Originally Posted By: Bladecutter
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
Total miles on the car are 7300 with 4 oil changes. That means that the OCIs have been less than 2000 miles each. There is no way that the lifters could be gummed up unless the car was run half a block at a time, which would put all kinds of bad stuff in the oil.
With that little mileage on the car, chances are it probably was run just a couple blocks at a time, and put back, for several more months before being used again.
All it takes is a good bit of fuel dilution, being put away good and hot, and left to sit for quite a few months, and the oil can and will bleed out of the lifter, and whatever residue is left can gum up, leading to a stuck lifter.
I owned a '98 Boxster for several years, so I have done a ton of research on the engine, and all of its shortcomings. The best thing you can do for the car is drive it a lot, in higher revs.
If you wanted to try the high rpm thing, go our on a major highway, set the cruise control to the speed limit, and leave the car in 3rd gear, and drive for 30 minutes or so. If the lifter is going to get freed up, this is the way its going to happen.
Usually, it doesn't happen.
Normal repair is to take it apart, or simply to replace it.
And that's not as easy of a task as it sounds, as its not an easy cylinder head design to take things apart and put them back together.
BC.
+1 about the boxers needing high revs. The alfa boxer is the same. It does not like to be driven at low revs all the time. It likes to be pushed and is designed for that.
Especially the ones running on carbs.
The lifters on my boxer seem to run much better so far on synthetic rather than on mineral, also with a good zddp level.
I had to replace all of mine plus the camshafts due to a couple of broken tappets. The flat tappets can destroy the cam lobes if they fail. The flat surface literally gets smashed in creating a concave surface.