22 captured repliesDiscussion pagination complete · Source accounts, not a confirmed diagnosis
THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHHow much to fix a cracked head?
Leading reported evidence
Repair more heads than anyone in the country
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
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Read evidence and context
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Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
He has repaired more heads than anyone in the country.
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0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
In order to deck it, you have to remove the valves and springs anyway so to put those back, you have to replace stems seals, check valve springs, cut or lap the valves and valve seats to ensure full seal, and you really should check the valve guides for excessive wear and replace them.
Leading evidence: 'Repair more heads than anyone in the country' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Check valve guides' (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.
Source reports, not a diagnosis or a success probability. Counts refer to discussions and can overlap.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that performed work without a confirmed outcome
1
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Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion · Original poster
In order to deck it, you have to remove the valves and springs anyway so to put those back, you have to replace stems seals, check valve springs, cut or lap the valves and valve seats to ensure full seal, and you really should check the valve guides for excessive wear and replace them.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion · Original poster
Option 1 (the clean option): Replacing the head with a new head from Porsche for $4,000 (comes with valves)
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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These are separate views of the same evidence. Frequency alone does not establish a fix, and these counts must not be added together.
Check valve guides
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
1
Discussions
Read evidence and context
Discussions that contain suggestions
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Suggestion · Original poster
In order to deck it, you have to remove the valves and springs anyway so to put those back, you have to replace stems seals, check valve springs, cut or lap the valves and valve seats to ensure full seal, and you really should check the valve guides for excessive wear and replace them.
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
22 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Generation: 20261027T073501Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
About how much does it cost for a competent Porsche-familiar machine shop to weld and repair one cracked 996 head? I am working out options...
Pull, strip, send head for repair, reassembly.
or
Used head, valve job, reassembly
or
New naked head, assembly with valves, back into the engine.
I can't answer your question, but what have you done to determine the head is cracked? If it is a 3.4L you will want to make sure it isn't D chunked. There is a tendency for the cylinder wall to crack and chunk on some of the earlier cars where the engine was held during casting.
My 1999 3.4 C2 Cab suffered a cracked head at 72k miles in 2019. Had Len Hoffman repair and machine the head for right around $1,000. I kept the cost low by sending him just the one head. Spent about another $500 on new head bolts, gaskets, seals, fluids. So, for about $1,500 I was able to resurrect my engine. The key to the low cost was doing most of the work myself: pulling the engine/trans, removing/stripping the head, full valve job on both heads, etc. Also replaced the 4 O2 sensors while I had easy access at additional cost. Car now runs excellent, and I have a new respect for the cooling system and keeping it in tip-top shape. So, it is doable and you will learn a ton about your car. Best of luck.
Depends on the shop and other pieces involved, I've seen $750 to $1500 for complete reconditioning including welding, as mentioned above add cost of other pieces is around $300-700. Then comes labour - anywhere between 5-8hrs (Head installation + timing setting and etc) this is if you drop off the motor to the shop to get the work done.
So on the low end it could be $2,000 job, on the high end around $4,000.
It's a 2002 3.6L version and it's on bank 1, near Cyl 1. The diagnosis is based on the amount of coolant gushing out of Cyl 1 spark plug hole after the plug is removed. Engine removal and disassembly is all standard work. The only unknown is ... repair or replace the head.
Option 1 (the clean option): Replacing the head with a new head from Porsche for $4,000 (comes with valves)
Option 2: Replacing the head with a used head. This would require a valve job on the one head ($1k ish) plus the purchase of the head ($1k-$2K ish?)
Option 3: Repair the crack. Strip head, send out for repair, reassemble/ recondition head. This is the most risky option. it might not last. It might not be fixable at all and then we are back to option 1 or 2.
The way I see it, replacing with a new head has the best chance of success for the long run. Replacing with a used head offers may be $2,000 saving compared to new, has additional work, and it's the devil i don't know factor. Strip and fix the head leaves a lot of chances for things to go sideways with even more unknown risks, much longer lead time, at a cost saving not much more than buying a used head.
If it were me, I'd send it to Hoffman.
https://newsite.hamheads.com/home/
Contact him for a quote to fix a cracked head.
I would expect his repair to be permanent.
Because you don't know what condition it is in. In order to deck it, you have to remove the valves and springs anyway so to put those back, you have to replace stems seals, check valve springs, cut or lap the valves and valve seats to ensure full seal, and you really should check the valve guides for excessive wear and replace them. That is a valve job. It's a really bad idea to buy a used head, clean up the face, and simply put that on the engine.
No need to borescope. I talked to Len Hoffman and described the symptoms to him. Len said "the only 3.6 cracks he ever saw ...
is up inside the head and runs from the secondary air passage
into the water jacket and it is not repairable."
I'm stripping the engine down and the crack wherever it is, is going to be verified.
D chunking has nothing to do with the cyliner head, these happen to the liners in the cylinder block. Although I suppose that if you had a D chunk it could damage a cylinder head.
Cracked head confirmed. The engine is out, exhaust removed, hoses plugged up, pressurize the engine with coolant in it and coolant was dripping out of the secondary air injection holes in the head. This cannot be repaired. New head it is.
Very interested to know what happened after, and the numbers pls if possible.
I've a '99 c4 3.4 with intermix, engine disassembled and a crack is visible. It is a similar sort of crack as Mr. Hoffman described yours to be, unrepairable.
I have mainly one question, are both heads interchangeable? As I see new heads online from Porsche at $1600, but can't verify if they're bank 1 or 2 cause part numbers on my 2 heads are the same except for a "K" number underneath. One says K1 and the other, K3
The heads are bank specific and cannot be interchanged ...
They are indeed the same castings but are machined differently at the Factory for the bank specific tensioners
Thank you so much for the prompt response. I know to be careful ordering now.
Is there a way to tell from the part number which bank it is? I was stupid and wasn't present when the engine was disassembled so not 100% sure which bank has the crack, but here's a pic.
Behold, the death crack
NOTE: Below is the bank which does NOT have the crack (sorry for the counter intuition). The part number is followed by "K1" here. On the bank with the actual crack above, it says "K3". I don't have a direct pic of the part number side on that. Is below Bank 2?
That crack is repairable....Lenn Hoffman at Hamheads can fix that ....
Also you can distinguish the heads by the Tensioners threads .. Bank 1 will have the threads on the bottom of the head while bank 2 will have the threads on top ( under the A/C compressor )
