Oil Cooler Replacement

[sehorntx]

Just got my 99 996 C2 back from indy shop. Had oil-coolant intermix. Indy replaced oil cooler and flushed coolant . Car drives fine, good power, no overheating. Unfortunately when I look in coolant tank I still have chocolate milk in the expansion tank. Also Dipstick looks tainted with coolant.

I questioned the indy and he said the car is still "burping" or ridding itself of contaminants. I am very skeptical and expect I have significant inner engine problem (block/cylinder head crack). Indy stated compression on cylinders was ok.

Any advice would be appreciated!!!!

Should I flush coolant, change oil again, or just start saving money for a new engine?

[dr914jr]

The thing to do that would tell you definitively would be a leak down or or cooling system pressure test. I once had an incident where someone had mistakenly filled the cooling system with oil.(It was a Boxster so that was a slightly easier mistake to make). Could that have happened?

[wvicary]

It can take ages to flush the cooling system. Have you noticed any drops in the levels of coolant/oil??

[sehorntx]

Thanks for the info gents.

A leak test was done on the coolant system which apparently checked out ok.

Unlikely to have filled oil in coolant, this indy takes care of 911's frequently.

Question, can the oil in the coolant system just sit there, or should I be trying to flush the system?

[sehorntx]

No changes in either oil/coolant(milkshake) levels

[dr914jr]

Thanks for the info gents.

A leak test was done on the coolant system which apparently checked out ok.

Unlikely to have filled oil in coolant, this indy takes care of 911's frequently.

Question, can the oil in the coolant system just sit there, or should I be trying to flush the system?

The oil in the cooling system should circulate to some extent and eventually make it's way to the highest point in the system(the re savor).

I know this sounds crazy but I was first told this by a very knowledgeable factory tech. with 25 years of Porsche experience.

Drain the cooling system and fill it with distilled water and about a cup a cup of Shout detergent. Elevate the rear end of the car with a floor jack and let it reach operating temperature then drain the system. Repeat this two or three more times or until you're satisfied that the majority of the oil has been removed. Then use only distilled water to flush the system of soap. Finally fill and bleed the cooling system. If you find that after 3 runs of the Shout you still have loads of oink in the system than you clearly have a serious problem.

I know it's unorthodox but I've done it and it works like a charm. I still service several of the late cars I've done this with and after years they still show no ill effects from the soap. Feel free to flame away but remember I love you guys. :renntech:

Edited February 14, 2009 by dr914jr

[Brad Roberts]

Where are you in Texas? I'll be in NorTex area all next week and would like to help you out. For free.. I'll put the car on a machine and run a flush on the system until we see clear. Very few people have the proper machine to do this (and I have access to one at a shop in NorTex) It is a recovery system that we can watch. You run the car with it hooked it up.

Honestly,

I have never seen a M96 engine be "ok" with oil coolant intermix. 99% of the time one of the heads is cracked. Your indy shops typically don't have the equipment to diagnose properly.

B

[Dharn55]

If it is a cracked head you can fix or replace the head. If it a cracked liner than LN engineering/Raby enterprises does liner replacements. If it is a porous block, which happened in some early cars, it is very hard to fine and can't really be fixed.

[phillipj]

Thanks for the info gents.

A leak test was done on the coolant system which apparently checked out ok.

Unlikely to have filled oil in coolant, this indy takes care of 911's frequently.

Question, can the oil in the coolant system just sit there, or should I be trying to flush the system?

The oil in the cooling system should circulate to some extent and eventually make it's way to the highest point in the system(the re savor).

I know this sounds crazy but I was first told this by a very knowledgeable factory tech. with 25 years of Porsche experience.

Drain the cooling system and fill it with distilled water and about a cup a cup of Shout detergent. Elevate the rear end of the car with a floor jack and let it reach operating temperature then drain the system. Repeat this two or three more times or until you're satisfied that the majority of the oil has been removed. Then use only distilled water to flush the system of soap. Finally fill and bleed the cooling system. If you find that after 3 runs of the Shout you still have loads of oink in the system than you clearly have a serious problem.

I know it's unorthodox but I've done it and it works like a charm. I still service several of the late cars I've done this with and after years they still show no ill effects from the soap. Feel free to flame away but remember I love you guys. :renntech:

Dr914,

It's not just you. The "Shout" method is exactly what the tech did to flush my system. I had never heard of it but it obviously is effective..

:D

[phillipj]

Where are you in Texas? I'll be in NorTex area all next week and would like to help you out. For free.. I'll put the car on a machine and run a flush on the system until we see clear. Very few people have the proper machine to do this (and I have access to one at a shop in NorTex) It is a recovery system that we can watch. You run the car with it hooked it up.

Honestly,

I have never seen a M96 engine be "ok" with oil coolant intermix. 99% of the time one of the heads is cracked. Your indy shops typically don't have the equipment to diagnose properly.

B

That is quite an offer Brad. Glad to have you on the forum! :renntech:

[sehorntx]

Where are you in Texas? I'll be in NorTex area all next week and would like to help you out. For free.. I'll put the car on a machine and run a flush on the system until we see clear. Very few people have the proper machine to do this (and I have access to one at a shop in NorTex) It is a recovery system that we can watch. You run the car with it hooked it up.

