jsoderbe

Hi,

I just bought my 2000 Carrera Convertible, and it looks like I got screwed.....

I just noticed that there is a tiny amount of oil under the coolant cap, and at the same time I needed to add about 2 quarts of coolant. Nothing like when I checked it up before I bought it.

Reason I bought a 2000 was that I thought they updated the engine, to avoid cracked heads and cylinder walls.

So, is there anything cheap that might have failed, or should I just drop the engine? Where do I start to find out what is wrong?

The car runs perfect, no coolant in oil, no smoke whatsoever. It was a total surprise, I'm just lucky I didn't drive it until it overheated.

Any advice would be very appreciated!


Regards,

Johan

Byprodriver

If you can't find a external coolant leak I bet it's a cracked head. Try to look at this as your first opportunity to upgrade your car via rebuilt heads.

mikes_996

Check the oil via dipstick. Let's hope it's not like milkshake. I would assume if there was oil in the coolant you would be able to see the milkshake consistency through the reservoir tank. Hopefully just some slight contamination but no intermix. If you had the intermix you would definitely see it in one or the other or both mixed together not just on the buttom of the cap. Keeping fingers crossed for you..

jsoderbe

Hi,

the oil looks perfect, and the level is good. It can't use a lot of oil, I haven't added any. The coolant isn't milkshake, it's more like oil drops in it. The big issue is the loss of coolant....

Regards,

Kpjam

PorscheDoc

Might be bad oil cooler seals on top of the motor. Since you just bought the car, you have no idea if they did any coolant work (replace a hose, tank, etc) that would lose coolant in the process.

Check the oil like others have said, top off the coolant and drive it. Check it on a regular basis and if nothing seems to be happening, keep going.

Topaz330ci

Under the coolant cap is it dried up or is it clearly oil?

What color is the coolant? And can you see the oil inside the coolant resevoir?

Macster

If there is oil in the coolant it can get there through a variety ways.

Sure it could be a cracked head, a leaking head gasket, a corroded oil/water heat exchanger and so on.

There's always drop the engine option but you don't want to do this unless it is necessary.

Since you just bought the car and know nothing about the car it is possible that someone just mistakenly put some oil in the coolant tank. This might have happened some time ago and the cooling system was not fully cleaned/flushed out and what you found is just a few drops of oil left over from this episode.

If you want drain the coolant into a *clean* drain pan of sufficient capacity and let the coolant stand for a while. Any oil will rise to the surface. Depending upon what you find determines what you do next.

Next you can drain some oil from the engine -- the easiet way is to remove the filter housing and capture some of this oil -- and have the oil analyzed looking for among other things signs of coolant (anti-freeze) in the oil. Depending upon what the oil analysis finds determines what you do next.

Then you can remove the plugs and check then against each other to see if one stands out in being cleaner (or more deposited laden) than any others. What you find determines what you do next.

The low coolant may not be related to the oil (suspected oil) in the coolant issue. The low coolant might be due to a cracked coolant reservior tank or a leaking coolant cap. These caps start to leak -- fail to hold pressure -- and allow some vapor to vent. Over time this can lower the coolant tank's fluid level quite a bit. I've had to add a gallon of distilled water to bring the level up to where it should be.

While you have the coolant removed from the system, that would be the time to check the cooling system for leaks by applying a suitable test pressure to the system. The results of the pressure test determine what you do next.

In short there are various reasonable/intelligent things you can do to determine if there is a real problem before you drop the engine. Dropping the engine just to find out the coolant had an accidental drop of oil in it and the coolant cap was leaking is an expensive exercise.

Sincerely

Macster.

springgeyser

Send a oil sample to Blackstone for testing.

logray

I recently overhauled much of my car's engine (up to block) and cooling system.

One of the discoveries I made was considerable amount of an interesting substance floating in my coolant tank (and bucket once I had drained the system). Lot's of small black flakes that looked like this.



Some of them 1/4 dime sized, others the size of a pea. I thought it could be oil especially after seeing a little condensation formed into the familiar intermix coffee like substance in the AOS (which I replaced). When I would try to grab the material with my fingers to discern it's properties, it disintegrated upon contact.

