I understand that Porsche has had a porous head issue but has the issue been seen on 996tt's?

I've had a couple of PPI's performed and one car came back with a porous head diagnosis. Per the tech, there was coolant residue on the head and was wet/active leak post the test drive.

 

What model year were those vehicles?

 

never heard of this, that could also be a leaky headgasket.

 

I have heard of this issue affecting mostly 01's but also having occured on a few 02's. I think the problem is not widespread, but its also been noted in the UK.

 

I've never heard about this for TT cars, it was Boxster engines that I've mainly heard this about.

 

I have heard about it. Seen it once at a dealer years back, or so they claimed. I would look more into coolant leaking out of one of the fitting on top of the engine and following the head gasket to the under side.

 

+1 that's probably what it is...

 

Spoke with the dealer again today -- they are confident that it's coming through the head and not from a fitting, etc.

I have a pic but it's hard to id the source of the coolant/residue.

 

I'm far from a expert but I seriously doubt they can make that diagnoses by looking = needs further investigation imop..

 

+2... Fitting is going to go POP if they keep driving it!!!

 

But not heads. In 98 and early 99 Boxster blocks were discovered to have porosity that was out of allowable tolerance. In other words, oil would exit the motors at rest through the block!

Problem turned out to be one of two casting machines at wherever they were building the motors at that time. With demand at its highest in 98, and repair of the casting machine set to take many months, and a store of already-cast blocks sitting there, Porsche made the infamous decision to bore out those leaky blocks and then sleeve them back down to their 2.5 liter displacement with steel cylinder liners. These were held in place by "brims" that resembled inverted tophats -- picture the hat as the cylinder sleeve, and the brim as lying flat against the deck, holding the sleeve in place against the forces of the piston going up and down.

Well, great idea except the "brims" began breaking off of many of the sleeves, leaving them to just slide up and down inside the block, crashing against things at top and bottom and destroying the engines.

Yes, the M96 has a storied past!

 

It happened to my 2001 TT. When I bought my car, I received a printout from the dealer. It shows that one of the heads has this problem. The dealer replaced the head with a bunch of things. I talked to some mechanics, and was told it is fine after the repair. I can try to dig up the print out and post it here.

 

What would the symptoms be as I can't imagine a lot of coolant would be seeping through. On the boxster so much coolant would mix that the coolant had a chocolate milk shake look and consistency.

 

Coolant residue and coolant 'wetness' post driving the car. Not a lot of coolant but certainly visible. Location is at/near exhaust manifold between two exhaust ports.

No coolant in the oil - at least not noted by the tech.

 

Dealer will likely wholesale the car. They stated that they will be disclosing the issue - wonder if the wholeseller will...