New 996 owner in SoCal area- need advice

Wife finally let me purchase my dream car at the end of the year: it's a white 99, bought with 40k miles, almost all stock. Car is beautiful, very well maintained interior, exterior, and engine bay seems immaculate. Until just recently... We've put about 4k miles on it, mostly city driving. Drove up the coast from LA area to the Bay area for a long weekend. 1st long trip in the car, and the drive was incredible. Got back ok, but a few days later, the "red" light (where the temp guage is) turned on heading home. I let the car sit in the garage for a week (been really busy with new job) and finally checked the car, and seems the coolant tank was a little low, but couldn't find a leak. I described what I saw in the coolant tank (expansion reservoir) to the independant shop I took the car for the pre-purchase inspection, and I just don't know what to do. The shop believes that the car may have a leak somewhere that's allowing the oil and coolant to mix. I've searched the forums, and while some describe this foamy, light brown colored capuccino as an intermix problem, others say it may be just the coolant expansion reservior that needs to be replaced. It was hard enough to convince the wife to let me purchase the car. If I have to tell her that we need to replace the motor, at a cost of approx $12-14k, she'll just flip (and try to make me sell it). The car was purchased from an independant seller (who may or may have not known about the problem), so there's no warranty. I need to know if any of you SoCal locals know the best place to take the car. Is it better to take it to a dealer, or to an independent shop? Suggestions? I live in Whittier, work in downtown LA. (I'm new to this whole thing, including forums, so any advice would be appreciated.) I'd like to keep the car and the wife.

Try Downtown LA Porsche on Figueroa south of Olympic to start. They're competent and easy to deal with. At least they'll be able to tell you what's wrong.

Where in SoCal are you located? Sorry to hear of you having this trouble! Perhaps its just a failed or failing oil/coolant heat exchanger? Seems as though these heat exchangers should be replaced periodically as a preventive measure.

and thanks for the tip re Downtown dealer. Wondering if there's someone specific I should speak to? I also remembered that I received a notice in the mail from McKenna Porsche in Norwalk, stating that "there may be outstanding recalls or voluntary service campaigns that have not been completed on your vehicle." Could this be something like the heat exchanger, the coolant reservoir, or maybe even the engine replacement? (Wishful thinking...) McKenna Norwalk vs downtown?

give Arling a call at Lucent Motors. he has a shop that works on P-cars. If he cannot help he will point you in the right direction.

Otto at Otto's in Venice has maintained my car as long as I have owned it. [phone removed] http://www.ottosvenice.com/

I really like Auto Strasse in Costa Mesa/Newport but you are a ways away from the OC.

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles...Did you say you had a ppi? If so, the mechanic that performed the inspection could be liable for his oversight...

Oh yeah, I paid an independent shop to do a pre-purchase inspection, especially since I didn't know a whole lot about these pcars. (I've dealt mostly with svt fords.) I called him to tell them to tell them what I saw, and they didn't want to guess, especially from a description over the phone, but he was thinking that the the car might have an intermix problem. Still haven't moved the car... thinking I'm going to wait until beginning of february before I take it anywhere, but thanks to everyone who suggested a place. Preparing for the worst, hoping for the best. Too bad, I was looking forward to getting a real sports car on the track at buttonwillow or willowsprings.