Well, it looks like the you-know-what has hit the fan! Had a low-coolant light come on a few days ago. I added coolant, drove the car awhile (10 miles) and found the coolant tank empty. I then added some more and sure enough I see an oil mix in the tank!
Spoke to my mechanic and he recommended the following:
1. Drain the oil to see if there is coolant in the oil.
2. Remove cooler on top of the engine to see if the problem is there. If oil cooler is OK, then he said I'm probably looking at major repairs (from repairing cracked head to possibly a full rebuild)
I'm hesitant to dump more $ into the car (about $800 to do 1 & 2)
What do you guys think are my chances?
The car is a 99 with a replacement engine (with the larger 3rd gen IMS) in 2006.
It now has 99k (25k on the engine I think)
If we drain the oil and there is no coolant, what does that mean in terms of prognosis?
Thanks

 

I'll let others chime it but dropping the pan should tell you everything you need to know. $800 seems like way too much money to diagnose an outcome that is already pretty well known. I wouldn't pay more the $150 or if you have a decent jack, buy a $35 set of jack stands and a set of female torque sockets and drop it yourself. You can post the pictures of what you find and probably get a much better analysis.

Any idea that last time the AOS was replaced?

 

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea when AOS was replaced. Is that also a possible cause? I was told by PO that a crate engine from Porsche was put in in 2006, I don't know if it was just the block or everything else new also.
So if we drop the pan, what am I looking for that would tell me if the engine is toast? (btw it runs fine now as is with no smoking or any funny noises)

 

Oil/water mix in the coolant tank - not good. I would say normally if the AOS diaphragm blows, coolant goes into oil, not the other way around because of the pressure differential. So, he's going to check the oil cooler. Is he dropping the engine to do that? Because prior to doing that do a compression check and leak down test on all cylinders. Not a bad idea to boroscope the cylinders while that is being done. Hope it is just the oil cooler and not a cracked head.

 

You are looking for coolant in the oil and chunks of metal. Whatever you do, don't start it again until you are positive the situation is resolved.

 

Here is a good read for you while you're thinking it over
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-the-yard.html

 

Had the same for left head last year. Broken at the edge. Still in my garage so I can share high res pics.

 

You can drain the oil. I'd arrange to collect a proper sample of oil to send out for analysis.

If after the drain you do *not* spot signs of coolant then just to be sure no coolant has been in the oil send the oil out for analysis and when the report comes back pay particular attention to the amount -- if any -- of anti-freeze compounds in the oil.

However, if you spot signs of coolant in the oil then you need not have the oil analyzed unless you just want a report for reference.

For the rest of it I think the tech has a pretty good handle on what to do.

The presence of oil in the coolant suggests a leak from the oil system into the cooling system and the oil cooler has to be a suspect in this case.

I hope the problem is the oil cooler because the next likely suspect is a cracked head.

If it is a cracked head after repair or replacement very likely with a proper flushing of the coolant system and the oil system the engine could be resurrected but I can't offer odds as to the success of this. Your tech can advise you.

 

There are ways to id a cracked head (via the spark plug holes) as explained in the avove thread. That would save you a lot of time to diagnose it.

 

Find a new mechanic that is intimately more familiar with the m96. Traditional mechanics will not be effective at diagnosing all the issues that can occur with the m96 motor. The last thing you need is to be reading on here and giving your mechanic advice on how to fix it. It should be the other way around...

I'm sure Cali peeps on here can give you several reconmendations since there are quite a few of them out there.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. With so much uncertainty, I'm thinking about just moving on. What would a roller be worth? It's Arena Red (needs paint though because of many scratches) manual coupe.

 

Since you're giving up on it so easily, I'll give you $2k. If you have Sport Design wheels, make that $2.3k.

 

Give these guys a ring to get a feeler for how much $$$ you might get from a business (vs PP): http://www.ladismantler.com/

 

Check your PMs.

 

I'd be interested if price is right.