Honestly,

I have never seen a M96 engine be "ok" with oil coolant intermix. 99% of the time one of the heads is cracked. Your indy shops typically don't have the equipment to diagnose properly.

B

Brad,

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I am down in Houston, quite a ways from North Tx/Dallas area, may have to find someone here to do the flush. Can you tell me what equipment to ask for?

Tim

[sehorntx]

Where are you in Texas? I'll be in NorTex area all next week and would like to help you out. For free.. I'll put the car on a machine and run a flush on the system until we see clear. Very few people have the proper machine to do this (and I have access to one at a shop in NorTex) It is a recovery system that we can watch. You run the car with it hooked it up.

Honestly,

I have never seen a M96 engine be "ok" with oil coolant intermix. 99% of the time one of the heads is cracked. Your indy shops typically don't have the equipment to diagnose properly.

B

Brad,

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I am down in Houston, quite a ways from North Tx/Dallas area, may have to find someone here to do the flush. Can you tell me what equipment to ask for?

Tim

Does B) anyone know if the last section of the stimulus package covers porsche engine failure?

[txhokie4life]

Thanks for the info gents.

A leak test was done on the coolant system which apparently checked out ok.

Unlikely to have filled oil in coolant, this indy takes care of 911's frequently.

Question, can the oil in the coolant system just sit there, or should I be trying to flush the system?

The oil in the cooling system should circulate to some extent and eventually make it's way to the highest point in the system(the re savor).

I know this sounds crazy but I was first told this by a very knowledgeable factory tech. with 25 years of Porsche experience.

Drain the cooling system and fill it with distilled water and about a cup a cup of Shout detergent. Elevate the rear end of the car with a floor jack and let it reach operating temperature then drain the system. Repeat this two or three more times or until you're satisfied that the majority of the oil has been removed. Then use only distilled water to flush the system of soap. Finally fill and bleed the cooling system. If you find that after 3 runs of the Shout you still have loads of oink in the system than you clearly have a serious problem.

I know it's unorthodox but I've done it and it works like a charm. I still service several of the late cars I've done this with and after years they still show no ill effects from the soap. Feel free to flame away but remember I love you guys. :renntech:

Sounds very much like what I came across -- the "freeze" plug blew -- and if you checked compression via the spark plugs -- everything

would look good (one of mine didn't which confused the Porsche dealership into thinking the cylinder liner had cracked, but when we put

the rings back on the piston for that cylinder I found that the wafer ring was missing -- we can't swear it was missing prior to disassembly

but would contribute to the misdiagnosis)

So if the freeze plug blew in yours -- coolant would mix with the oil -- but in my case the water pump sheared off -- so

it was caused by overheating.

did the indy completely flush the coolant?

What does the oil look like? -- Does it still have coolant in it (the indy did replace it right?)

m

[sehorntx]

Thanks for the info gents.

A leak test was done on the coolant system which apparently checked out ok.

Unlikely to have filled oil in coolant, this indy takes care of 911's frequently.

Question, can the oil in the coolant system just sit there, or should I be trying to flush the system?

The oil in the cooling system should circulate to some extent and eventually make it's way to the highest point in the system(the re savor).

I know this sounds crazy but I was first told this by a very knowledgeable factory tech. with 25 years of Porsche experience.

Drain the cooling system and fill it with distilled water and about a cup a cup of Shout detergent. Elevate the rear end of the car with a floor jack and let it reach operating temperature then drain the system. Repeat this two or three more times or until you're satisfied that the majority of the oil has been removed. Then use only distilled water to flush the system of soap. Finally fill and bleed the cooling system. If you find that after 3 runs of the Shout you still have loads of oink in the system than you clearly have a serious problem.

I know it's unorthodox but I've done it and it works like a charm. I still service several of the late cars I've done this with and after years they still show no ill effects from the soap. Feel free to flame away but remember I love you guys. :renntech:

Sounds very much like what I came across -- the "freeze" plug blew -- and if you checked compression via the spark plugs -- everything

would look good (one of mine didn't which confused the Porsche dealership into thinking the cylinder liner had cracked, but when we put

the rings back on the piston for that cylinder I found that the wafer ring was missing -- we can't swear it was missing prior to disassembly

but would contribute to the misdiagnosis)

So if the freeze plug blew in yours -- coolant would mix with the oil -- but in my case the water pump sheared off -- so

it was caused by overheating.

did the indy completely flush the coolant?

What does the oil look like? -- Does it still have coolant in it (the indy did replace it right?)

m

Any possibility is still possible. Indy did flush the coolant but to what extent I dont know. The oil after running the car a bit looks to me to have some coolant on

the dipstick. I also can see some white spots inside the filler tube (but that could be from the original problem)

Oil was changed as well (once)

Tim

[dr914jr]

So the problem still exists or the system was never throughly cleaned. One way or the other the car needs to go back to the indy. I'd clean the emulsification out of the oil filler tube and tell the shop to flush the hell out of the system again. Let us know how it turns out.