Hey gents, I'm removing the coolant tank and two coolant hoses. I have everything out but am having a problem getting the tank clear of the seat it slides into on the left side of the car body. I can get it out about 2/3 of the way and then it hits the fuel return line (in this picture just to the right of the tank) which is a solid line with zero flex. The tank also seems to be designed to drop out of seat once I have it out this far, but I am unable to push it down due to the solid coolant line directly below the tank. Is there something I'm missing? I followed both a step by step written up here on the forums, which says to drop the engine, and the Porsche maintenance manual, which doesn't mention dropping the engine for this procedure. I opted not to drop it as it seemed a bit daunting. The question is, if I drop the engine, will the solid coolant pipe below the tank go down with it to give me the clearance I need or will the fuel line move far enough down so the tank can slide past it?


Thanks,
Blair

 

Lowering the engine a bit is no big deal. Put a floor jack under your motor and remove the 2 nuts from the engine mounts. Lower it slowly as needed. You can go all the way down so the transmission rests on the cross brace if needed.

 

It is an extremely tight squeeze without dropping the engine. Dropping the engine will take 10 minutes and worth every second. That hard line to the right is NOT in the pictures in my DIY - I suspect something has been serviced and not re-installed exactly as before. You will have to move that line to get the tank out. The DIY here has a picture of the top of the tank - it will show you how far you need to move the tank to get it out.

 

Thanks guys. I dropped it and was able to squeeze past the line. Still surprisingly tight for all of the reinstall and its amazing how much cursing is involved. I now have it back together. I topped the coolant up to Max and then took it for a very slow drive around the block. The temp gauge went up beyond 180 and started to creep toward the red zone so I shut it down, waited a bit and then limped back home keeping it about 180. When pulling in the driveway I got a really loud howling noise from the front of the car, which I think may have been air going through the intercoolers. Under the car was not a drip of coolant. The reservoir dropped down about 3/4 of an inch below the Min line once I popped the cap and it took nearly a gallon more to get it up to max again. I took another drive around the block and haven't heard the howling. I'm letting it cool and will then top up again..I'm a bit tentative at the moment. Am I doing everything correctly? .

 

Yes... the big trick is to get past that initial bit where the coolant doesn't want to go back in. I drove around for a while with the pressure relief valve flipped up so no pressure would build up and stop the coolant from moving through the system. Don't do long rides like that though - just the around town stuff.

 

I seem to have it sorted out now. It dropped about halfway between min and max after cooling down for an hour. Topped up again and went for a ride. Sitting at 180 to 190 with minimal variation even after about 10 minutes and a couple of miles at 60 MPH. No howling and once I stopped, the typical fan cooldown proceess started. Should I expect any further drops in coolant.after driving it during the next few days? If not, I'm done here. Thanks as alway for the help. This forum is awesome!

 

You should be good to go now. Just check every week or so and watch the temp gauge. It is not uncommon for it to take a while to settle completely.

 

This happens when you get air in the system. Most times the spike of temp is air flashing across the sensor so that's the big swing. I go home right away, and slowly remove the cap (careful as it's under pressure) and just top up. This may take a couple times, then leave the bleed valve up for the next 1-2 days of driving it you're good. The howling you may have heard up front is both fans coming on screaming at full speed due to the high temps. Usually doesn't happen when you get home idling unless it's really hot, so it sounds loud.

 

Yes, s65e90, that howling scared the crap out of me. I was out today and all seemed well, but when I got home, the coolant was about 3/4" below the min line again. No evidence of any leaks so I'm going to check daily for the next week or so to ensure it keeps topped up.
.

 

There is an easy way to get air out the system.
Rise the rear wheel as high as you can. Add the coolant/wait air out.
Start engine with idle rpm. 10 min done.