I've owned a 996 C4 from new getting on for three years now (purchased Jan 2001) and, other than a gearbox failure just after purchasing the car and a subsequent oil leak the car has been pretty reliable.

However recently the temperature gage warning light started flashing, on investigation this was found to be as a result of the coolant level having dropped substantially (top up required 4 to 5 pints). Alarmingly over the following couple of days it proceeded to use about a pint of water a day. On checking the oil I found that it didn't look very healthy (almost brown in appearance), and there appeared to be large amounts of emulsion formed inside the oil filler cap and neck, the oil level also seemed excessively high.

This made me think that I was suffering a head/gasket problem and arranged for the vehicle to be recovered to the local Porsche centre.

The garage has subsequently stated that they can find nothing wrong with the car and are not observing any coolant loss, and stated that the collection of emulsion at the top of the filler cap is common due to condensation.

This means that I've either been hallucinating or a failure has occurred that Porsche or the garage don't want me to know about for whatever reason. It should be noted that the garage has had the car for in excess of a week. The car is also still under warranty.

My questions to you guys are, is anyone aware of any similar stories, am I being fed a line?

Thanks in Advance,
Baps.

 

Are you relying on the OBC oil gage or are you really using the dipstick to check the oil? Also, are you checking the water with the engine running with pressure relieved and warmed up or the engine cold and stopped? I found better results with the car cold because everything has drained to the norm and is stabilized.

Also, you can ask Loren for advice on that too. Here's a link and he also visits here too.Loren's site

 

Oil level and "quality" checked using the dipstick itself.

Both subsequent coolant level drops where noted on cold, stopped engine, initial drop was to extensive to be the result of anything other than actual fluid loss. I'll give Loren's site a go...

Cheers.
Baps.