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YOUR RESEARCHBlown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Check broken coolant reservoir
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Suggestion
Checking for a broken coolant reservoir before removing a head sure makes sense to me.
Blown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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Leading evidence: 'Check broken coolant reservoir' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check broken coolant reservoir' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Blown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Repair .html]heal-a-seal
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Blown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Repair kit
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Suggestion · Original poster
BLOWN HEAD GASKET, WARPED/CRACKED ENGINE HEAD, CYLINDER LEAK REPAIR KIT
Blown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
Replace head gasket
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Suggestion · Original poster
If not a good alternative, what would it cost to replace a head gasket on a 986 Boxster engine?
Blown engine - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners
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20 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
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I have a low mileage (34k) 1998 Boxster that suddenly died while driving. It was running perfectly prior to failure. No telltale noises or smoke. Couldn't restart so I put it back into my garage. Looked the next day and noticed a puddle of antifreeze (about a quart) under right side near exhaust. Closer examination revealed antifreeze coming through clamp connecting exhaust pipe to muffler indicating antifreeze got into exhaust. What's going on? How do I narrow down the problem? HELP! PLEASE!
Researching "cracked head" I came across a product called Heal-a-Seal:
http://www.heal-a-seal.com/WARPED-CRACKED-ENGINE-HEADS-CYLINDER-BLOCK-CRACKS-REPAIR.html]HEAL-A-SEAL
BLOWN HEAD GASKET, WARPED/CRACKED ENGINE HEAD, CYLINDER LEAK REPAIR KIT
Could this actually work?
Has anyone had any success with sealant kits for cracked head/blown gasket repair? If not a good alternative, what would it cost to replace a head gasket on a 986 Boxster engine?
From what I've read on this forum, head gaskets don't blow, but heads do crack. You can get it welded and rebuilt, or get a rebuilt for about $1200. I've seen the rebuilts dissed as likely to have more problems but I have no data on that.
This exact case happened to my son in-law's car. Same exact symptom. Luckily he was driving through a parking garage. The car stalled, engine died and could not restart. Puddle of coolant under the car.
Luckily it was a minor issue. Water pump and belt failure.
Slipped sleeve.. The coolant is entering the exhaust through a cylinder that has an open exhaust valve and a cylinder failure.
These are sudden failures with the exact same failure scenario that you have outlined, they generally happen to low mileage engines that would have failed under warranty if they were driven enough.
This is mode of failure #1, its the first failure we ever documented...
make sure it is coming out out the exhaust and not from someplace above it. the coolant reservoir is on the right side and above where you are seeing coolant. the coolant might be coming from a cracked reservoir (common failure on these cars) or from a reservoir that boiled-over (there is a drain that dumps out in the right wheel well). it could be as simple as a bad water pump or serpentine belt and the car overheated.
Jake does have more experience than most of us put together but that does not mean there can not be another explanation. All of the possibilities seem like reasonable possibilities. Checking for a broken coolant reservoir before removing a head sure makes sense to me. Having said that, if I were a betting man I'd be betting on Jake.
Like runjmc said, check if there is oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. If there is oil in the coolant, don't panic, it could be a failed oil cooler which is any easy fix, except for cleaning out the cooling system. If there is coolant in the oil, that's not good.
Take off the serpentine belt and crank the motor by hand. If it binds, then you have a major problem. If not, take out the spark plugs and see if coolant is in he cylinders, if so you have a major problem.
If you don't have any of the above problems, then it could just be the car overheated and barfedcoolant. Fill up he coolant reservoir and see I it starts. If so, check the cooling system for faults. Hopefully it's just a waterpumpmor a cracked coolant reservoir.
For the first time my RED coolant warning light started blinking (98' Boxster w/72,00 miles) when I started up..... lucky for me it the coolant was low by about 1-1/2 cups...I suppose just enough to trigger the low coolant sensor. I'll assume evaporation over the years was the cause. I bought the newer version coolant cap thinking the old cap might also be the culprit. Sorry to read some have much more serious issues.
