Oilslick964

Went out and started my 99 C2, all was normal. Drove out of my neighborhood, letting the car warm up a bit, and left from a stop sign at about 3/4 throttle. BIG puff of white smoke. Pulled over and let the car idle and walked around back. No smoke. Got back in and my coolant level light was flashing but temp was around 180. Putted back home and got out again, with car idling. No smoke, no appearance of any problems, coolant light still flashing. Got back in to pull around to the garage. Pressed accelerator and had no power. Pressed and let off a couple of time with no result, then power returned for just a second. Pulled into garage and stalled. Would not start again. Coolant light flashing and temp at about 190.
Where do you think I should start?

herman maire

I hope for you it has something to do with your crank case vent and not coolant getting into the cylinders.

Has your coolant level dropped in the reservoir ? These engines do seem to have problems with cylinder liners, cracked heads or if your lucky, a head gasket.

Others will have more info on both of these issues.

C4CRNA

Never a head gasket, NEVER!

Oilslick964

To be honest, I don't know what the coolant level was when I started the car. I didn't check. Once it cooled down, I added coolant but it only held about half a gallon. Weird thing is, I drove my Boxster today and had a similar issue. Everything was fine and the coolant light started flashing but the temp actually jumped way up to 250 so I immediately shut it down. Cooled off and now it won't run more than a few minutes without starting to get hot.
On the 996, what do you think is the worst case scenario? What kind of $$$ am I looking at? I use Tom Charlesworth, in Tulsa and he has always been very fair but he is closed for the holiday. I really, really like this car and I sure don't want to have to give it up, I just got it where I want it!

Stephen Tinker

If you had to add coolant (half gallon is a lot), where did the original coolant disappear to?
Have you checked your oil level and consistancy? If you have intermix problems (coolant in oil), the oil will go into a coffee coloured milkshake consistancy......

bfutch

Paul, beware. I had a similar issue with my 02 996. Leaking coolantant and unlike everything folks say about the oil turning a milkshake looking color, it nener happened. In fact I never notice any tell tale signs of coolant in my oil after putting @ 4 gals. of coolant over a period of 4 months. Finally, no oil pressure and the oil was black! I was fortunate, I had an extended warranty and the motr was replaced. I never found out what happened and probably never will.

fpb111

Throw any codes?

No evidence of leakage? water on floor, stains on left rear tailpipe or under the expansion tank?

IT could be as simple as bad cap if the blue cap has a part number ending in -01 get a new one (~$25) They are on rev 4 or 5 by now. For both cars.

If your tank is old it may have cracked

Check your accessory drive belt

Check your water pump , try to wiggle the pulley if it has any play maybe bearing is bad. Impellers could be broken no way to tell with out pulling it. Look for water stains on the block behind/around/below it.

How much coolant did the Boxster take?

On either car after you add 1/2 gallon or more you should "burp" the air out of the system. Open, pull up , the bale on the black "cap" and run the car to warm and rev it a couple times or drive a few miles with the vent open let it cool down and add more coolant as needed.

May be as bad as cracked head. This can be repaired but more $$ and down time.

bfutch

I never got any codes, no signs of coolant anywhere,the car ran great until the oil pressure guage read no oil pressure. I did have the occasional puffs of white smoke, that everyone said was normal. (I don't accept that). Once I put 2 quarts of oil into the car, the oil level showed on the stick but it was now Black. Yes I was checking the oil level reguarly as I couldn't figure where the coolant was going. One note I had the coolant expansion tank replaced prior to my troubles and thought the system was purging as the coolant light kept coming a few days after adding coolant. Even the dealer thought this was strange. No one could explain why we never saw any of the milky tell tail signs of coolant.

Oilslick964

Ok, here we are, 4 months later and I finally figure out...cracked head! That is way bigger than any job I can do. My wrench says $5k to $7k. I really want to keep the car. Any cheaper way to do this?

logray

Sorry to hear this.

If you don't want to dive in on your own (2-3K) and there aren't any generous DIY'ers nearby, then no, $5-7k sounds reasonable given the amount of time involved to repair properly. And given no other issues (oval cylinders/etc.).

Another option is a used engine from a donor car for $5-7k which is a crap shoot as well.

If you double the money you can have a bulletproof upgraded 3.6L rebuilt longblock (pm byprodriver).

Or if you have time send it to Jake @ F6I, perhaps the best option for not a whole lot more money than the figures above and done by the best!

Barn996

That's a bummer about your 996. What happened with your Boxster?

C4CRNA

Did you drive the car all summer with the cracked head?

logray

if you did, I think I might revise my earlier statement on the repair costs...

Oilslick964

Ha ha! No! I didn't drive it like that. My mechanic is in Tulsa and was incredibly back-logged so it took him this long to get to it and figure it out. He was hoping it was a head gasket but, as someone wisely said...It is NEVER the head gasket...NEVER!
The Boxster didn't mean as much to me so I ran it through a dealer auction on a red light (you get what you get and you don't throw a fit). I hate to do that to the 996 but it looks like that may be the sensible course of action.

C4CRNA

Double bummers.