2001 Boxster S Cracked Cylinder

[Jake Raby]

Don't even consider driving or cranking the engine up!! Doing so will just make the issue worse.


That said, I seriously doubt the issue you are experiencing is a cracked cylinder, I see the failures with the same symptoms all the time and the issue is a cracked head stemming from several issues.

Here are some facts-
1: I have never seen a cracked cylinder from a Boxster S engine, they have the most robust cylinders of all M96 engines.

2: The cylinder failures in early engines were limited to the 2.5 Boxster and 3.4/ 996 engines and were pretty much limited to 1999 models.

3: The 02 Boxster S engine has proven to be the worst for cracked heads. These are often nis-diagnosed as bad head gaskets of cylinders, even by dealers when this is just not the case.

We repaired 4 engines with cracked heads here at our facility earlier this year in just one month. All of these were mis-diagnosed as bad cylinders. All but one of them stemmed from water pump failures that blocked the capillaries within the head with plastic material from the water pump impellers. The 4th failred due to too much RTV sealant being use dwhen a water pump was replaced, this sealant blocked the coolant passages within the head resulting in a head failure.

Three more people weren't lucky. They kept driving and spent 18K because of that.

Don't jump to conclusions. In most cases we can repair this and ensure it doesn't happen again.

Obviously, terrible news because I've kept this car in mint condition and do not drive it hard at all.

That does NOT matter!! We see MORE failures from cars like this than any other.

Call our office tomorrow, I bet I can save this engine for you.
The last 3 Mondays in a row we have had 3-4 head crack failure calls and have 3 cars inbound now from all over the USA with the same symptoms. One of these is inbpound this week from Lexington Kentucky and that truck will be coming right through Knoxville on the way to my facility!! We might have another coming in from Ohio, so its possible to fill the whole truck with Porsches with the same exact mode of failure!