I'm sure you guys have been asked about this a million times but I read too many answers online to know what's right. I had a lifter tick so I pulled them all out and put them in degreaser. I bought another used set and did the same thing with them. now I have seven that are rock hard and the rest can be pushed in. this is while they're still in the degreaser. so my question now is which ones are good or what do I do next to find out? thank you in advance for the help.

I am sure you will get several answers but here is how I deal with this:

I first use a mechanics stethoscope to determine exactly which lifter is the ticker. No sense in killing yourself!

Remove and inspect the lifter and the lifter bore for excessive mechanical wear (rare). If tit is not a mechanical issue then proceed. If it is mechanical you need a new lifter or a new cam housing.

I blow out the oil and compress the piston in the bad lifter to get any debris and old oil out of the lifter (most tickers are due to debris). I will flush with a very light oil like damper oil or similar.

I then heat up a pan of light oil to about 200 deg F and place the lifter in the oil bath. I then compress the piston slowly in and out to get the air out and draw in the fresh oil. I will continue to do this even after it gets hard (use a press if you cant do it by hand when primed). This process further cleans and then of course primes the lifter.

Re-install and enjoy!

Okay I blew them out and it did get a ton of stuff out. I still have 7 hard and 9 compressable by hand ones. I dont really understand how you heated up the oil like that and then compressed them while hot. Is there an easier method or some specific tools I dont have that I need to buy? I was thinking about getting a syringe to suck out whats left in them and outting in fresh oil but then I still dont know which lifters would be the bad ones.

I use a small hand press (like a valve spring press), but a shop press will do it too. I have a small cast iron pan that I use that I keep the oil and lifter in while I press it.

Check this out....
www.944spec.org/944SPEC/forum/general/11785-lifters-4-sale
Sorry, I don't have any lifters for sale.

Bringing this back. As stated by the OP, there are a million discussions about this on various forums but I have yet to see a definitive answer. However it does seem the general consensus is that if they are solid and not compressible by hand they are good.

I currently have my engine apart for rebuild and these lifters are giving me a headache. I do not recall any lifter tick. I had 7 lifters that were uncompressable; #6 was able to be compressed by hand but would not pump up in oil. The lifters are all currently in 5w30 oil. I wanted to clean them so I used a syringe to remove the oil from #1, however it would still not compress afterwards. I assumed this was due to the check valve inside. (944 lifter opened - youtu.be/ZCucAyf56Ik) I then placed it in a vice (in a towel) and very slowly compressed the piston slightly. The lifter now compresses smoothly although it will not get hard again when in oil. So now I have 2 lifters that will not become solid in oil.

Here are my questions on this:
1. Will the lifter not become stiff because the oil is too thick to flow through the 3 pin holes when not under pressure? Or did I somehow break the check valve in #1?
2. Could someone else discuss their lifter experiences. How do you remove the oil from the piston? Or other cleaning methods?
3. Has anyone used compressible by hand lifters with good results once installed?

Thanks!!