Common place to find antifreeze if the side radiator lets loose? Is it usually the actual radiator coming apart or piping?

 

It seems like everybody is having leaky radiators lately.

 

Yup.. It is the plastic end tank to rad 99% of the time. I tried to have my old ones fixed. They told me that they tested it and there was no leak?!?! Bought new ones.

 

Is it coolant that's on the floor? If yes you'll need to peel back the fender liner to see. Or just take off the bumper for the best view. It's probably due for a debris cleaning anyway.

 

Yea it's coolant on the floor and seems to be coming down from the bumper...

Whats radiator replacement cost these days?

 

Doing it yourself or paying someone? I just paid about $360/ea for the two side radiators.

 

I'd have to pay someone... just moved and no tools.

Was the 360 including parts or just labor?

 

Parts plus labor...but only because I did it myself and charged myself nothing.

 

You'd probably get charged a few hundred labor and if they use a Porsche radiator that will set you back over $500. You gotta learn to do this stuff yourself. Paying for labor is for the 997 crowd

 

Is there an alternative to the Porsche radiator that is less costly?

 

Do yourself a favor, pull your bumper and make sure the little dog ears are fully seated(mine leaked exactly like yours)
Turned out one tab on the rad hose didn't want to fully seat permanently. As the car flexed when driving one of the two tabs would pull loose causing a slight but very noticeable leak. (They are the same as the boost hoses in terms of how they are held in place).
I looked closer and the other end of the rad hose is held in place with a traditional hose clamp. I was able to loosen the clamp and gain a little hose length to allow for more flexibility which allowed both tabs to sit tight and not come loose again.
That was two years ago and still holding and cost me nothing but my own time.
So try this before you shell out for new rads.
Pulling the bumper is super easy and you can find a dyi on this site easily for doing it if your unsure.
Good luck.

 

This is a very interesting post. I also had a very small leak just like OP and my Indy shop diagnosed it as a leaky rad. I help off on replacing the rad and the leak all of a sudden stopped. No more dropping in coolant level. Maybe through regular driving something shifted back into place??

 

Hrrrmmm! Very interesting. I am pulling the bumper anyway for a RUF front piece in a month or so i'll check into this. Thank you very much for the recommendation!

 

I am waiting for my parts orders to arrive for my own radiator leak. 2003, 43k miles, left side, kept getting a whiff of coolant at stoplights and at shutdown. Noticed a couple small drops same as OP picture. Pulled the splash guard and it turned out to be the top tank to core crimp junction is seeping. After inquiries to the gurus here, these radiators are not repairable, and this is an apparently common failure point. Decided to replace both hoses, silly not to, they are $27 and $33 from Pelican. The radiators vary a bit in price currently.

Original Porsche is $457 + shipping from Sunset, $461 + shipping from Sonnen. Aftermarket/OEM brand ATK is $437 + FREE shipping from Pelican, $363 + FREE shipping from EAP here via hot tip from another forum member:

http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/pors...11-11543011001

and the winner off of FleaBay was $361 + FREE shipping here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390179638982...84.m1423.l2649

I went with the Ebay supplier for the radiator, but got hoses and a gallon of Porsche coolant from Pelican.

According to the manual and inspection, it doesn't appear to be required to remove the whole bumper cover to R&R the left rad, just the front splash guard. The right side also has the A/C condenser so that may indeed require removal. Just unbolt the fan from the back, unsnap the three slide on retainers, undo the hoses, out and in. The worst part appears to be system refill and bleed afterwards. Hope this helps your part search. It's an easy fix, just messy.

Cheers
Mikey

 

I actually bought one of my radiators from that same ebay seller before finding FCP for the other one.