The crack was not visible. I took the heads into a local machine shop and they pressure tested and found a small crack which fortunately was not difficult for them to weld and grind smooth. If you are not confident in your local shops, check out dharn55 posts on this subject. He sent his to California to a place that specializes in this work. The manuals I used were "WorkshopManuals.co.uk". They are not totally step by step but do help for some of the critical stuff.

 

Great job man! Much better than the $25k porsche estimated me for an engine replacement. How's your car running now? Any issues? And I guess I will drop the engine and get the heads tested. So they just welded the head for you and then you just popped it back in the engine? And how long did this process take you?

 

The car is running fine, although I only got to drive it for 2 weeks before I put it away for the winter. There is one issue, and I hope it isn't a problem. There is still a bit of oil showing up in the coolant, but I think it may just be some that was left over in the hoses and radiators that needs to be flushed out. One shop I talked to said that they replace all the hoses and radiators when they get a car in with this problem. It's probably less work than flushing and re-flushing the coolant system until it's clean. The time it took to do the entire job is a bit hard to estimate, as I worked on it whenever I had time over a three month period. My best guess is approximately 30 hours, but if I had to do it again probably two weekends would do it plus whatever waiting time for your shop to repair the heads. If you don't hear from dharn55, then I can forward some of the info and pics that he sent me. He sent some very good explanations and tips that made the job much easier. Good luck.
Gmax

 

It is most likely the leftover gunk. I have coolant in my oil ( looks like a chocolate milkshake) but there doesn't seem to be any oil in the coolant reservoir. Does this mean anything? Also, can I clean the hoses once i drop the engine? Must be full of gunk. If only I could clean out all the gunk... but there is probably going to a lot left over no matter what I do. I want to start working on this asap, but I really don't have any room in my garage to do a job like this. Is there another place I could drop the engine?

 

I have heard that coolant in the oil is not good because it may cause damage to bearings etc. You may need to get some better advice than I can give. I only had oil in my coolant and not the other way around. As far as room to work, you can drop the engine out in the driveway, but you will need a dry place to work on the engine and store all the parts coming off your car. Whatever your problem turns out to be, you will be ahead doing the work yourself, and if there is more engine damage than you expect, you can attempt the rebuild, or you still have the option of shipping the motor off on a pallat to have a complete rebuild done. You will learn so much about your car, and still save money compared to dropping the car off at a garage for them to do everything.

 

intermix is what this problem is called, I would do a search on rennlist to learn all you can about cleaning the intermix from your engine

 

I believe that the coolant was being sucked into the crack that was in cylinder 1 causing the intermix with the oil. And also causing the engine to overheat because I was losing coolant. Does this sound right? I not a mechanic but I think that's what was going on.

The only concern I have before I go ahead and drop the engine is am I qualified to do this? I know a little about cars but never worked on an engine like this before. Do I need to jack the car up to get the engine out? And I have a carrera 4 so would I need to do it differently?

Once again, I appreciate the help!

 

This engine is not the kind to learn on, mistakes can be deadly expensive. At the least you will have to reset the cam timing on the heads you remove & spend $2000. on tools, parts, machine work. If you have a cylinder/case problem I doubt you can reassemble the engine correctly. Maybe you can tear it down & see if it will be better to buy a different engine. (98-01 3.4)

 

So I will have to spend $2000 even if I do the job right and not make any mistakes? And which ever option I choose, I have to first drop the engine to see what the damage is. You said before that coolant in the oil damages the bearing. So I would have to replace that as well. My car is tiptronic, if that makes any difference.

I will have to drop the engine no matter what I choose to do, and I will post pictures of the damage and keep you updated.

 

I am thinking best case senario where you would be glad you did this: It is just a repairable crack in 1 cyl. head $2000. Tools, parts, machine work. OR if the case is cracked/damaged at least you didn't have to pay someone to find that out.

 

It was diagnosed by porsche that there is a cracked head in cylinder one. The coolant in the oil worries me because I've heard the coolant can wear down other parts. The car is just sitting in garage, should I drain out he oil? so that it doesn't cause anymore damage.

 

While it isn’t a good thing to leave the car in its current state, the damage is done by driving the car and not letting it sit. If you don’t have a lot and I mean a lot of experience with working on cars, don’t even consider trying a project like this on your own. As it was said before, the tools alone are expensive, and pulling the heads on a car is like doing brain surgery. Setting the timing on any water-cooled Porsche engine is not for a novice, it is confusing and tedious even for a seasoned non-Porsche mechanic. If you have a cracked head or major engine problem on a 996, unless you can afford to spend half the value of the car on repairing, rebuilding or replacing, just sell the car as is. That is the best advice anyone on here will give you.

These cars cost so much to repair for a reason. This is like needing a crown on a tooth and thinking you can save yourself huge by doing diy dental work in your driveway with a hammer, chisel and some glue. Dropping the engine on any 911 or Boxster is pretty straight forward and you can save big if you pull the weekend mechanic role. We’re talks brakes, clutches and the like. Not tearing into an engine.

 

I have stopped driving it and I am going to empty the oil today. I called porsche and they said that they will drop the engine and install the new head for $4000. That is a rip off! I don't have experience on with cars, but at this point I have no choice but to drop the engine myself. I do not want to sell the car because no one will buy the car or they will give me low price. The car was diagnosed with a cracked head 3 years ago, and I didn't sell it because I don't want to rip someone off, and I also don't want to rip myself off. Do I have any other options?

 

Blue book the car, take 3-4k off the price and sell it with full disclosure as is. $4000, if its parts and labor is actually a really really good price. Your two options are to either sell it or fix it plain and simple. With a 996 3.4 if you fix one thing you are probably going to encounter even more problems in the future. If you give the go ahead to fix it and they call you saying its apart and they found another $2000 worth of problems then what? Try to sell it as a mechanics special. There are plenty of over ambitious people out there that bite off projects like this all the time. I have seen 996 tt’s sold for 20k under BB because they toasted the engine. 996’s with over 80k miles or that are early editions are like ticking time bombs. That’s why there are so many for sale.

Another option may be to see if the dealer would take it in on trade towards a new car. Don’t know if they would bite on it but if they do a 997 is a big step forward in terms of reliability.

 

I really don't want to sell this car the way it sits right now. And as of trade in, Porsche already gave me an offer that I refused. So my only option is to fix this car. What about used engines from car wrecks? Those should be going for cheap these days