I am curious to see what this is. I recently purchased this car. It only has 7,700 miles on it. This corrosion looks old but not sure what it is from... I would think coolant but can someone clarify what would cause this and if they have seen it on their car? I'm guessing a coolant leak into exhaust makes sense but not sure.

I plan on cleaning this area up and watching to see if the leak still exists. It may have just sat for a long time and then leaked slightly before sealing itself back up.

I included on picture of the other side to show how clean it is compared to the driver side where the corrosion is. This is an 04' Turbo Cab

Thanks,
Bryan

 

This doesnt look good... you might have an engine job on your hands... did you do an inspection before you bought the car? was it there before?

that is not an exhaust leak...

 

looks like coolant

 

Agree with the coolant assessment... With less than 8k on the car, it could be a problem with the head gasket that has only recently been an issue, but since the car has not been driven very much, there is still very little evidence of the problem.

 

This was there when I purchased. I drove 250 miles home and not one leak at all. It looks old.. just trying to figure out if it is still leaking what to do and whether or not fix.

I cannot believe that I would "need a rebuild"... seems a bit out there based on condition of vehicle. Maybe old leak.

Any other thoughts? I am in the middle of replacing the clutch slave cylinder and accumulator so not able to add miles or even start it at this point to see but it was there when purchased.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

I think you should take off the header, clean the surface(s) and put it back with new gaskets. Then see if that white stuff builds up again...

 

looks like coolant. look around the ends of the heads and look for soot and other signs of coolant like maybe you lifted a cylinder head.

Does the car have mods?

or does it look like it USED to have mods? fresh bolts? certain things tooo clean?

 

No previous mods... cosmolene everywhere. Collector owned all stock, no bolt has ever been off. No other signs of coolant/corrosion that I can see anywhere that is visible. That is the only place.

Can you clarify what you mean when you say it looks like I lifted a cylinder head?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

I had coolant build up on the head when I bought the car. It looked similar and in my case, it was a porous head that was replaced under CPO.

 

The question is where did the coolant come from? if it was from a blown hose or fiting in the past and just residue awesome! if not it probably came from lifting the cylinder head or what the last poster said could be an option.

if your heads are lifting you'll see exhaust soot black marks on the timing cover and surrounding areas where the head gasket is ajacent too. (like an exhaust leak) also see coolant drips on the outer cylinders at the head gasket.

 

Nothing that you described has been seen in terms of evidence.

I do see a little oil (from above) where the coolant hard lines are... the ones that are close to the rear of the car, have drain plugs and look like the p-traps that are under your sink and have what looks like a slip/fit joint. I am not sure where that is coming from but it is minor... not enough to mark the floor, just enough to attract dirt. This is on both sides.


The way it looks I would guess against the blown hose otion even though I wish you were right. may make sense to remove the manifold, look inside, change the gasket and watch it.

Any other thoughts? Thanks to everyone who has offered to help.

Bryan

 

If it doesn't look like its leaking from anywhere, it may be a porous head. If so, the Al walls are porous and the coolant comes from the inside of the head to the other side where it drips down and evaporates on the hot headers. It seems like there was a batch of Porsche heads that have this problem and my wasn't the first the dealer had to fix. My heads looked the same, not enough coolant to hit the ground but some crude on the heads after 18k miles.

 

CCC, That makes sense. What does Al stand for?

Also, I take it this wasn't a recall item. Since my car is out of warranty I'm guessing there would be no way to get it covered.

If I ended up fixing myself (and it was a porous head) then what would be involved in the process and what would need to be replaced. Remember, this car has 7,000 miles on it.

Thanks again for the help,
Bryan

 

Turns out in the great aircraft engine race before WWII, the Germans historically had a difficult time casting Al (Aluminum) heads that was not porous. Seems like a number of Porsche heads suffer from the same problem. I hope in your case, it can be traced to something else. If its a porous head then you need to replace the head. In my case, it was an engine out service that required something like 3 pages of parts (bolts, seals, and etc). May also be worth checking if there is coolant or water in your oil in case an internal wall is also porous. If its just external, maybe someone can weld the porous area to stop the leak and on the other hand, it may be small enough to just live with it.

 

Will check oil and report back. I ordered a new gasket and plan on cleaning and replacing and watching it as well.