sold to date in 2019. This makes bore scoring responsible for 92% of our year to date sales. This is up 3X over any other year, and due to it, our line is longer than ever. These are facts, based on first hand experiences, not crap I have read somewhere, and not my opinion. And yes, the only time to use an oil additive, is never. If you have a problem, solve the problem- don't mask it.

I�m certainly not disagreeing with you, I know this advice comes backed by countless hours of experience, but wonder if there is not an alternative use for an oil additive: prevention. If an oil being used lacks additives that a stand alone additive might offer, would it still be a terrible idea to use it? If a stand alone additive offers lubrication that a stand alone oil does not... is it still a bad idea? And if so, are you saying there are risks involved or just a waste of money?

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My statement comes from the evaluation for CLS from STLE. That said, additives are great at imbalancing the critical ratio between the anti- wear package, and detergent package. Put simply, a good oil that has the proper formula does not need an additive. Further, the only way to screw up something really good, is by trying to make it better. What that means, is the additive that you dose the oil with has the potential to negatively impact that oil. Currently, under no circumstance would I personally use an oil additive in any engine in my fleet of vehicles. If I need an additive, I figure that I need to work to either develop a new oil, or take the engine apart that needs the additive, and fix the bitch.

I have heard quite a few M96 engines with lifter noise, some brand new ones right off the delivery truck,, some after engine rebuilds that makes noise for a while, comes and goes then gets quiet. Here is an example of a thread here that went from lifter noise to borescoring, then back to lifter noise. So you just never know, but the lifters do make noise sometimes.. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...ighlight=noise

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It can happen. Yes. Very rarely, though.. In most cases where we hear a lifter noise that really is a lifter, the noise is related to valve lash that is excessive. This lash actually changes the valve timing with the valve that has the noisy lifter. This leads to an irregular exhaust pulse that is in time with the lifter noise. Typically you can feel the pulse in the exhaust, and know that the irregularity is coming from delayed valve events. You can really find it with transducer in the exhaust system. Again, the rule that will save thousands is assuming the noise is NOT a lifter, and going invasive with the scope through the plug hole, and the sump to rule out bore scoring. My Rennvision part 4 of the bore scoring series shows how to use a stethoscope to determine where the noise is coming from, as well. The biggest mistake that can be made, and a mistake that we have logged more than 30 times this year alone, is to assume the noise is a lifter, not quantify this hypothesis, and perform a lifter job that solves nothing.

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I agree, but before I even do that, I check the cats for noise like this one. https://redirect.viglink.com/?format...Cm5KCX99LrV4p9 , and check for DMF noises, then do the Bore Scope. I agree, before doing a lifter job, rule out all the other possibilities.

Yea,, the 996 motor's valve train is actually very similar to several other engines as far as the cam/rocker/follower/lifter layout and in my experience the lifter is the last to be the problem.. Valve lash and keepers and springs are the major culprits..

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Appreciate the response and noted.