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Looked inside the coolant reservoir and saw drops of oil floating on the remaining coolant. This is in response to coolant in the oil verses oil in the coolant comment. I don't understand how failure of the coolant/oil heat exchanger would allow coolant to get into exhaust system. What is the connection?

Quote:

Originally Posted by san rensho (Post 395862)

Like runjmc said, check if there is oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. If there is oil in the coolant, don't panic, it could be a failed oil cooler which is any easy fix, except for cleaning out the cooling system. If there is coolant in the oil, that's not good.

Take off the serpentine belt and crank the motor by hand. If it binds, then you have a major problem. If not, take out the spark plugs and see if coolant is in he cylinders, if so you have a major problem.

If you don't have any of the above problems, then it could just be the car overheated and barfedcoolant. Fill up he coolant reservoir and see I it starts. If so, check the cooling system for faults. Hopefully it's just a waterpumpmor a cracked coolant reservoir.

Question: Looked inside the coolant reservoir and saw drops of oil floating on the remaining coolant. This is in response to your coolant in the oil verses oil in the coolant comment. I don't understand how failure of the coolant/oil heat exchanger would allow coolant to get into exhaust system. What is the connection?

How far are you from a Porsche specialist? I would have the car towed there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calijim (Post 397439)

If you are sure there is coolant in the exhaust, meaning there's coolant in the cylinders when you took out the plugs, then I would say its probably not the heat exchanger. Exchanger failure usually dumps lots of oil in the coolant and little or no coolant in the oil because the oil pressure is much higher than the coolant pressure.

There may be a few more steps that people can suggest to confirm a slipped sleeve, or other "catastrophic" failure. I would do these first before going to a shop, especially if that shop is a dealership. There have been many stories of a shop charging large fees to diagnose to a seemingly simply conclusion, your engine is toast. The story usually continues that the diagnostic fee can be applied to a 'fix.' Problem is the 'fix' is often not advisable and/or at the correct facility for the right 'fix." I would avoid that trap if at all possible. If your engine is toast, better you save the diagnostic fee and have better control of your next step.