Tom 88 S4

It would seem that I am F@!&ed. I noticed a puddle of a muddy looking liquid a couple of months ago after I had cleaned my engine. I dried up all of liquid, and noticed that it was back jast a couple of days ago. So I checked the coolant, and low and behold, a small amount of oil floating in the resivoir. The car runs smooth, and there is no resicue on the exhaust tip. I am assuming that I have a small leak in the head gasket. It seems like it may have been there for a while now. What are the possibilities that it could be something less sever? Being that I have never torn down an engine before, is this too much for a novice? I am thinking that it is. This is my daily driver (only car).

Kaz

Man, that sucks. The only way oil in your resevoir can be less severe is if someone took a bottle of oil, and poured it in there when you weren't looking. Got any ex's with an axe to grind?
You've got to stop driving that car now though, or risk more damage thereby making the repair more damaging than it already is.

I understand your frustration though. Mine is a daily driver as well. My contigency plan is to always keep up on the lease offers on Honda Civic's. Last I saw was 97 bucks a month in Saturdays paper. Should I ever suffer a catastrophic 928 failure that cannot or will not be fixed within a timely manner, then I'll go up the street and lease one.

Ed Ruiz

All hope may not be lost. Does you 928 have a seperate oil cooler, or does the radiator also cool the oil? Oil can get into the coolant and visversa through the radiator.

Have the coolant system pressure tested to determine if the radiator is leaking. Likewise, have a leakdown test done on the engine. If the head gasket is leaking, a leakdown will determine the cylinder(s) involved.

PatrickP

Tom:

Following up on Ed's comment, I had a similar experience where a mechanic advised me that I had oil in the coolant and wanted to refer me out to have the heads pulled. Someone gave me the same suggestion as Ed gave you. I drained and replaced the coolant. It was confusing since I was loosing very little oil and attributed what little I was leaking to what was on the garage floor. Further, the xmision fluid level was fine and maintaining. I was advised that if there was a leak between the raditor and xmission that the transmision fluid would be pushed into the radiator as opposed to the other way arond because of the higher pressure in the trans. In the end, it appeared hat the "stuff" in the radiator was some type of radiator sealant the PO had used!

Bottom line, I guess, would be to get the shark to a reputable 928 guy who can look at it and tell you what's up. I have learned that often "regular" mechanics don't have a clue as to what is happening with 928s and even Porsche mechanics are sometimes off base because they are so "911" oriented and have no experience with the 928.

If you don't know a 928 guy in your area, someone on this board proably does!

Tom 88 S4

Thanks folks. I do have a couple of follow up ???'s.

Ed, how can I tell if the radiator is used to cool the oil? I have never seen an oil cooler and would assume it would be in front of the engine. I will certainly have the cooling system pressure checked.

Patrick, I have a 5 speed so I don't think that transmission fluid can be the issue. There are actually 2 928 technicians where I live. 1 is at the dealer.

Thanks again all,

Ed Ruiz

I'm not sure about S4 models, but GT's have a seperate oil cooler below the radiator. If yours does not, then the radiator probably has oil lines going and coming from it.

Stick with a 928 specialist with experience.

Tom 88 S4

There is a glimmer of hope! My S4 uses the radiator to cool the oil. While looking for other leaks, I noticed what I think to be a BIG hole in a hose just behind the oil filler and too the left, under the intake housing. Looks like quite a bit of gunk in there as well. Any idea of the hose that I am refering to?

Thank you,

CSBEAUMONT

Tom,
Had a similar problem with a 944, they have a oil, water heat exchanger below the headers in the front of the engine, I don't know if the sharks have this but the seals on the heat exchanger went out by a bad vibration and this caused the mixing. I would check under the passenger side exhaust manifolds to see if you notice a rectangular aluminum box about 4" x 3" deep by 6 or 7" long, it looks kind of honeycombed on the outside. The seal kit is about $40 from the dealer(I think) but it is a pain to put in. I think an average person could do it, just a messy and time consuming job. This would be the first thing to check, if it was a head gasket, I think you would be blowing a lot of gasses out of the radiator overflow tank (if torn between the cylinders and the water galleries). Good luck.

Ed Ruiz

928s don't have that. The only way oil can get into the coolant and visversa is through the radiator (if it has an internal oil cooler) or through the head gasket(s). YMMV.