Gilbasa

Hello all,

My son was driving the Cayenne S when it started to over heat, He pulled over and put water in it, It was telling him "coolant low", then he continued to drive on the freeway, got stuck in traffic and the motor was steaming and smoking pulled off at the exit by our house where the car died. Pushed it into a parking lot. Tried to put more water in it and start it but would not start. When I came I checked the oil, no water in the oil, water and oil leaking from low in the engine area. When i tried starting the car it would turn over but not fire up. It seemed like it might start roughly then nothing and smoke was rising from the drivers side of the engine bay. At this point I'm hoping its only a blown head gasket, does anyone know, or had this happen to them before? what was the damage and costs to fix?

Divot

seankrider

The "Coolant Low" light and those symptoms sure sound like you have the infamous cracked coolant pipes. The starter is directly below the plastic pipes that submerge the starter with hot coolant until enough drains out and the starter dries out.

But the oil mixed with water seems odd - perhaps it's the purple/blue coolant. Can you smell coolant, or an odd, non-oil, non-water smell inside and outside the car? Will the heater put out any heat? If you pour a few gallons of water in, does it end up on the garage floor?

Anyway, bunch of stickied thread above describe the club you probably just entered. Which if true, means definitely do not drive it at all. Might be safe to run for a 30 seconds to verify the heater doesn't work, but watch your gauges if you do...

ltc

Exactly how much water did he add to it?
Was it smoking from under the hood or out of the tail pipes?

No water in the oil (I am presuming from dip stick examination), and therefore I assume no oil in the water (which would normally be antifreeze, depending on the answer to the above question).

Are you sure it's oil leaking from the bottom of the motor?

If in fact it is, and there is no water in the oil and no oil in the water, I am going to assume cracked coolant tubes and hopefully you didn't lose the bottom end of the engine.
Crawl underneath the P!g and see if you can see a con rod ... if you can, just set it on fire and walk away.

BTW, you didn't mention mileage or any previous history...which can sometimes be helpful ...

wirunner

Classic Lewis line.

Although not bad advice given the fact a new engine + labor would be worth more than the vehicle.

EnigmaWmn

And sounds especially nice when directed at someone named Kielbasa

ltc

Relative of Kooser perhaps ?

deilenberger

FWIW - there is a used S engine ('04 IIRC) on Ebay - seem to remember around $6k starting bid, and no bids as of yesterday. Used engine + shipping + installation - probably less then $8,500 - or somewhere around that amount. Didn't notice if the engine was a long block (engine/head/etc) or complete (with starter, all ancillaries, etc.) Be worth doing the coolant pipes while it's out of the vehicle (never be easier..)

Just looked - it's gone, but good price point info - and it was a complete engine: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Be worth calling some of the Porsche specific wreckers to see what they have available..

mudman2

no sign of the queen lately old man ;-(

ltc

It's threads like this that prove, yet again, this forum really does need a priest.

No need for holy water, the Cayenne has this nasty habit of spilling its fluids ... skip the antifreeze, the P!g seems to deserve Ipecac.

EnigmaWmn

Here you go, he'll be doing Queen soon

ltc

^ shocking resemblance

Watched a documentary last week on Queen.
You sort of forget how good of a front man Freddie really was and how good that album turned out to be.

I enjoy the music now than I did back then...

francars

Sad story. Good luck with the issue and hope you resolve or RIP

yeldogt

Freddie was great !

Sorry about your CS. When the pipes finally go -- they go ....... and you really can't drive the car. Unfortunately, drivers don't understand what has happened or how serious it is to continue to drive the vehicle.

I hope you get lucky if it was the pipes.

Gilbasa

Thanks for the advice, had the S towed to my mechanic, Gary Topal of Factory Werks in Huntington Beach. He said most likely needs new engine. He'll take a more detailed look at it on Monday. I wonder if I could put a turbo motor in it?

P.S. The name Gilbasa was given to me in my twenties when I was single.