23/03/2026
A public service announcement...
At Hartech, we are seeing these age related problems more often.
This 928 has had a good service history all of its life. The coolant has been replaced regularly.
It has travelled just over 100,000 km.
These engines are so well designed they just don't wear out. The cylinder heads have never been off.
These headgaskets are over 30 years old, and they rot.
There was nothing left to support the fire rings around each cylinder.
You can see the distortion of the fire ring in the last picture.
The most common failure mode of these headgaskets is, once the fire ring has moved out of place far enough, coolant can fill the cylinder once the engine has stopped.
The next time the engine is turned over, the cylinder now full of coolant, will hydraulic lock. The resultant pressure of another cylinder firing will cause the locked cylinder to split. As these engines are an open deck design, they physically split the cylinder wall open, destroying the engine.
If you don't have history, or invoicing in the last 15 years proving that your 928s headgaskets have been replaced. This failure could happen to you...