More BIG Problems With The Red Porsche 996 ... 

You have a lot of repairs ahead of you. That’s good for us subscribers, lots more videos to come.

Great work trying to straighten out the 996. After seeing this, I had to go hug my air cooled 993 as it will never have these troubles.

Nathan, it's going to need a new engine or a engine tear down and overhaul. I had this exact problem on my 996 and after taking it to two different dealers and two independent shops and wasting almost 10k. I ended up spending 20k to have my engine overhauled and replacing all accessories. It's the only way to fix it.

Thanks for taking the time to make a very informative instructional video.

I think it's worth trying one of the cracked head sealers, not just "chuck and forget" but one that has a proper process to install. It's not as if it has to hold combustion pressures. The next option is to remove the engine and strip and crack test the heads, hopefully, they find the issue. If they cannot find the crack then the block needs to be stripped and crack tested as well. So you may end up with a full rebuild. Second-hand Porsche engines are just not an option. The gamble is huge and even one for rebuilding will still cost thousands. The best way to have a reliable Porsche engine is to have an engine built for you by one of the few super specialists who will build it taking into account the inherent deficiencies in the original Porsche design. One has to remember that the rest of the car is very well put together and very reliable so spending a large amount of money to get the engine built properly may well be a very good option that could work out cheaper than buying a new boring car.

Fantastic video. I have the same milkshake situation in my '99 c4 cab. Car seems to drive and feel the same, no check engines but I've parked it now. Thanks to your amazing videos, I know to ready myself for a good 12ish flushes! Yikes! Oil cooler + AOS will go in first and just fingers crossed it isnt a cracked head 🙈

Don’t put block sealer in it! That’s the worst thing you can do on these. Secondly you need to clear the bleeder lines from the front radiators. Otherwise you’ll never bleed out and it will always overheat. They get plugged with the old milkshake. There is a “Y” connection you need to access about midway on the car above the main coolant lines that run to the front. Disconnect those and push air through them. Also if it’s still making milkshake than definitely Bank 2 cylinder head cracked. Pull the head and send it to Hoffman machine shop.

I learned (the hard way) these water cooled Porsche engines "hide" a LOT of oil (that is a turbine engine term, from my experience with those) My first chance was on a 1999 2.5 Boxster. I pulled the drain plug and filter and let it drain (yes, it was warm). When it was done, I removed the sump plate. Another 1/2 quart came out. Then I went to have a beer, eat dinner, and go to bed. When I came out the next morning there was (I would guess) another quart in the pan! And it was still dripping! The point is, on a simple oil change, you DIDN'T get it all... And when I refilled it, it took 9.5 qts to get 1 bar below the full mark, after warming it up, and THEN letting it sit... (the book says 8.7)

I am curious as to whether or not dish washing liquid, like Dawn would work, since it has amazing oil dissolving properties. Excellent job in the videos. Thanks.

Nathan, these heads can be repaired. There's a specialist that does them. If it's got low mileage and overheating didn't distort the deck it doesn't have to be a full overhaul. You can use a die that detects exhaust gas in the coolant. Shortblocks from Porsche are 9k. I agree with your estimated pricing on used motors. The market is flat right now, a roller wouldn't be a good call IMO. I'd say if you want to go cheap, a good used motor with a shop that stands behind it is the way to go. Transfer all your stuff over to it. The client can enjoy the car, drive it, keep it or sell when the market normalizes. Vertex auto has reasonably priced rebuilt motors. Do you diligence on their customer satisfaction. There's another outfit in Las Vegas that rebuilds motors, Rennlist has had some feedback on them, and their prices are reasonable as well. There's a group on Facebook with high mileage owners. There are 200k plus mile owners that daily drive them. The cars don't like to sit, and avoided maintenance costs a lot on them. EG: a guy gets a coolant leak, doesn't bother to deal with it. Drives it, parks it, but there was a bubble in it, which got stock in a pocket in the head and you get a crack. The coolant temp sensor never saw the localized hot spot so the driver didn't bother to stop. I bought a low mileage 996 myself, my buddy a low mileage 986. We've both been going through "deferred" maintenance items. If you do it yourself or have access to a good indy shop they can be good cars. But unlike a Civic or Camry, you have to keep up on the maintenance. Great video, I really enjoyed it. I was a mechanic in a former career for 15 years, I enjoy it leisurely now and not as much when my personal cars break, but I really appreciate seeing a solid wrench like yourself. Keep it up!

