Anyone ever had a cylinder head replaced on their 986 S?
 

I have intermix on my '02 Boxster S. There's a good amount of oil in the water. I see no water in the oil. The oil cooler is very cheap and easy to replace so I have a new one here that I'm going to install and see if it fixes the problem. I'm thinking ahead that if it isn't the oil cooler, after searching, it would appear the other alternative issue is a cracked cylinder head. Has anyone has a cylinder head repaired and replaced? I know this is an engine out procedure and I just am not up to doing that myself. Anyone have real world experience on what the cost is on a job like this? Not at the dealer but a good independent shop. I'm hoping that it's the oil cooler, but things are not rolling my way on this car. I have to hope for the best and plan for the worst.

I hope it's your oil cooler, removing and reinstalling an engine is well north of $2 grand. I did mine myself, I didn't know strategies or time/labor saving practices It took me a lot more than 25 hours. Then there's the repair to the head and parts. you are facing some serious expenses. If you have to do this, do the IMS bearing, rear main seal, front main seal, and the clutch while it's out. Serpentine belt, power steering fluid, and engine mount. Water pump too. Expect perished coolant hoses. and a general clean out of the cooling system. And plugs & coils. Clean the MAF sensor. Yes, you can see how it goes. I just did an engine swap--working alone with no lift, and not full time hours, it took me almost 3 months. On the bright side, you won't have to do the long term periodic maintenance that probably due soon.

Having done a lot of maintenance and repairs on my cars, I would just like to mention that a lot of the time that we might put on doing a repair/upgrade/modification on our cars is spent researching, worrying/second-guessing and head scratching as well as finding or fabricating that Porsche special tool # ... That said, if you can manage to analyse and repair the problem, the advantage is not just saving the $$. The experience is priceless! No, this is not a Visa ad. ;)

I have no personal experience with a cracked head, but there are some forum members that have posted about having a cracked head repaired.
I know you don't plan to work on it yourself, but here's Glenn986's web page and videos from when he repaired his:
986fix.com - home
https://www.youtube.com/user/glenn986s/videos?shelf_id=1&sort=dd&view=0

Hofmann..?
 

Doug, this guy has pretty good recommendations, you may want to check him out

https://newsite.hamheads.com/porsche/

Doug, We had a bad oil cooler on our 2.7 that leaked oil into the water. It was easy to pull and pressure test, so you should do that first before installing a new cooler. It takes just a few minutes to remove the oil cooler on these cars.

Water in the oil is very bad, so make triple sure there is none there. The crank bearing will not like water running on them.

I used this guy for my cracked head, he did a outstanding job.
Most likely he has a cracked head and and it's because of core shift. According to Hoffman a few more ounces of aluminum would have prevented that, which would have cost a extra buck or 2 to our very expensive cars.

Hopefully in the next week or so, my engine will be going back into my 996. She cracked a head... two years ago. It's taken this long to get the time and $$$ to get it back together. I pulled the engine and I'm doing the install.
Getting both heads checked, the one repaired, valve job, new springs, a mild porting job, and removing a couple of broken exhaust bolts on both was $2.5K from https://newsite.hamheads.com/porsche/. He did a great job.
Here's a list of other stuff (there's a ton of "while you are in there" items) and some of the costs:
Gasket set, $500
ARP head studs, $500
rebuild lifters $100
rebuild fuel injectors $120
Vario cam pads $60 (MUST DO!!)
Chain ramps $100
assorted old plastic tubing that breaks (oil filler, dipstick, AOS to TB, etc. ) $150
Air-oil separator
clutch/flywheel
The gasket kit included a new RMS. Yay!
IMS???
Cleaning materials, sealant, etc $100
water pump
coolant
oil change
power steering fluid
air filter
serpentine belt
spark plugs & plug tubes
exhaust clamps