gonz911

I was getting ready to add coolant for the morning drive and noticed something brown sitting at the bottom of the coolant tank and hoped that it wasn't what I thought and it is -- oil! Now what? This suggests a major malfunction in the motor if I'm not mistaken like a crack? Could it be? I'm not familiar with the water cooled P-Car motor but this doesn't look good. I can't believe my luck. Anyone have ideas or experience with this any what the outcome is? It doesn't look good.

gonz911

I should add that the area around the coolant tank (hoses, frame area) has some oil on it too. I don't know if that makes any difference on diagnosis? Could it also be a bad tank and somehow oil gets in? I doubt it's going to be something that simple but thought I'd add to my prior post.

1999Porsche911

What year is your car? Try flushing the system which should be done every couple of years anyway..

gonz911

It's a 1999. I just found a post from some time ago regarding Engine Failure -- could it be the following copy from the post:

I have 1998 C2 996 that has covered only 46k miles and has a full dealer service history. After taking it to my dealer for a major service I noticed oil in the expansion tank.

The dealer took the car back and said they had traced it to a faulty Oil Separator. They replaced the item, put a detergent in the coolant and told me to drive it for a few hundred miles. They then were planning to take the car back and change the coolant.

About 1000miles later the car blew a coolant hose because of the volume of emulsified oil in the cooling system. Clearly the dealer had not solved the problem. The dealer has now stripped the engine and is claiming that it needs replaced (at a £13k cost!). The cause, apparantly is a crack in the cylinder liners (2!).

If anyone has experienced this problem or has heard of similar issues it would be good to hear from you.

gonz911

I'm going to be sick and have a sleepless night.

Donald Ciappenelli

Gonz: It sounds like #2 cylinder cracked. My 1999 did it with 28,000 miles last April. Porsche stiffed me. You may have a beeter chance, since the dealer screwed up. Good luck.

vove

How did your #2 cylinder crack Donald, what did the dealer say? If you dont mind me asking, how much was the repair?

I hope yours is something minor Gonz911, I feel for you bro.

gonz911

I was lucky so it seems since what I thought was oil is actually residue from the coolant. I'm told the system needs to be flushed from time-to-time. My leak actually came from the y-pipe up front. LUCKY I guess.