Creamy light brown/tan gunk in coolant tank
 

Thought I found a great deal on an 01 S until I looked in the coolant tank. Coolant level dropped to the bottom of the tank on my 4 hour drive home with car and the top of the pinkish coolant has a tan/light brown layer of creamy stuff on it. Any idea what the problem might be?

a number of things....oil cooler,casting "freeze plug". is it alot of stuff in the tank? hows the oil color/level ?

Oil color and level is right on.

There is a layer of the gunk about 1/4" thick on top of the coolant.

Here, take a look at this thread: http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/24696-foamy-coffee-colored-coolant-tank.html?highlight=Oil+coolant

Hopefully, it's just a bad heat exchanger/Oil cooler, and not a cracked head.

You have an intermix problem; common causes are a failing oil cooler (common), a popped freeze plug (also common), blown head gasket (less common), or a cracked head (also less common).

You need to stop using the car immedeately. It needs to be checked by someone that knows what they are doing. If it has to be moved to get it to them, flatbed it, DO NOT DRIVE IT.

Thanks for the input everyone. Are any of these potential fixes something I may be able to check out myself (limited skills) or does anyone know of somebody in the Madison area (WI) I may be able to get it to for help? I have limited funds and don't think a dealer will work for me.

I would first try to return your car to whomever sold it to you for a refund! :D If that doesnt work, you could try to contact your local PCA chapter to see if they could recommend any local independent Porsche repair shops: http://vista.pca.org/cwi/

If there is oil in the coolant would it appear the usual color of oil? This stuff is very light in color - like a light pair of khaki pants.

It's oil, not much doubt.

The oil is mixed with a lot of coolant (the coolant tank you see is only the coolant overflow tank, so it shows only a small fraction of the overall coolant in the system), so the oil in the tank you see will not be all black like oil itself. Instead, it would look like what you're looking at now...a frothy tan colored milkshake-like mix. Hate to say it, but it's almost certainly an oil/coolant intermix, and you can't keep driving the car without addressing it because you will really damage the engine.

If you can't afford to fix the car at a dealer or independent shop right now, buy a Bentley Repair manual and you can perhaps try to replace the oil cooler/heat exchanger yourself to see if that was the cause of your intermix. Of course, you'll also have to flush and refill/burp your coolant system tank as well. If that doesn't do it, you'll really need to take it to shop that knows Porsches.

Repair manual:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/185-9993856-2479431?redirect=true&tag=porschepetesboxs&a=08376 13337

UPDATE: Found a guy a few miles away that has done work on boxsters. Car ran fine on the trip there at speeds up to 75. Car temp was good and no funny smells when I got there. First thing noticed was one radiator hose was warm and one was not. Also, fan was not blowing warm air from radiator. He thinks I should just replace thermostat to start. Does this sound right to everyone? Thanks again for all the help.

New problem. Got the car home and smoke (not a lot) was coming out of the vent by passenger side door. Any thoughts?

Lol. How is changing the thermostat going to fix the oil intermix problem you have in your coolant tank? Smoke coming out of your engine vent could mean some loose connections that lead to your coolant tank, among other things.

Two people on this board (one, a repair shop owner), have recommended you not drive the car anymore until you fix the oil intermix problem, but you ignore it and drive your car up to 75mph anyway. Lol. I think you should now drive it up to 100mph just for fun! ;)

I did just get the name of a good local independent Porsche repair shop, I will get it there.

Take the scenic route!

Now that's funny! :D

Yeah, you have a major league issue and yet are not paying attention............if you think your funds are limited now, just keep driving it………….

Find a shop who knows what they are doing, and DO NOT drive the car until you get this solved (unless, of course, you'd like to buy a new motor).

Hmmm, how can I convert my limited funds to depleted... :cheers:

I'll second that...

Ran across the factory procedure for cleaning oil from coolant system in service manual Group 1 part 2 way in back of manual printed in 2002. Interesting that intermix is common enough problem to require update in manual with specialized equipment but not until 2002. I would be sure & have this procedure done after intermix repair.

Good luck trying to find the listed cleaning agent to add to the cooling system; fortunately, Prestone make a good one that works fine for this...........

Are you saying that even after the system is flushed I should add something to the coolant to help with the little bit of oil that will inevitably still be in there? What is this product? Oil cooler was leaking and has been changed and car is being flushed repeatedly right now. Thanks.

No, the cleaning additive is used with straight water, allowed to circulate and then drained, usually multiple times, then the system is flushed with clear water a couple times, then refilled with the proper coolant mix. Some shops, like mine, have fabricated connectors that allow us to run clean hot water thru the entire system for long periods without the engine running for this purpose. Typically, this is a "time and materials" type project, once the source of the intermix in found and fixed.......

Just spoke to the shop that replaced the oil cooler. They have flushed the coolant system twice with an additive, but the lines running to and from the radiator are still loaded with oil. Not sure if they are flushing with the engine running, is this important? Any other steps that may help?

Sometimes this is a real pain. Once the system is run with a cleaning additive, we use a set up that we made to circulate 135F water through the pipes and forward radiators until the water comes out clear. We then pull the thermostat and do the same thing with the engine. If it does not come clean, we reassemble the system, charge it with clear water and additive, run it for a while, drain it, and then flush it again, always looking for clear water. As I said earlier, we handle intermix clean outs on a time and materials basis because you never know how much work it is going to be………….but you need to get the system clean. It can take an hour to replace the oil cooler, and then take as much as 6-8 hours to clean out the system………

Thanks JFP in PA. Can the radiator be cleaned oil without removing it just as well as it could be if it was removed? I am now being told that the only way they can get everything out of the radiator is to take it out for flushing which involves taking off the front of the car.

Depends upon how badly "gunked up" it is; if the passageways become plugged, you have no choice. I have never had to do this, but I have heard of it on a car that was run for a very prolonged period with the intermix problem. You do not have to remove the nose, just the front bumper to get at the radiators. Would be a good time to also clean out the radiator area as they tend to pick up just about everything from leafs to dead birds in there.........

Update: Oil cooler was replaced and coolant was flushed, but I was told that they were not able to get all the oil out and I would see residual oil for awhile. I was told to drive it and it should become obvious if it was only the oil cooler that was the problem or if I have a bigger problem as well. I have driven 500 miles since the oil cooler replacement and flush and the car is running 15 degrees cooler than before land everything seems great. I do still see residual (hopefully) oil in the coolant tank and I dip a paper towel in the tank and soak it out. The amount of oil is a small fraction of what it was before. When I look in the tank I can see the chamber next to the main chamber always has more oil in it. Is there a way I can clean out the entire coolant tank and not just the main chamber? Thanks.