Questions about 964 Head Issue

[SeaDweller]

I've done my due diligence and have read quite a bit about the head issues in the '89-'91 Carrera's, but I'm still a bit in the dark.

Several times I have seen it referenced that "a small number" of engines were affected. I'm assuming this means that not all engines that were made during these years had this failure. Could it be that just a small number of owners reported the problem, either because the car went out of warranty, or they put little mileage on it? Or, was this design somewhat effective?

I've spoken to many owners of these cars that have 60K, 70K, or even 100K miles on them, and have not had either the head or the flywheel update done. I guess the heads could be leaking like a seive, but how would someone get 100K out of the engine if it were leaking at the heads? Wouldn't the issue have been picked up during one of the services?

Is it possible that some engines may never experience this failure? Would a thorough PPI identify this issue if it existed?

It seems there are some great buys on 964's, and that's appealing to me due to the better A/C and 3.6L engine. I'm just deathly afraid of getting into another position where I need expensive engine work.

Does anyone know if PCNA is standing behind these engines, even if they're out of warranty?

Any other details I should know about?

Thanks!

[john walker's workshop]

they didn't all leak, just a few. of those few, some were slightly moist and some drooled enough onto the exhaust to cause fumes in the heating system. the leak problem went beyond the heads though. the cylinder base gaskets were changed to a noephrene o ring which hardened and leaked. the case thru bolt washers had a wimpy o ring under them and they leaked. the cure was a teardown to the case, replace pistons and cylinders with the later version which used a metal o ring seal, machine the heads to fit the new cylinder tops, and all new o rings and gaskets from the case thru bolts, on out. lots of labor. about $6500 with new P+Cs. some folks got away with just flycutting the heads a bit to true the surface, and putting it back together. still lots of labor, and a chance that it doesn't seal as well as they hoped.

[JeremyD]

Michael - We've talked about this in the past - have you seen this link - lots of good information 964 registry

The last I heard was about 12% of the total cars that were in this range were affected cars from an infomal survey that they did.

Here's another good link.
964 Link

I would think the most important part would be to PPI a car with a shop that is familiar with 964 issues.

I would also recommend that if a car has an oil leak, that the engine tray be removed, the engine thoroughly cleaned, then a diagnosis made on where the leak is coming from and if it's the cylinder head issue.

That's where I messed up on my Targa. The dealership told me that they "were pretty sure" the leak was coming from the power steering pump and cam cover(s). They gave me an estimate of $800-$1,000 to fix - so I got $1500 knocked off the price.

Turns out it had those leaks - and also the cylinder head leak. That was before I knew of this board too.