Dharn55

Don't have an answer on the leaks but I am curious on what the responses will be. I finished the installation of my coil overs yesterday. A 2000 Scott, and had the driveshafts on both sides out. Ironically, the manual says to undo the bolt that holds the shaft into the wheel carrier, as if the shaft would come out of the carrier but stay in the differential. I did this on the first side, but there was no way the shaft was coming out of the carrier without being pressed.

Don't let heated seats be a deciding factor. They can be added easily. I did this on my car.

Found it. The labor breakdown was as follows; This was for both sides Rear Wheel Bearing R&R 1.4 hrs Wheel bearing housing R&R 2.9 hrs Rear Brakes R&R 2.3 hrs. Bleed Brakes .6 hours Front & Rear check alignment 1 hr. Front & rear Adjust alignment .9 hrs. Parts 2 bearings 999.053.050.00, 2 nuts 999.500.092.00 So a total of 9.1 hrs "shop time" at the 2003 labor rate of $119/hr. I think the dealer is $169/hr. now. So not $2,000, but pretty expensive, loved that warranty.

This was done to my car years ago under the original warranty. The dealer said they had to remove the wheel carrier and press the bearing out. I think the total labor and materials was close to $2,000, but it was under warranty. I will try to find the invoice.

Call Sunset or Suncoast. 6 months ago 3.6 reman engines were going for about $10,000.

The best way is to get a vacuum system like the Uview 55000: http://www.amazon.com/U-View-Vacuum-Cooling-System-Refiller/dp/B001DICJV6 You may find one for under $100 if you look around. There is also a bleeder valve on the top of the coolant tank, the little metal loop opens the bleeder. But this is a slower way, and is not as fool proof. There are a lot of hoses and tubes with high spots that trap air in them.

OK I have to ask this. Why? Do you think that this will improve the performance, longevity or something on a 3.4 or 3.6?

Found my cracked head after I checked the oil cooler and it was OK. Then dropped the engine and just started taking off the heads. The crack was readily visible once the lifter rack was out. Probably could have seen it sooner if I had know where to look. They are most common on the inner exhaust valve seat on cylinder #1 (or cylinder #6 which is basically them same area of the castings). Here are some pics of mine and another owners heads cracked in the exact same spot, same at Tim's. I also saw another owner's car that had a pin hole in the head that he only found with the head off and pressure tested it.

They tend to sweat or sometimes leak a bit. This may be a little controversial here, but when I reassembled my heads I used some Permatex copper RTV on mine. No leaking whatsoever. I think previously they had been sealed with JB weld or some other epoxy like substance. Another advantage of this method is that you don't have to get to the wire connector as you can do it with the wires in place.

The standard answer, particularly from Porsche, is to replace the engine if you find coolant in the oil, oil in the coolant is not quite as bad, but you do need to find the source. Of course Porsche wants to sell you an engine for $15,000+. I can only tell you that this is the same answer I got from many sources when I had my intermix. And mine was really bad by the time I found out about it, which was when the coolant lights started blinking. By that time the coolant was like pudding, and the oil was like a chocolate milkshake. Spending $15,000+ to put an engine is a car that in today's market is worth maybe $20,000 or so made no sense. I did the labor myself, except for the fix of the cracked head which a shop in CA did. $500 for the head fix with a valve job, about another $1,000 in parts. I am back on the road with over 5,000 miles on the engine and it is running fine. Now I am sure the bearings to some wear from the contaminated oil, etc. but it can be done and the car runs fine. If you can't do it yourself you need a mechanic that does not just accept the standard answer. Get the oil tested and the oil cooler tested and lets us know what is happening.

The oil cooler is on the top of the engine, on the passenger side, toward the front. There is no way that the oil cooler was effected by hitting the animal, and no way that breaking the radiator caused oil in the coolant. If there is oil in the coolant you need to find the source as quickly as possible. It could be the oil cooler. To properly check them you have to do a pressure test, and you need to heat the cooler up as a leak/crack may not show up unless the cooler is at operating temperature. Also, keep an eye on the oil for any signs of coolant in the oil. You might want to have the oil tested for coolant. The sooner you can catch an intermix the less chance of damage to the bearings, etc.

Tim - Haven't heard from you in awhile. Glad to hear that you are on the road, but only 500 miles. You have to drive that thing more.:thumbup:

The motor mounts do have oil in them and are known to leak. If you have oil leaking out of them it is time to replace them.

