Hello people, Im a noob, I just bought a 98 Porsche Boxster but have problems : (

[dti]

found a type S 3.2 motor off a 2002 same settings 64,000 miles for a pretty good price, by my house

[Paul]

If your's is a 98, yes it is a lot of work and a lot of parts to install a 3.anything.

A used 2.5 will be the least expensive engine swap option.

[dti]

Ok I guess Ill start prepping everything up to drop this puppy.

[texomawaves]

The chocolate milk colored oil indicates significant water is emulsified in the oil. If it's been sitting for 3 years the rings and valve seats are rusted to some degree on an already tired engine. And no telling how long your aunt drove it with water in the oil. Sounds like it's not the oil cooler as you describe, which I was hoping you might get out of this cheap. I don't believe that'll be the case. I'm gonna bet on a cracked head or block. Do you live up north where it gets really really cold?

[dti]

No I live down here in L.A.
I went to another radiator shop and they said they couldnt test it because you need "special plugs" for the bottom. The prior radiator shop that did a test on this oil cooler did not do it under alot of pressure. Isnt this thing working at least 60lbs because of the oil pressure?
They showed me what test they did and it was just the covering holes with thumbs and blowing air through the top then submerging it under a tank. Is this right?

I went to a machine shop and they said they can test it under about 80 lbs but it's 45 bucks and they can tell me a for sure if it's leaking or not.

It's just that alot is riding on this thing being good or bad so I want to be 100% sure.
can someone please let me know if it's supposed to be tested under high pressure? thanks!

[dti]

but that machine shop is charging me 45 dollars I think they are only trying to get money out of me, what do you guys think?

[Steve Tinker]

dti,
You don't have much history of the car (Why did your Aunt take it off the road? Was it broken? Just lack of use? Did the inter-mix of fluids happen over the years of sitting). As you said, your plugs look good, so maybe the engine is just suffering from the standing idle and 120,000 miles on the clock.

If your serious about getting the engine up and running relatively cheaply (ie, not removing the engine and heads), have you considered spending a few hundred dollars on a new cooler, replace the oil and filter and flush out the cooling system? Sunset or Pelican Parts will sell you a cooler for a couple of hundred $$ and the oil / filter / distilled water another $100 or so.
Then run the car gently for a few miles and see if there is any inter-mixing of fluids - if there is, then you know where you stand, with a big decision as to buy another engine or rebuild what you have got. If no inter-mixing, thats a big win and you can reassess what you want to do to get the car up to scratch.

After all, unlike most of us here, you havn't invested thousands of $$$ in the car so what have you got to lose??....

[dti]

Haha you got a really good point. I guess I will try it, saw a type S cooler on ebay for not that much. I guess it doesnt hurt to try, that's what the machine shop guys told me. Thanks for the advice. And you are definitely right I don't have anything to loose if this engine goes in the crap hole. Only thing I can do is get a new one