First Post Before I Pull The Engine

[George L]

Hi all,

I recently purchased my first car, a 2001 Porsche Boxster S with a 6-speed Manual and 103,000 miles on it, and it is completely stock.

I bought it knowing that it has problems, and my dad and I will be handling all of the work ourselves. What we knew when buying it was that the oil flows into the Coolant. Since then, we've found that the Cooling system doesn't hold pressure, and while under pressure, we can hear it venting in the Crank Case. There are no leaks in the Oil Cooler. We have also done warm engine Compression and Leakdown tests; here are our results.

Cylinder --- Compression --- Leakdown Loss (@ 90 PSI)
1 --- 140 --- 6%
2 --- 160 --- 4%
3 --- 150 --- 6%
4 --- 150 --- 2%
5 --- 140 --- 3%
6 --- 145 --- 2%

From reading all the other posts in the community, our primary suspect is a cracked head.

I would like to ask if anyone has suggestions for more steps before we pull the engine. Thank you in advance; excited to be a new part of the Forum.