Background: 2000 996 C2, ~112k miles, recently being used for short drives (<5mi) 2-3x week

A few days ago my temperature gauge light started to flash. I checked my coolant level and it was low, with a few remnants of the tan/yellow sludge on the coolant cap. I added ~1 liter of a 50/50 distilled water/Porsche coolant mix, and as it filled up, I noticed more sludge settling to the top as the reservoir was filled. Then I looked at my oil dipstick...sure enough there was some slight sludge. Same thing on the oil filler cap.

Since the temp gauge started flashing the car has driven <10mi total. I've never had any temperature issues, nor any oil pressure issues on this car. How screwed am I? What might be the next best thing to do? Going to call my Indy soon. Thanks all!

 

Jesse, it's definitely NOT game over yet. But you must act quickly to flush the car of the intermix. The chemical combination of oil and coolant will destroy the coolant hoses and make it a more costly repair. More than likely it's a cracked head. You need to make plans to have it pressure tested. Also, if you need the heads rebuilt, Hoffman in Athens GA is the best for these engines.

 

@b3freak thanks for the reply. How quick is considered quick to do the flush?

 

Y2K Syndrome strikes again.

You'll find a cracked head more than likely. It may take a while to find it, depending on the level of experience your technician has with Y2K syndrome.

 

"settling to the top"

^^^ That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one! back to our regularly scheduled chaos...I see a rip to Hamheads in Jesse's future!

 

Any recs in the Bay Area (ideally East Bay) with expertise in diagnosing cracked heads?

 

Others will chime in I am sure but I might call Darren at Fister - he is super cool and they service Porsches.

https://fdmotorsports.net/

 

When I had my intermix debacle with my 99 C2, by the time the temp gauge light flashed the head was already cracked. The coolant temperature read within the "normal" range, but when the light flashed and I checked the reservoir, the level was low and there was already intermix present. Cost me about $1.5K to fix this myself, $1K to the esteemed Mr. Hoffman whom did an excellent job at a reasonable price, and $500 for head bolts, gaskets, lifters yada, yada. All in all, not too bad, and learned a ton about the car and a sense of accomplishment once all done. Car now runs like scalded cat and temp stays stable with new reservoir and low temp thermostat. Don't be discouraged, many cars have recovered from this issue. BTW, I had a 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider 2000 for 26 years, loved that little car but I wanted something more modern and moved on to Porsches. Best of luck.

 

Kahler's German Auto Repair Dublin CA

 

How long have you been doing short drives?

Short drives will accumulate sludge in some of the places you mentioned. It doesn’t explain the coolant problem though.

 

If it were me, I'd flush it this weekend. I wouldn't let it sit in the system for any length of time.

Follow this guy's experience. He bought a cheap Porsche 996 and it had intermix but it was in the system too long... see what happens...

 

Based on my experience don't panic about the hoses. If you review my threads in the fall of 2008 I had a cracked head and very extensive intermix. My coolant looked like pudding and my oil like a milkshake. I also discovered the problem when the gauge light started flashing while my wife was driving the car. I don't know how long the intermix had been happening but based on the extent of the intermix I am thinking it had been a while and many mils before I discovered it. I changed the oil and the coolant, but not with flushing the coolant and the intermix came back quickly. I parked the car that fall and did not drop the engine until the next April and I found the cracked head. In any case there was still extensive contamination in the cooling system which I pent quite some time cleaning out. I did not replace the hoses and in the intervening 12 years and 50,000 miles I think I have replaced may 5-6 hoses.

I am not saying that you should not flush the system but if you are going to have the car in the shop in the next week or two I don't think you need to flush the system this weekend which is a pretty involved process and produces lots of contaminated coolant and water which must be disposed of. A good shop has the resources to do this.

 

I'm in the sooner the better camp. The cost is not worth waiting on.

 

Bryan at Beuer Werks in Oakland. Great guy, honest shop, take pride in their work.
http://bauer-werks.com/

 

Hoses start to rapidly deteriorate after 3 months of exposure to the petroleum associated with coolant intermix.
Up to 3 months we really see no big issues with hoses. Climate also matters, and it seems that cold weather drives the effects of the intermix more than hot.

Keep in mind that we see 20+ M9X powered cars per year here, with intermix. Extensive first hand experience with these failures are what drives my comments. This is n to just some random failure that we see with random cars, it is something that keeps our queue full. This is something that we deal with every week in some capacity, and have for 18 years.

You don't want to deal with hose deterioration, as it attacks the heater core hoses first, and they are a bear to change out. Flush the system ASAP with hot water, mixed with Shout.

One of my current customers is a retired cooling system engineer for a major brand. He helped explain to me why the hoses deteriorate so rapidly once the process starts. Ironically, he is on my reconstruction schedule due to intermix and Y2K syndrome.