A Porsche mechanic would never take a plastic oil filter canister off with a pliers, there is a specific filter wrench that fits the flutes, a wrench can crack the housing. It also distorted the shape when you squeeze so it’s hard to unscrew. That engine is toast, no amount of cleaning and flushing is going to correct the problem.

Pre-COVID pricing, my 996.1 D-chunked, and it was 17,000 for a new engine with labor. The engine seems good, according to compression tests, scoping the bores, and a few specialist indy mechanic inspections, but the engine installation guys were awful: many pinched harnesses that were hastily retaped, missing hardware, securing hardware not used, scratches to the bay, URO-brand AOS and coolant reservoir that both failed within 12K miles-- even the URO-brand cap failed!

Just curious, could you just use a shop rag or something to soak up the crud in the coolant reservoir?

Question would not one of those head gasket test kits help diagnose this issue?

Why not screw a valve on the drain plug and have a hose feeding into the reservoir? Open/close the valve while it's running and using the hose to keep it full?

Why not use the correct oil filter removal socket

Test for compression. If lucky can be just the joint that blew . 1-could be just head joint blew with heat. 2- could be joint + warped head. Could be worse but hopefully not. That is way maintenance is so important on all cars. Flush all liquids at least every 2 years. Engine Oil every 6 months. Cheap compared to fixing.

Not the head gaskets; those have a failure rate of near zero. Likely cracks in the heads, send them to Hoffman and they'll be better than new.

You can get a new shortblock, replace the cracked head and voila! I did a 996 recently, $8,500 for the short block. It will have the latest and greatest IMS. Oil feed may be an option. May as well rework both heads while it's out. You will have a reliable engine again.

Look’s like a lot more videos on this project are coming our way 😅 look forward to it.

Uneven heads/shortblock surfaces?

I got a new motor from nein lives on eBay and it’s piston slapping like crazy after 1700 miles . If that helps ?

Can you resurface the head and install a new gasket. Instead of spending $10,000 on an engine that have no idea if it works of not.

Simple Green is good stuff for cleaning oil and it’s nontoxic.

The guys at Flat Six Innovations might know where to look. They do a lot of these

It looks like your oil and coolant may be mixing somehow.

Can you flush this engine with a garden hose and engine flush? I saw a guy do that once while the car was running until it went clear

Boy... ultimately it's going to come down to the owners budget. If it were me, and I absolutely loved the car (and had the spare change), I'd try and find a good used long block for a reasonable price. Worst case he'll have himself some spare parts to store. Otherwise, the only good options are either part it out or LS swap it.

Glad that’s not my car

So disappointing for the owner I'm sure but the patient (996) is in good hands with Dr. Nathan. If it can be saved economically, Dr. Nathan is your man. If the patient (996) is terminal, he won't beat around the bush and waste your money. He's an honest doctor!!

The loving process of Caring for a car

Happy thanksgiving Nathan! Enjoy your MRE turkey. Haha

Use calgon dishwasher rinse to remove oil from cooling system

That's a lot of trouble filling, running, emptying the coolant a dozen times. Should just remove the drain plug and let the garden hose fill the resevoir continously until clear. Then use a detergent, then flush with distilled water. Done it this way more than once on other cars.

When you see the chocolate milk coolant…you’ve got blown head gaskets and the oil is mixing with coolant. Gotta tear it down or get new engine

Do a cylinder leak down with water in the radiator might be able to find out which cylinder is the bad one

Nathan can i use valvoline maxlife ATF in an Aisin 8 speed tiptronic 2012 Cayenne?

A leak down test will tell you if there is a problem and what is causing the problem. Gauges to do the test are not expensive.

I would like to see you fix that engine

Personally, have had it with water cooled Porsche, bought a 944 brand new, Porsche rebuilt engine 3 times. Bought a 997 and what a nightmare that thing was. Owned a 1979 911SC, best car I have ever owned.

Maybe have the hose on in the filler whilst draining out the plug at the same time….all you have to do is watch the car don’t overheat

Cracked cylinder head or blown head gasket. Didn’t need to do so many coolant flushes, it obvious oil is still getting into the coolant. Why don’t you do a compression test?

What do I think? Glad I don't own a 996 Porsche LOL.

