RRTEC

After being a fear monger rebuker for years it happened.. Intermix..

Coolant Light started flashing yesterday during the 1 mile commute to drop my daughters off at school. No leaks on the garage floor, no smells, no smoke. I drove right back home and pulled the coolant reservoir cap to find butterscotch shake (and low coolant level at that) There is also raw unmixed oil?

I pulled the dipstick and cap to find yellow foam in the fill tube (which isn't normal for my car because I drive it 70-100 miles per day all interstate.) and off colored milky oil from on the dipstick..

I am pretty devastated right now.. Weighing my options.

From my research it is one of three things, but most likely worst case scenario..

1) Oil Heat Exchanger (fat chance I'm not that lucky)
2) AOS (Definetly not that lucky)
3) Cracked Head or Cyl sleeve (that's more like my luck)

Options for me... after flushing out the shake...

1) Pull engine, test AOS and Oil Heat exchanger, if they are bad say a thankful prayer and replace those parts and anything else that is easy when the engine is out

2) Pull the engine, test the above, when it isn't them, yank the heads off and find the crack, send the head off for repair.. put it back together and keep motoring..

3) Buy a wrecked one and yank the motor, pray that it doesn't crap out without warning a few days or months later..

4) LS swap..

5) Save my pennies for a total rebuild. Let the car sit unused for about 2 years. Get harassed by my wife daily about the car sitting there in the garage being a paperweight..

6) Take a serious loss and sell it as is..

From the looks of my photos which failure point appears to be the most realistic..?

Dennis C

Yikes. Good luck. I hope it's not as bad as you're fearing, but I agree that it doesn't look good.

groovzilla

sorry to hear but your engine - FYI if it is any help, there is long time fellow RL'er selling nice 2003 996 C2 59K mile engine with upgraded IMS bearing only 17K miles ago for $10K.

https://rennlist.com/forums/parts-ma...seats-etc.html

wyovino

From what I've read, The LS Swap is over $20k.

RRTEC

I forgot to mention mine is a 1999 C2. I don't think the 3.6 goes in easy does it?

5CHN3LL

Since you've got a '99 C2, you have a mechanical throttle, so you won't be able to use an e-gas engine without additional modifications.

Note that this would involved far fewer modifications than an LSx swap. I wouldn't recommend the LSx swap unless you're able to do a great deal of the work yourself OR you have deep pockets and don't mind spending a bunch of money on labor.

I think digging into the suspects you have listed in sections 1 and 2 and sending things out for repair is the most economical option. On the plus side, you _could_ address some other internal maintenance items (tensioners, a certain bearing, etc.) at the same time and be relatively confident that you'll be good for a while.

Really sorry this happened. Many of us have the urge to be monger deniers until something bad happens - that's just the nature of the beast.

If it does turn out to be a cracked head, be sure to check the water pump for damage - maybe you have some debris and got the localized hotspot cracking the Internet has warned us about.

dgjks6

How much DIY vs paying a shop?

With only a shake - options 1 & 2 make the most sense

5 leads to divorce. 2 years becomes 3 and then 4 and 5

Ahsai

Sorry to hear that. Agree with dgjks6. Before removing anything, you may want to use a 2-stage block kit to confirm it's a cracked head and it's not AOS or oil/air heat exchanger. You may also want to do a leak down test to confirm which cylinder before you remove the heads...should make finding the crack easier.

RRTEC

Thanks to all, I'm not familiar with a stage 2 block kit.

I am bent but not broken over this. Luckily for me this is one of 4 cars at our home, so I have other options and am not really in a bind. Was really hoping for a great summer of driving though.

Ahsai

Sorry, it's block test kit. 2-stage minimzes false detection. You use it on the coolant tank.

RRTEC

Ordered!

Thanks

Sneaky Pete

Truer words have never been spoken. Been there and I feel the OP's pain. The pics don't look good.

Here is an option. http://www.ebay.com/itm/00-Carrera-R...item3f5da08e6d

alpine003

That's a great option and free shipping too. I've dealt with that vendor many times and never had any issues FWIW. Even though it's from a '00 egas, you can transfer over your non-egas items without any issues. Also, you maybe able to get close to 10% off that if you contact them directly.

RRTEC

I saw that one. My fear is that the same failure is just looming around the corner.. My car was meticulously maintained and this still happened.. I can pick up a wrecked c2 for well under that if I was going to gamble on a used engine.

RRTEC

Visual of the Patient...