Soul Searching
 

So, it's been forever since I've posted on here. Probably about a year, and it's because nothing really new has happened with my 99' Boxster. In the last year, I've graduated tech school, and now I'm working full time for an HVAC engineering firm. Living in the burbs' and driving 30 minutes to downtown OKC in traffic everyday in the Porsche was fun for awhile, but quickly got old. I bought a 2016 Civic in August and moved the Boxster to weekend duty only.

SO with the backstory out of the way (not that you guys remember me anyways), two days ago, I started the Boxster up and was greeted by a plume of white, watery smoke out of the exhaust. I'm definitely not a wrench. so I consulted with my father, who has swapped a transmission into this Boxster in his garage, and has worked on cars for years, so I trust his advice. He took a good look around came to the conclusion that coolant is making it's way all the way to the exhaust and is burning off, causing the smoke. His diagnosis was: best case scenario, blown head gasket. Worst case scenario: crack in the block. So the way I look at it is, the motor will have to be dropped regardless of the problem to properly repair it. The car has almost 160,000 miles on it, tiptronic tranny has around 70,000 on it, and at this point, I'm not sure I love it enough to shell out hundreds or thousands for a repair if one of the aforementioned issues is actually the problem. I fell out of love with the car awhile back and tried to sell it when it was running well, and got not one taker (I now see why) I'm still madly in love with Porsche as a brand, but I'm not sure if I'm in love with the 986 platform anymore. What I would ideally like to do is to part out the car if it is indeed not worth fixing, and use that money to pay off the rest of my Civic, and then look into purchasing a newer Porsche, as I'm making real adult money now (I'm 19)


Anyways, I'm seeking any advice that anyone here may have for anything I described above. Insight on the technical problem, experience parting out a car, or selling a broken car as a whole, at auction etc. Please feel free to ask any questions. I'd rather part out, because I have a lot of desirable tequipment and OEM extras on the car that I could sell for decent cash, and I almost have a whole spare interior sitting in my garage. Anyways, any advice is greatly appreciated, or if anyone is interested in the car I'll post pics below. It's good to be back on the forum again, and I know you guys will help me up when I'm feeling extremely down about my Boxster:(

Thanks,

Bryan

here she is (the red one)

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1479253907.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1479253942.jpg

Any oil in the coolant tank? Any coolant in the oil?
Have you eliminated the AOS?

You describe classic failed AOS symptoms.
Was it steady smoke, or did it clear up?

Welcome back. Don't write off the car yet. It could just be the oil cooler. Check that first.

Thanks,

pretty sure it's not the AOS or oil cooler, but will check into it more.

Is the smoke constant, or just at startup?
It is not unusual to get a little smoke at startup

constant, can't run the car because it's pouring antifreeze all over the garage floor. if that helps. I've experienced the small amount of smoke at startup a few times over the last 3 years of driving the car, and this is not that.

I would say pouring anti-freeze all over the floor is not a great sign. On a happier note, the car looks great. Congrats on tech school and your new job. I'm in the HVAC field as well. It may not be the most glamorous profession, but you can get a good paying job anywhere in the world with that knowledge.

Drain the oil. Does it look like chocolate milk??
Drain what's left of the coolant. Does that look like chocolate milk??
If either of these answers is yes, you've got a cracked cylinder head. $4k At the very least, if not more. There are a lot of "while you're in there" items that really add up. Once you are done, though, you'll have a great car.

I'm not one to talk, but that's a beautiful car to be parting out. It takes a long time to really part out a car. Some body parts and interior parts will sell quick, but then you're left with this carcass sitting in your driveway for months. I'd suggest selling it whole and I think you'd probably get $3000-4000 for it.

As someone who has a daily commute of 60 miles each way I empathize with you on driving the Boxster every day can start to be a drag. So I have a daily driver for most of my commuting and use the Boxster once or twice a week if there is no snow on the roads or in the forecast and no severe weather. If you have the means to get a decent, used replacement engine you should consider it. If you sell the Boxster, you won't be able to replace it for the cost of the engine, and you could be getting something that is an unknown commodity in terms of catch-up maintenance.

But if you don't have the means and have other priorities right now, figure out the best way to sell it and get another fun car later when you have the urge and the means!

Update: got under the car and the coolant is pouring out where the exhaust header meets the block. Did a little more research and found that a blown head gasket is never usually the case, it's more likely to be a cracked cylinder wall.

Ouch. Such a nice looker too. It is hard to justify an engine swap unless you love the car. Parting it out is the best way to recoup your money but it is a long an arduous process during which time you will have a partially parted out Boxster sitting in your driveway or garage.

UPDATE: Car is for sale as-is. PM for price/more info.

Oh man, sorry to hear this.

Good luck and sorry to see such a nice car be sold.