However while diving deeper I discovered it was material from the head gasket, which had separated over the 12 years and 75k miles on the engine. It is either sealant, paint, or glue. Not sure which. The car had the original coolant from the factory when I did this overhaul.

To further the confirmation of no cracks in the head, the pressure test at the machine shop during the valve job revealed NO leaks. Blackstone analysis also revealed 0 coolant in the oil AND fortunately once I removed the head gasket I discovered exactly what it was that was in the coolant (not OIL).

Just another possibility.

If it is oil, chances are you are going to see more of it soon.

It might be worth draining part of the coolant from the block which is not very difficult in order to examine it further.

Although I have to warn that refilling the coolant is a somewhat complex process, as you do not want any air pockets in the system (a vacuum system is recommended for the refill). If you just rely on the bleeder valve you might be risking air pockets which could actually lead to a cracked head and an intermix situation.

Pac996

Muck in the radiator can resemble oil globs around the cap rim. Of course if there is oil floating in the fluid then forget what I said. Possibly if its just the cap showing what look like oil then it is muck from a smuck that had the ame problem you had and tried doing a good job of sealing the cap.

There was an updated cap to fix leaks. There's even a chance the tank is leaking. I don't know the particular numbers on the newer caps but it can be found here or looked up. The tank leaking is a lot more bucko's than throwing in a new cap I'd try the cap instead of possibly applying silicone grease to the rubber seal on the cap. There is a black seal in there I hope? Make sure you have the updated cap.

logray

+1 to Pac996's comments.

04 on the cap.

Take the car to a shop, they can pressure test the coolant system and test for leaks. Inexpensive and confirmation if you've got a leak somewhere in the system.

jsoderbe

Thanks guys,

I will drive it and keep an eye on the coolant level. Yesterday I took it out for a 30 minute spanking, high-reving spirited drive. Wow, it is a fast car! I am sure all the ponies are still in there.

When I came back I opened the coolant cap, to have a look at what came out. It does have some oil in there, but what was strange is that coolant dropped from the front right corner on the engine! How can that be?

And I am still puzzled on how there can be oil in the coolant, but no coolant in oil? And where is the coolant going, when there is no smoke?

From what I have read there might be an intermix in the oil cooler, but to be honest, reading at this forum it seem like 100 % is cracked heads. It feels like the next step is to have it pressure tested.


Thanks,

Johan

logray

If there is a crack in the head they will need to be removed and repaired. Then the intermix sludge cleaned out.

edit: Some more qualification there of my previous statements.

Pressure testing the cooling system to find leaks in that system is inexpensive (as it was mentioned might just be a cooling system leak with perhaps some inadvertent oil in the system somehow).

Replacing the oil cooler is relatively inexpensive and easy (compared to pulling the heads), and so is pressure testing that unit once it is removed.

Removing the heads and having them pressure tested for cracks that cause intermix is expensive and time consuming, but it has to be done if you want to keep the car.

From what I've read if it is a crack in the head, your coolant will look like a sludgy coffee and very quickly.

Except for the minor coolant leak, any intermix situation is a REASON to not drive the car until it is repaired. There can be a lot of collateral damage and very quickly if you keep driving it.

Pac996

There are coolant lines that go to the front radiators. This is wishfull thinking since a busted head gasket is super rare and its normally the head.

Macster

Coolant dripping from the right front corner of the car is a coolant leak probably at the radiator though a hose or even a fitting can be the source. Most often though it is a radiator. (Often times it is from corrosion that occurs from the trash that collects around the A/C condensor/radiator.)

For the oil in the coolant.... have you had the oil analyzed for any presence of anti-freeze in the oil?

If there is none and absent any misfires (if a head had a crack or if coolant was getting in the engine combustion chambers I'd think you'd be seeing a check engine light and misfire error codes) and if the plugs look ok like there's no signs of any coolant in the chambers (if there were the plugs in the affected cylinders would be cleaner have fewer deposits than the other plugs) then I do not believe there's an oil/coolant intermix problem.

But get the coolant leak fixed at the front of the car. After the leak is fixed and before the system is refilled with fresh anti-freeze/distilled water I'd have the system pressure tested. If you fill the system the pressure has to squeeze relatively viscous water out a hole while if you test the cooling system empty all that has to escape is air.

Sincerely,

Macster.