[SolReaver]

Hello out there!

I have taken time out from my normal Porsche duties and and have taken on repairs to a 94 9000 turbo. The original diagnosis was the turbo had given out, As I have gotten into the job little hints like a quart or more of highly concentrated coolant in the oil pan lead me to believe that the head is Questionable and so....It seems that as long as I have the turbo and the ex manifold off I will be likely removing the head. IF anyone Else can think of any other reason besides a bad head or gasket that would put that kind of concentrated fluid in the pan....Jump in and let me know.

It all started many years ago, or so it seems to me, when the owner of the car brought the car to someone else to have the head done. The work done was good enough for the time. Upon examining the quality of the job as only a trained mechanic can do on dissasembly....It seems that a few small but critical parts were installed incorrectly. On this model, and many tothers, oil lines and coolant lines are steel tubes fastened to the block or turbo or pump with banjo bolts and sealed with crush washers. These washers are very inexpensive and should be considered a one use item as they crush to form the seal. Well, the PM was either unaware or uncaring of this fact and re used the old ones, even flipping a few around and forgetting several altogether. This led to a very small, almost imperceptible coolant loss which seems to have caused multiple overheat incidents. Additionally there was a small exhaust leak that may not have even been known about as several studs and bolts ere installed incorrectly.

At first I was informed that the car overheated once, when the turbo blew. Today I learned that the car was overheated several times and brought back to the same shop, who found nothing. over the course of time, many dollars were spent at this shop and still no one caught the previous mistake OR attempted to correct the random coolant loss or overheat condition.

In short....We competent and professional mechanics are a dying breed.

All I can do now is pull the head and cross my fingers that the 2.3 liter motor which by all rights should have a hundred grand left on it can be saved somehow. THOUSANDS of dollars potentially to be lost all for the lack of 3 60 cent washers, five mins of time, some threadlock, antisieze and two bucks worth of heater line.

Watch this space for good info.