Do a search here and on the other boards, there is a lot of info available. The dealer and most mechanics are going to tell you that a new/re manufactured engine, or a used engine is the only solution. Don't believe them! This is what I was told and I fixed mine for less than $2,000 (I did most of the work myself so this does not include labor). I now have over 5,000 on my fixed engine and it is running great. Mine was a cracked head with oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil. The less you drive it until it is fixed the better, but I did not find my problem until it was totally intermixed, could have been hundreds of miles, and the engine is running fine. I have worked with several other owners who have had an intermix and are fixing there engines. Keep us posted.

It is a shame that while they were in there you could not do the LN bearing upgrade.

Have you looked at your oil to see if there are any signs of coolant/contamination?

Well, for $69 maybe you should give one a try and report back to us.

Hadn't thought of transplanting the valve mechanism but it seems like a reasonable idea. You might want to find a used muffler, maybe on eBay,rather than cutting up a new one.

If you do some searches you will see that loose baffles in the mufflers are not that uncommon. The challenge here is that you have the PSE (so do I but no loose baffles yet). The whole system used to go for about $1,800, including both switches, the cut over valve, wiring, vacuum lines, etc. Now Porsche has raised the price to over twice that. The are lots of alternatives, either the OEM non-PSE mufflers, or aftermarket. The thing that is sad is that I really like the switchable sounds of the PSE. The loud mode is really fun, but if you are getting on it, particularly over 5,000 rpm it is really loud, and everyone within a block or so knows it. The quiet mode is useful and relaxing, and allows you to get on the thing without the whole world knowing it. I also think my neighbors appreciate it when I come home late at night. Maybe jeffstudiola and mann can work out a deal where one goes to an alternate system and the other gets the muffler they need.

Isn't wonderful thatPorsche has doubled the price of these.

You know of course that you can look these code here. Under the DIY menu is a listing of the codes. You have to be a member to access them I think.

The third tensioner is on the 4-6 bank of cylinders on the top of the head. You have to remove the airbox and loosen a clamp for the power steering hoses to get at it. I forget whether you have to remove the AC Compressor or not. It is a bear to get at. Uses the same size socket as the other tensioners, which barely fits in there. The new/replacement tensioner uses a "allen wrench" to removal, i.e. a hex head driver instead of a socket. This tensioner puts pressure on the IMS at the opposite end from the bearing/flange, but LN and Flat 6 say to remove it for the bearing upgrade. Now as for the new/replacement tensioner for the IMS to Crank. I saw rb101's earlier post regarding this tensioner and the problems he had with the new style tensioner. However, I have spoken to both Charles at LN Engineering and Jake Raby at Flat 6 Innovations, and they both say to use the new style tensioner. Charles says he uses it in his 99 boxster engine that he races. So they both say to ignore the tech bulletin from Porsche and use the new style tensioner, However rb101's experience provides a question. To date I have not bought a new set as I am worried about the IMS to Crank tensioner. The other challenge is that the old style tensioner is only available from Germany, at least that has been the case for the past month or two. Apparently there are only a few left in Germany. And if your order it it take 3-5 weeks to get! I think you can expedite the shipment, but that costs a bit. I checked with Sunset, Suncoast and Porscheoemparts.com and they all said it had to be rodered from Germany if you wanted the old style. I have been waiting to resolve the question on the tensioners so that I can order them and have them on hand before I try to do an IMS bearing upgrade. Don't want to have the car apart for several weeks.

Did you check the switch on the clutch pedal. If it is bad this would prevent the starter from operating but all the lights would come on.

At the time I was working on fixing the intermix/cracked head, which everyone had told me could not be done. That I would have to replace the engine. Not being sure that the fix would work I did not want to spend another $700. Also in spring of 09 they were still working on the tool for extracting a dual row bearing. Now that the car is fixed (5,000+ miles on the fix) I wish the tool had been readily available and I had done the bearing upgrade. Probably will do it in the next few months. I did the flange, removed the outer seal and checked the bearing which seemed good. I talked to Charles at LN recently and he said that if I removed the seal and checked the bearing he would advise pouting in a magnetic drain plug and then watching for any metal which a bad bearing would shed. With the seal on any fragments would be contained but with it removed the should show up on the magnetic plug. However I think I will do the upgrade soon as I only see the drain plug every 5,000 miles or so.

I did this upgrade on my 2000 last year. It included the IMS flange with the new seal, the three bolts that hold the flange and three or four bolts for the crankcase. It cost about $67 from Sunset as I remember. the only thing it really does is improve the seal if you have a leak. It does not really effect the bearing itself.