Porsche 986 engine trouble

[Pdavidson88]

Hi all.

In need of quite a bit of help.
I have a 1998 boxster 986 with around 115k miles on the clock.

Its developed some kind of (in my head catastrophic) engine failure. My wife was out driving and the power steering went. The began to overheat. We managed to get it back home by towing. I've been reading online it could be a number of things (water pump. Serpintine belt)

Took it too a garage to have a look. Changed the pump and belt and did a oil and coolant change on it but when bleeding it through they've rang me to say they can't seem to keep the coolant in and cool be a head gasket fail..
Kinda seeking for advice because I know head gasket can be pretty much game over..

[Pdavidson88]

This is what I thought. Is there anything else to could be? I know its like needle in a haystack but we both love the car and would be really sad to see it go.

[edc]

Or it could be something as simple as an airlock or that the coolant tank itself has split. What does "can't keep the coolant in" mean?

From where is it escaping and how much and under what conditions? Has the garage pressure tested the system?

[Pdavidson88]

Just had a phone call from the gaThane. They've managed to fix the problem. Apparently they bled the coolant but there was still an airlock in the system he has drove it for half an hour on main roads and a bypass and all seems well. My wife is now driving it and all seems well too.. He has said to go back in a week or so just to check over everything is as it should be.


What a relief!

Thanks for your help

[Pdavidson88]

Just had a phone call from the gaThane. They've managed to fix the problem. Apparently they bled the coolant but there was still an airlock in the system he has drove it for half an hour on main roads and a bypass and all seems well. My wife is now driving it and all seems well too.. He has said to go back in a week or so just to check over everything is as it should be.


What a relief!

Thanks for your help

[edc]

Pdavidson88 said:

Just had a phone call from the gaThane. They've managed to fix the problem. Apparently they bled the coolant but there was still an airlock in the system he has drove it for half an hour on main roads and a bypass and all seems well. My wife is now driving it and all seems well too.. He has said to go back in a week or so just to check over everything is as it should be.


What a relief!

Thanks for your help

It sounds like they weren't bleeding the system correctly. You could bleed more by parking the car nose down on a slope, opening the bleed valve and running the car up to temperature. When it is airlocked it will cough and splutter a lot of coolant out, so you need to keep topping it back up.

[ooid]

Pdavidson88 said:

Hi all.
My wife was out driving and the power steering went. The began to overheat. We managed to get it back home by towing. I've been reading online it could be a number of things (water pump. Serpintine belt)

I had exactly this happened to me two summers ago on m11, just before turning to cambridge. Bang noise on the back, both ABS + battery lights turned up on the dash. Steering became extremely heavy in seconds and it was shocking to see how the engine temperature suddenly started rising. My engine back in the time just had a new rebuilt so without risking it, luckily parked on the hard-shoulder immediately and called for Tow. The heating never went up to the extreme level but after parking-up still lost a bit coolant My indy back in the time, confirmed the Power Steering pump were in really bad shape, they replaced with a new one (not cheap!). The head-gaskets, almost never goes on boxsters, unless its been driven on really high temperatures after water pump failures so if you guys did not drive it after the over-heat, the system should be alright but you can still ask for a pressure check just in case.