Posted on 7/24/2011
The cylinder head(s) on any water cooled engine has the potential to crack, and Porsche’s M96 engine in the 986’s & 996’s is no exception. The most common reason for this to happen is when an engine significantly overheats, usually due to the loss of coolant. Overheating can be caused by something as simple as a faulty coolant hose, a cracked or broken radiator or coolant reservoir, or a water pump failure. If the driver is not periodically checking the instrument cluster, they might miss a warning light or a dramatic change in the reading on the temperature gauge (if your vehicle has a temperature gauge). When the coolant flow is lost, it doesn’t take much time for the engine to get really hot. When the engine overheats a great deal, the aluminum head material can actually distort in shape due to the combination of the extreme heat and pressure (or torque) being applied to the head by the fasteners that hold it in place. If the head material distorts, even a s ... read more