Engine Overheated, Coolant Leak?

[pizzafan]

Noticed the engine temp was at the max and a red light next to the temp was on.
Oil light flashed a couple times.

Continued driving for about 5 minutes / 3 miles to my destinations.

Got out of the car, and the engine was giving a slight whistle.
Noticed this leak right away. It kept leaking for a long time.

Second photo is when I opened the trunk a couple hours later.

Is this a coolant leak? Should I be worried about anything else -- engine damage, water pump?

A few minutes before I noticed the engine temp, I stalled twice in a couple seconds at a red light -- I just bought this car a few weeks ago and still learning to drive a manual. That was my only stall on this 40 minute car ride. Could stalling & restarting the engine right away have caused the issue, or is that a coincidence?

[rexcramer]

Don't start or drive it until a mechanic looks at it. You have a potentially very serious problem. That is oil and coolant mixed together. Search 'intermix' when you are ready for some sobering possibilities.

[JFP in PA]

Stick a fork in that one, it is done...……….

[pizzafan]

Damn, just bought the car 3 weeks ago. Skipped ppi as the owner was on top of maintenance.
Googling now. Anything I could've done to have prevented it?

[78F350]

Originally Posted by pizzafan

... Anything I could've done to have prevented it?

Noticed the engine temp was at the max and a red light next to the temp was on.
Oil light flashed a couple times.

Continued driving for about 5 minutes / 3 miles to my destinations.

Engine temp at max and Red light means pull over and STOP driving. There are several things that could have gone wrong initially, but to continue driving for even 5 minutes can make a lot more things go wrong.

Could stalling & restarting the engine right away have caused the issue, or is that a coincidence?

Stalling and restarting is not and underlying cause. There is no way for us to diagnose exactly what the initial cause was or what further damage could have been done by simply looking at the pictures.

We could talk about cracked heads, oil coolers, rods bolts, and IMS bearings, but I don't think it would be helpful at this point. Judging from what you have written, I'm guessing that you have not worked on cars much, so advice on taking things apart probably is not going to be of any use. I'd recommend that you do not try to start the car and have it towed to a mechanic with some Porsche experience to evaluate if the engine is repairable at an affordable price.

...sorry for your loss.

[azlvr]

Originally Posted by pizzafan

Damn, just bought the car 3 weeks ago. Skipped ppi as the owner was on top of maintenance.
Googling now. Anything I could've done to have prevented it?

I did the same thing, we both bought the car with a cracked head which I should have been smart enough to figure out. Well it caused me to learn how to remove the engine and many other things about the car very quickly. I love the car and have done lots of things to it. It was a little daunting to tackle the project at 60 but I did it and many other projects to it. I now consider myself very knowledgeable about the car. It now has 130K on it.

[husker boxster]

Sorry for you loss. Not a good way to start an ownership experience.

There is a guy over on Pelican with an 04 base Boxster who mistakenly bought an 01 2.7 engine thinking it would work in his 04. It won't, so he might be grateful to find someone interested in relieving him of his mistake.

Engine swap. 2001 to 2004 2.7 - Pelican Parts Forums

Oops - I see you have an 02 S. Never mind. I'll leave the link in case someone else is looking for a base engine.

[Brian in Tucson]

Originally Posted by azlvr

I did the same thing, we both bought the car with a cracked head which I should have been smart enough to figure out. Well it caused me to learn how to remove the engine and many other things about the car very quickly. I love the car and have done lots of things to it. It was a little daunting to tackle the project at 60 but I did it and many other projects to it. I now consider myself very knowledgeable about the car. It now has 130K on it.

got you beat, I was 66 when I did mine in the carport in winter of '17. Same sort of thing, tho mine didn't come down with intermix--just got really hot and I didn't want to trust it.

To the OP, sorry your engine is really and truly ruined. All sorts of bad things happen when it over heats that bad. Rings lose temper and don't seal, valve seals leak, things get warped.

You have some hard choices to make. :ah::ah:

[thstone]

Originally Posted by pizzafan

Skipped ppi...

That says it all.

[pizzafan]

I may have to wait till monday to get hold of a mechanic/specialist.

Do I have any hope that a 'exhaust gas' test as mentioned by JFP here will succeed? Or do photos point to a definite engine issue?
http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/65604-engine-diagnostics-intermix.html

[pizzafan]

Thanks, bringing it to a mechanic on monday or tuesday, and will let them diagnosis & give me my options.

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by pizzafan

Thanks, bringing it to a mechanic on monday or tuesday, and will let them diagnosis & give me my options.

Did you find a root cause or outcome yet?

:+)

[j.fro]

Looks like what happened to my 996...which was a cracked head. Len Hoffman repaired my heads and did a stage 1 porting on them. Fortunately, the bottom end was fine. I did all of the work with the generous help of a few friends and the bill came to around 6K. This included the heads, new clutch/FW, AOS, lifter rebuild, injector rebuild, gasket kit, ARP head studs, oil, coolant, and other "while you are in there" items. A year later/20K miles later she's running great.

[tonythetiger]

Is this an S or Base boxster?, year, mileage, options?

I bet you have a cracked head, and definite intermix. Been there twice now.
Engine is toast and so are all the hoses, radiators, etc. etc unless you clean this out quickly.

you need to decide if you are keeping the car and swapping out the engine or shopping for something else. (do all the cleaning immediately or you have more problems) My humble advice is unless you are wrenching this yourself, you are far, far outside what it is worth. If you don't clean up the intermix, the rest of your shell is diminished in salvage price also.
Sorry for your loss.

[Jgkram]

tonythetiger, just curious why you ask whether it's a base or an S? Is one more susceptible than the other to this kind of failure?

[azlvr]

Just run some granular Tide laundry detergent thru it several times till clean and it will be fine. Mine has been running for 25k since repairing with no problems and good cooling. The cracked head is another thing. It was a good learning experience and took the opportunity to replace some wear items while out but wish I had done a few more.
Hoffman machine said cracked head was due to core shift. Just a little more aluminum would have eliminated the problems. Thanks Porsche

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by azlvr

Just run some granular Tide laundry detergent thru it several times till clean and it will be fine. Mine has been running for 25k since repairing with no problems and good cooling. The cracked head is another thing. It was a good learning experience and took the opportunity to replace some wear items while out but wish I had done a few more.
Hoffman machine said cracked head was due to core shift. Just a little more aluminum would have eliminated the problems. Thanks Porsche

Hoffman repaired your heads? I considered that route and noodled that I still had an old engine with old rods, pistons, etc. and decided I would ditch the car. The second one was presented to me with intermix and I parted it.
It all worked out for you, huh? Nice, Len was really cool and talked to me about options.

BTW, agreed, laundry detergents, and massive flushing...takes several days but you can make a weekend of it.

Pizzafan, here is a resource for what likely went wrong...you can review hoffman automotive machine, do the google and flat6innovations website as well for some good info.

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by Jgkram

tonythetiger, just curious why you ask whether it's a base or an S? Is one more susceptible than the other to this kind of failure?

both intemix issues I saw were "S" and both times passenger side heads, but I also asked if it was an S because there are many parts on the S that have value, such as the rads, brakes and stuff. Makes cleaning up important to save any money or fix.

[Brian in Tucson]

What is "core s hift?"

[azlvr]

Originally Posted by Brian in Tucson

What is "core s hift?"

Core shift of the mold when manufacturing the head. Len Hoffman is fantastic. I think it was around $700 but depends on the problem. i have put TONS of money in this car but I luv it. At 130k it still runs fantastic but I know that day will come for a whole lot of money to be spent, it's 3.6 time.