[Jake Raby]

Unfortunately very few technicians have disassembled the M96 to the point of ever touching a lifter. This is the reason why most of the modes of engine failure that these engines have experienced have taken so long to be thoroughly understood and remedied.

There is another group of Porsche technicians that have never worked with Hydraulic lifters, because of Porsche's lack of their use for so many years. Some of these people wouldn't know a good lifter from a bad one if they had one of each in their hands.

Because of this people have reassembled engines having never checked for bad lifters. Only the worst of lifter failures make any sort of noise at all, and the result is lower power or a loss of MPG. Because of this and the fact that most Boxster owners have only driven their own cars and have no idea if they have lower power because the car is still fast.

It seems the group that haven't seen any bad lifters or the other issues are the same group that condemned us and called us "stupid" for working on this engine a few years ago. They stated that "no money could be made repairing the engines because a new replacement was so cheap".. So now that the tables have turned they seem to feel inclined to say that the issues don't exist; but they can't because they were busy being "smart" and swapping engines out while we were addressing the issues.

More than likely if we didn't have so much interface with the engines that come in and are taken apart as cores I would have never realized that the lifter issues were so widespread.

As far as using this thread for the benefit of my company:
Some people deny that any issue occurs and they don't want anyone to tell them that there is anything that is ever going to happen to their engine. The last person they want to remind them of these things is one of the guys that is heading up the development of the engines.

I have been fighting this issue and the fact that a certain group of people do not feel that ANY professional should ever engage in activity within a forum like this one. People have said the same thing that blinkwatt has said for 15 years, but the funny thing is they never complain when I decide to give away free information via the forums.

The issues with the engine is real.. a few years ago you never heard of IMS failures because not enough of them had occurred yet. In a few years the lifter situation will be similar and you'll be able to say that you read all about it here on 986forum first.

Today a very small percentage of Porsche Technicians have done anything to an M96 more invasive than a cam cover re-seal. How can these people challenge anything within the engine? They have no direct experience with the engineThe bad part of trying to share knowledge and information about anything on the internet is the fact that some people will get pissed off, call us fear mongers and etc. If I piss off a few people along the way, but end up saving a slew of engines I consider that an fair trade off.

I learned long ago that not everyone can be pleased and the biggest mistake that anyone can make is TRYING to please everyone.

Some people will tell you exactly what they know you want to hear- You'll never get that from me.

Don't shoot the messenger.. If you want to be pissed off at someone call Germany.

BTW- I only posted this thread after my inbox was filled up FIVE TIMES with messages from people wanting to know what was going on with the "Phantom".. I got so tired of it that I left my inbox full and it remains that way now!

A follow up to the story will be posted on my site after everything is a matter of public record and has been wrapped up..