Porsche Boxster Cracked Cylinder Head
 

My pampered 2000 Boxster S had an engine failure due to a cracked cylinder head (1-3). I've done the investigation myself, including making of some of the Porsche special tools. I have created a website to document all of my progress and findings, including a VIDEO of the leak in action.
If you own a Boxster that has had a cracked cylinder head, PLEASE post a comment on my Blog on my website! If this problem has affected enough owners, I will persue a class action lawsuit against Porsche.

Happy motoring!

Glenn

My Website

Whoa! Nice job! How did you get it to replicate the leak like that? What fluid did you use? Be sure to keep us posted on what you plan to whether it be replace the cyclinder head,whole engine or sue Porsche.

Glenn,
You are a good man to document and share your knowledge with everyone. Pretty damn smart too.

Very through website with lots of great information.

I wish you luck and certainly hope that you receive an acceptable resolution to your problem.

Larez2

ps watching that leaking cylinder head is sad - looks like it's crying! :(

This is particularly interesting, and nice work on the detective work. I havent had to tear down an engine in a while, so it was fun looking at all the pics. How did you make all those tools?

Good luck dealing with Porsche on this.

Patrick

That is a lot of work.

I'll have to ask the mechanics about a cracked head. More common is a cracked cylinder.

Sorry to hear about your engine failure.

The link wasn't working - too much traffic apparently ;)

Curious though, who wins by suing Porsche, especially over an engine design that was done 10 years ago?

Hi,
Sorry to hear. :(

Looking forward to viewing your site. It has "exceeded it's daily traffic limit".

Thanks for documenting and sharing your experience.

Hi,

Boy, you are really swimming upstream here. A cracked Cylinder Head isn't necessarily the product of a poor design. Over-torqueing, Coolant System issues, even driving through a cold puddle and splashing the hot Head can cause it to crack.

Porsche warranties the Head to be free from Manufacturing Defects for the life of the Warranty (like everyone else). After that, they're pretty much free from liability unless you can PROVE the design deficient and I doubt that merely a handful of examples (or even a couple dozen) would offer sufficient proof of this.

In the end, I suspect you'll end up spending the price of a new Boxster and maybe even a Lambo trying to prove otherwise, with no guarantee of actually doing so. Good Luck!...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

update
 

Sorry for the delay in posting...my "real" job has kept me extremely busy lately...

The liquid you see in the video is actually water pressurized to about 10psi. I used just simple dihydrogen oxide for testing purposes.
I have a dedicated folder under photos on how I made the tools...
Regarding the law suit...yeah, I fully am aware that a law suit against Porsche is more than swimming upstream. As it turns out, not one person has posted that they have had a bad cylinder head so...without data this limits my choices.

I've decided to fix the engine with a used head, so stay tuned for more updates.....
I've found a local salvage yard that has a complete head for $1000. So, I'll have some more updates to add for rebuilding the engine. Should be fun! Hopefully, I'll have it back on the road this summer with a new video of me driving in my back yard of close-by Malibu.


Happy motoring!

Glenn

I know I'm digging up an old post, but anyone know what happened to the OP's write up and videos? I believe I'm dealing with the same issue and would love to see what has already been documented. Thanks.

It is all up on Youtube somewhere.Go to the DIY project section here for more.

Here is the video (to save future generations of owners having to search!):

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ComOjlofk8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

986 Cracked Head