I became victim to the catastrophic coolant line failure this past Friday night. I was driving home at about 8:30pm on interstate 15 in San Diego at approximately 70 mph. I downshifted to 4th gear to pass another vehicle. I felt the rear end get a little loose and then noticed a large amount of steam coming from the engine compartment. I pulled over as soon as I could, shut her down and called a tow truck. The car is a 2003 996tt, 1 bar tune, 52,000 miles, daily driver that has never been tracked. I have filed a report with the nhtsa.

Now I am trying to figure out what else I should be doing while the engine is out for repair. I was already planning on doing a service and changing the plugs, coils, coolant flush, ... Should I be looking at replacing my clutch since I added a tune in December? My stock clutch is not slipping yet. Anything else that I should address? Thanks in advance.

 

Lucky Lucky,

Glad you're ok.

Where did you take it Pioneer? AGA?

 

Thank you for notifying the NHTSA!

I'd do the clutch for sure and probably the GT2 conversion. I'd consider one of the hardline intake kits to free up the intake side too if you're never going to run MAFless. Rods if you plan on power later ;-)

 

I had it towed to my house, as I didn't want to leave it in AGA's parking lot all weekend. I plan on having it towed up there Monday morning.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm looking into a clutch kit now. I don't plan on adding too much more power wise, as I need to keep the car a reliable daily driver.

 

since its your daily I'm guessing it needs to up and running as quickly as possible.
i would replace every rubber hose and vacuum line i can find. 10 yrs old its cheap to do.
replace the water pump if you have a unit with plastic impellers.
replace the serpentine belt if it hasn't been done recently
your looking at about 300$ worth of gaskets and seals try ebs (engine builder supply) they have the ability to source you a complete kit

not a bad time to do the clutch if you have the parts and time.

 

See my link:


https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...g-fix-etc.html

 

Thanks, I am looking into replacing these items too, as well as upgrading the clutch. Might as well as get as much of this maintenance out of the way while the motor is out.

 

That is a monster list. Thanks.

 

sorry to hear of your troubles. catastrophic is about right.
given all you "have to" do now anyway, not putting in a new clutch at your mileage is the kind of thing that can bite you shortly thereafter, and just when you think was everything "finished".

i like most folks see anything catastrophic, although a drag at first, as really an opportunity to get at things we wouldn't ordinarily. like a clutch. good luck.

 

Every car is different so it is hard to say what you should do while you are there.

You can of course arbitrarily replace whatever you want.

Or you can replace only what is called for.

Barring a clear sign something else needs replacing I'd replace just the clutch control shaft needle bearings and RMS.

You can measure the wear of the clutch disc. When I had the RMS done in my 03 Turbo at around 120K miles the disc had zero measurable wear and the rest of the clutch hardware looked just fine. The tech said he could see no reason to replace anything other than the needle bearings I mentioned above. He said these should be replaced whenever the tranny is out.

Price coolant hoses. Price them all not just the couple at the water pump. If one is suspected of needing replacing due to time and miles then with that logic all are due. If the hoses are due based on time and miles then so are the radiators, heater core and oil/water heat exchanger.

BTW, I think you'll find hoses are a bit more expensive than you imagine. I'd check them. Bad ones are soft and generally on the bottom of the hose is where they go soft first. On the bottom and close to where they connect to the fitting.

(I know you'll find the radiators expensive than you can imagine. I did.)

Plugs are ok to change unless of course they are quite fresh to begin with. With coils as long as they look ok and the engine wasn't misfiring before I'd let these stay in service.

However, even if they were not misbehaving I'd be more inclined to replace them if you tell me you drive the car year round and you drive it rain or shine or in even worse conditions. Coils do not take kindly to being exposed to what driving in the rain or snow exposes the coils too.

Water pump? Well, the one in my 03 lasted to around 120K miles. It was clear it needed to be replaced as evidence of a leak was seen.

If you do the water pump then what about the starter? Alternator? Power steering pump? A/C compressor? Fuel pump? Coolant tank? (And as I mentioned above, radiators, heater core, oil/water heat exchanger?) My car also has needed a new shifter, and front diff axle flange seals, so add those items to the list as well. The list is endless.

You have to be careful. One can throw a wheelbarrow (or two) of money at preemptively replacing things on these cars and yet even afterwards one still has to be attentive in case one of the replacement items goes bad.

But like I said above you can replace what you want. Just before you give the go-head get a price first.

 

Your story reads as it could've been me...I take the 15 everyday in my gray '03 turbo. I've already experienced a coolant fitting going once with me behind the wheel of potential purchase I was test driving.

I've only got 39k on my car so far, but I'm mentally ready for this when/if this ever comes to pass. Seems more like a when hearing about these stories.

Good luck and let us know how the shop works out for you.

 

I hate hearing these stories. Mine is going in tomorrow to repair this proactively.

 

Macster:

Certainly tons of things could be replaced but this isn't a case of simply throwing money at things - he's going to be looking to replace those things that we know tend to go and to take advantage of having the engine/transmission out which is a job in and of itself that isn't cheap.

Swapping things that can be gotten to without the added labor of pulling the engine makes little sense unless they're obviously worn when examined. The suggestion for the clutch was primarily because he mentioned having a tune on the car done recently and the fact that his existing clutch is stock. Swapping that makes fiscal sense as does the GT2 setup if he wishes to remove some complexity and parts known to fail. Had *I* known better I'd have done that when my trans was last out for a clutch and will certainly do it when I next need to remove it.

Water fittings, hoses, check valves, anything living on top of the engine out of sight normally needs to be examined and replaced if fiscally wise. A hose might be "expensive" but if it can only be replaced by dropping the engine then it's smart to do it now vs paying for that drop again later.

Certainly some of these lists seem lengthy but it's not a matter of simply throwing money and it's coming from folks who've been there and their advice is worth considering...

 

Tell Martin that ttpopo (my blue turbo) says "Hi".

They did my coolant lines when my motor was out. Did a great job.