Hey guys,I know there are many threads on this..
My question is,,,Is it a matter of time until it happens to our cars?
I have 50,000 miles and its a 2004. Some say the later models,like mine, were fitted better? I have no idea..
Thanks

 

Never really know. More than you would think but not 100% failure rate. Keep an eye on the coolant light.

 

IIRC, my first failure was at approx. 95,000 miles around 2008-09 (car was purchased new in 2002). I purchased a new part directly from Porsche and replaced the entire assembly - the "new" part failed after just 6 months. That's when I welded...on the street, for me, it was not a big deal - suddenly the huge red engine warning light comes on - it's so predominant, it would be almost impossible to not see it. Then, if you look in your rear view mirror you will see clouds of steam billowing and you know you have a major problem. It's time to pull over and call a car carrier. I have been though it twice and it was the same both times. No drama other than the huge smoke screen it makes.

The risk is this: say you are driving very spirited on a curvy road and it happened to let go in the middle of a hard corner and antifreeze got under the tires causing the car to spin...that could be bad. However, I think at speed the amount that would actually get under a tire would be minimal.

IMO, it's just a matter of time and fatigue until one fitting eventually fails on most cars, but some cars may never have a failure. I think a lot of cars will see it sooner or later - it's a real weak point.

 

Can the coolant assembly be removed and welded with engine in?

 

No, to do full pin or weld, engine must come out.

 

It looks like some components can be removed, welded, and re-installed? But to do it right, yeah yank the entire freakin' motor! Porsche refuses to acknowledge the issue and NHTSB hasn't found enough reported instances to force a recall.

IMO high RPMs and spirited driving are what's most likely to make this occur. At least a few folks have had this fail on the race track and not only hurt their cars but also hurt others as the track gets oiled with coolant. Some tracks supposedly will not allow folks to race without pure water as coolant or welded\pinned fittings. Worst nightmare right up there with throwing a rod or breaking a transmission for me. Planning on eventually having mine welded and perhaps sneaking in some rods\studs to beef up the motor...

 

I have had 3 failures total on 2 cars. Once at ginger man race way. No issue there with the track or any one behind me or the car just a pain.. the other 2 were at the tire rack test track autocrossing. Both times a year apart were with the corvette club. I think I had ftd the one time. That said there were 15 of us cleaning the track with cat little for two and a half hours. All were nice about it but not something that should be needed to have to do.

 

I did full pin with engine in place. It is, however, not easy. If I had it to do all over again and I had no other reason to drop engine, I would do it in place again. This time I could do faster!

 

You did all 8 with the engine in??
Not looking down on your method, but that sounds like a huge pain compared to just dropping the driveline and having full access...have some pics?
Cheers,
Rob

 

We're you able to get to the ones circled. Sometimes these are not shown as needing to be fixed also.

 

Absolutely! The one on the right is the one that blew out on me!

 

ok... good job!!!!! i did not think you could get to those with the engine in. how long did it take you and how fast do you think it would take the second time if you had to do it again.

 

brilliant. nice find

 

Fwiw, I repaired a cast Honda exhaust manifold with JB :-) I cleaned and then filled the crack after first warming the car. When warmed JB flows pretty well before curing. I then let it harden and roughed it a little for a second layer. Allowed both of those to harden overnight and then fired it again the next day till hot, cooled it, then reinstalled the heat shield and never had another issue! It's good stuff but in this case I'd want it welded solid. Half tempted to buy a kit and have it on hand for that inevitable day :-(

 

theres no need to buy a 150$ kit if fittings. my shop reused the oem fittings with no issues