Great video, sorry for the troubles with this one! You should be sponsored by Taco Bell. It wouldn't be a video without mention of Taco Bell :)

It's a lot of work

I say rebuild! Buying a used engine is always a crapshoot. Pull the spark plugs to see if any are steam cleaned, that may be a quick diagnosis for head cracks

Use OEM filters too

Have you checked for bore score in this car?

Hi Nathan , great job , bad luck, what did your wife say when you dumped 250 l of oil contaminated water into the toilet? Woundn t it have been better to run the water through the irrigation system from the garden? When they plants don't die the coolant is ok! I have no problems I could drain this kind of water/milk to the Golfcourse drain pipe here next door, but I would never do it ofcourse 😁🤣😄

I would have run the engine with fresh oil and NO filter. Then drain the oil, refill, and then install the filter. By the way, it is easier to put the filter into the cup [which you are supposed to change each time] and then torque it on, with a new O-ring by the way. That's a shame about the cracked cylinder head. Great video!

That car would be a great one for a full restoration.

Turkey baster mate to get the slush out of the coolant reservoir .

🙏🙏🙏

I would have put a ball valve to drain that Coolant...

The fact that you said it was cold enough to freeze water I suspect the owner has filled it with water and he's been caught with his pants down possibly crackhead if you're lucky a core plug

All that work and you’re going to need a new cylinder head.

Factory oil filled is 0-w40 mobil 1

Toast

V8 conversion makes it reliable.

Just drop the engine and do the needed head gasket repair. Wasted too much time doing flushes.

There are two gaskets in between the crankcase halves. Those can fail. That's your best scenario. Next would be cracked heads possibly. Either way, you'll have to open your wallet and/or rebuild something. A salvaged engine will run you more like 15K. Rebuilt, over 20.

For sure cylinder head. @samcrac thru a block sealer in one of these and it’s held.

This is why you don't buy a 996/7 unless you have a lot of money spare. I'd be pouring a can of Steel Seal into it, doing another oil change and firing it into an auction.

Porsche Problems.

Remove and flush out reservoir

4algo

I bought 2005 997 c2 in 2017 after selling my boxster in 2017. I bought 997 from regular dealership. No car history or maintenance history. I had car for 2 days and it started misfire bad. I gave to dealership who I bought from. They said it was knock sensor that wire was chewed by rat in my house only in two days. I'm mechanic my self. I know knock sensor would not cause misfire. They charge me $300 for wire repair. I knew they BS me. I took car home. Nxt day car misfire again and u couldn't drive it. I said F it and jacked car up and found all coil packs were cracked very bad. I bought all coil pack and plugs from pelican parts. Beru and Bosch. Car ran fine after. I called dealership and they never picked up. M&A motor in Huntington long Island. Bunch of crooks. I owned car for like 5 years. Never missed maintenance. Oil changes every 1000 mile or 1500 miles. Liqui moly oil and good filter. I did thermostat water pump even it's wasn't leaking. New clutch RMS IMS bearing. Transmission service and added third radiator. I did all the service my self except clutch and IMS RMS. Finally sold car last month. Car was sold in day local. I might get turbo nxt time. I love to take care of my cars even they r normal cars. I'm very OCD. I'm mechanic for city buses in NY. We have lot of mechanic draining coolant in oil containers and nxt guy not knowing he uses same coolant and oil mix in nxt bus and end up getting milk shake in bus coolant system. We have to do lot of flushes to get rid of milkshake. Even radiator hold lot of milk shake even entrie system is clean. We use heavy duty all purpose cleaner and have to wash coolant resiorvor very good bcz milk shake loves to stick to resiorvor walls.

you need a Turbo model, there you don't have this problems... I tell only Mezger engine

FIRST!!!

Tell the owner to ditch it for a Cayman.

That was a serious long long enema. So another $10k into the car for a used motor with 50% chance of ending up where he is at now. The joys of owning a 911. 🤦🏻‍♂️

used 996 or any supercar not for the middle income !!!

I wonder if Porsche cars and parts/labor etc are way cheaper in Germany.

Man that sucks such a beautiful car! I have a 1977 911 turbo and it's my pride and joy .. in this situation I believe replacing the heads and hoping for the best would be the only option that makes financial sense Ebay has a 1999 Porsche 911 Coupe Red RWD Manual CARRERA with 72k miles buy it now for $17k or make an offer so spending $10- 12k in just a replacement engines not sure its worth it.Cheers From Salt Lake City!

Jeeez. Now I’m scared to buy a 911. 😂