Hey - hoping someone can give me some insight; I’m looking at purchasing a 2008 SR22T. it has 1100 hours and at the last annual they replaced the lifters. My mechanic (who doesn’t work on cirrus) says that’s a major red flag of something worse to come - he thinks they found something wrong with the engine and replacing the lifters is just a bandaid covering the real problem. Does anyone have any insight into this or experience they can share? Is it a bad thing to need to replace the lifters? Thanks for your help!! -Scott
I’m not an A&P, but I can share little experience with my former '08 turbonormalized engine.
Valve lifters ride on the cam lobes. If lifter face spalling/pitting is left un-corrected, it’ll wear the cam lobe(s) and you’re looking at an expensive repair. So, be happy that the lifters were already all replaced.
Now, why were they replaced?
First, ask the owner. That said, you would not necessarily go out of your way to pull valve lifters (unless it’s a 2009 engine, see below). But, if you need cylinder work (not uncommon for a mid-time turbo or TN engine), that’s a great time to look at the lifters and camshaft lobes while you already have the cylinder off.
That’s how I noticed early spalling at 900 hrs on my TN engine, cylinder #1. I then had all the other lifters inspected too. And, I had them all replaced at the same time. At 1100 hrs, I had some other cylinders off and the camshaft lobes still looked great.
The lifters can be checked without cylinder removal too. The procedure is described in this Continental service bulletin. It also has illustrations of spalling and other lifter face deformities.
http://www.tcmlink.com/pdf2/MSB09-8A.pdf
PS: There is a lot more info available on the member side. Consider joining so you can search for other threads. The search function is a great first step in researching a problem or question.
Good luck with your search/purchase!