I thought I would provide an update on the solution to the intermix/cracked head problem on my 2000 996. For those of you who haven’t seen the previous threads, last September, 8 months after the expiration of my EasyCare extended warranty my car developed an intermix problem, with significant amounts of oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil. Initially I tried to change the oil and top off the coolant to see how long before the intermix reoccurred, but it seemed to happen immediately (although some of this might have been residual contaminated fluids in the engine and cooling system).Therefore it seemed that a new engine would be required, and with the economy limiting the budget I parked the car for the winter.

This spring I started work on the car, first checking the oil cooler for any problems, but quickly determined that this was not the source of the intermix. Then I dropped the engine and begin disassembling it. Soon I found the crack in cylinder head 1-3, cylinder 1 at the inner exhaust valve seat, which you can see in the photo above. This seems to be a very common problem, and the most common area for cracks in the heads of M96 engines.

Now I considered four or five alternatives, a remanufactured/rebuilt engine, a used engine, a used cylinder head, a new cylinder head or fixing the crack in the head I had.

The replacement of the engines was out of my budget. Porsche now wants over $12,000 plus a core for a remanufactured engine (this is through Sunset or Suncoast, the list is much higher), and only warranties the engine if it is installed by a dealer. I wanted to stay married so that option was quickly ruled out. Looked at some sources for rebuilt engines, but they seem to be $7,000+ and somewhat of an unknown quantity. Used engines seem to be $5,000+ and are also an unknown quantity.

I checked out the cost of a new head, which list for about $2,700, and Sunset and Suncoast were about $2,400, and the 1-3 heads were in Germany so over a month away. The parts department at Suncoast did lead me to a dealer in the Chicago area who appears to have the only new 1-3 head in the states, and would let it go for approx $2,400. But I found out that Porsche only warranties the head if it is installed by a dealer. Seemed like a lot of money for a head without any warranty. So I scratched that alternative.

Next I tried to find a good used 1-3 head, but they are very scarce. Several wreckers had 4-6 heads but no 1-3 heads. Found a set of heads through a member in Florida at an incredible price, but I asked the member, who is a Porsche tech to check the heads for cracks. He said he had never seen a cracked head but would gladly check the heads. A little penetrating dye showed that the 1-3 head was cracked a cylinder #1, inner exhaust valve seat. Found another set, but when they were checked 1-3 was also cracked. Do we see a pattern here? Found another set in NY, but they were from an independent/Ebay seller who could not tell if they were cracked. He said he would refunds the money if they were cracked, but we could not agree on a price, and I was worried on getting the money back. Cracks in the 1-3 heads seem to be far too common. I spoke to Jake Raby and he told me that in a 10 day period they tore down 5 engines for big bore upgrades, and 4 had cracked heads, although only one had developed an intermix problem. But we all know that cracks don’t get better, and it is probably only a matter of time until the other cracked heads would lead to problems. Jake said he would certainly not use a cracked head so he was sitting on the engines until a solution could be found.

So I decided to have the head repaired. Kind of figured that with so many heads cracking in the same area maybe a repaired head would actually be stronger. Sent the Head to Costa Mesa R&D, where they have experience with repairing these heads. Here is a picture of the repaired head, it is supposed to be delivered to me on Friday and I hope to be back on the road in the next week or so. The cost of the repair was $503, including a valve job and drilling out a frozen bolt on the cam sensor and putting in a coil, plus about $30 shipping in each direction.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is the solution to my problem. Wish me luck!

 

Good luck! I bookmarked this thread for future reference. I hope I never need it, please keep us updated. Sounds like a reasonable solution to your problem. So you didn't have any trouble getting new head gaskets or anything did you?

 

Waiting for a package of parts from Sunset Porsche. Spent about $700 on misc parts, not all related to the head, probably about $500 that were directly related to the head or the dropping of the engine. Parts should be here tomorrow, UPS had a train wreck (believe it or not) so the package was delayed for a few days. head was shipped on Friday, so FedEx ground projects a Friday delivery. Going to spend the interim putting back in the cleaned radiators, etc.

 

Glad to see your project moving along. Good reference for anyone with a 3.4 motor. I'll be keeping an eye on the project. Who knows when they might be in the same boat.

 

Great status report! I'll keep my fingers crossed that this solves the problem. I also know what I'll do if faced with the same. You're a trailblazer!

 

wish you the best on this repair! can the mods make this a sticky so we can follow your progress?

 

Just wondering if the repaired head has worked well for you. I haven't started work on my car yet, as I just found the oil in the coolant last week. I was also hoping that it would be the oil cooler, but probably won't be that lucky, as you have found out that cracked heads sounds too common in this engine.

 

I have about 3,500 miles on the car since the repair and all seems well, no sign of oil in the coolant or vice versa. Car is running great and I am enjoying the heck out of it.Still working on some cam timing settings though.

Let me know if I can be of any help, I learned a lot in doing the repair and can help you avoid many of the silly, time wasting mistakes I made.

 

Hopefully it all goes well for you. Mine, with the rebuilt, so far so good. And you did help me a lot with some of your pointers, when I was completely lost and asking around. Cheers!

 

Glad to hear everything is fine, and thanks for your offer of help. I probably will have questions once I get started.

 

Dharn, you've done an amazing job educating us through your experience. I'm glad things finally worked out! Thanks for all your advice!

 

Through my project and the various Porsche sites I have met several others who have fixed cracked heads and or rebuilt engines themselves, or are in the process of doing so. Many of us are exchanging info, tools etc. So if people have problems please ask for help. There is a lot of it available.

 

dharn, I was told by a porsche repair shop that most of the cars they found with oil/coolant mixing have had a failed oil cooler, and that I should start by looking there. Where do you access the cooler? thanks G

 

wow, amazing story of success... did you ever to an engine rebuild before on any car or was this your first?

 

Gmax -

Actually I have only heard of one or two intermixes that were caused by a failed oil cooler. It would be about the best case if it was the cause. I know I checked this first but it was wishful thinking. But it is certainly worth checking it first. It is kind of a pain to get at it with the engine in the car, but it can be done. Looking from the back of the car it is toward the front of the engine on the passenger side. You have to remove the airbox, throttle body, and the intake plenum to really even see it. Might help to take off the AC compressor. Here are some pictures to help, from a nice clean reman engine rather than my old filthy engine. Once you get it out you can plug one oil inlet and water inlet with solid rubber stoppers,then another with a stopper that has a connector for an air compressor, then fill the open side with soapy water and put pressure in, I think I put in about 100lbs. You also need to put a stopper in the inlet on the top. Look for bubble in the soapy water. Now here is the next challenge, some times the leaks won't show up if the unit is not up to operating temps. I put mine in an oven an heated to to about 200 degrees and did a second round of tests. No bubbles. The unit is back in the car and it works fine. It was a cracked head, which actually is the most common cause of an intermix.