Head Gastket vs. cracked cylinder liner

[Dharn55]

My wife was driving my 2000 C4 Cab (50,000 miles) on Thursday when the temperature light started flashing. Had her turn the car off and turn it back on, no flashing light so she drove it home. On Sauturday I went to drive the car and the light was flashing again. checked the coolant tank, empty except for some "mayonaisse), then the oil, looks like chocolage milk.

I guess it is my turn. So how do you determine if it is a head gasket failure (I should be so lucky) or a cracked cylinder liner? Is there an easy way to differentiate?

The worst is that I had an extended warranty, but it ran out last January. Too bad it did not happen a year ago.

[1schoir]

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I guess it is my turn. So how do you determine if it is a head gasket failure (I should be so lucky) or a cracked cylinder liner? Is there an easy way to differentiate?

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Sorry to hear the bad news.

If you have a blown head gasket, a compression test will help to determine which cylinder or, if the gasket blew between two cylinders on the same bank, which two cylinders was/were affected.

That cylinder (or those two cylinders) will have low or very low compression readings.

Regards, Maurice.

[Lee Quave]

The exact same thing happened to my motor. It was diagnosed as either a cracked head or a failed head gasket. The only option offered by Porsche was to replace the engine which I did at a cost of 12K. The cost of rebuilding vs. replacing is close (cylinder head is 5K) and a remanufactured engine has a less chance of future problems. GL