Guys,
I am looking for a little help diagnosing my problem:
1. My 99 C2 had a small through hole leak in the lower hose because of a driveway scrape, so I replaced the hose about 1.5 months ago. Now it has a small continuing drip that appears to come fro the lower hase connection (no matter how tight the clamp is).

2. Even worse, since I replaced the hose my car periodically belches coolant from the expansion tank all over my engine bay. I drove the car with the relief valve on the expansion tank open for about two weeks (daily driver) and topped of the coolant to the appropriate level. It belches much more frequently if I drive with the relief valve in the closed position, so now I drive with it continously open yet it still spews coolant.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

 

Replace the plastic coolant tank. It's a common problem. Porsche has redesigned the part about 4 times to date.

 

Check hose end and clamp for proper install. Did you replace the old clamp? Also, leak can come from the main leak expansion tank.

The other problem sound like bad thermostate. I noticed you have a 99 C2 maybe it's time to replace the expansion tank. With older 996 this is a must.

 

It sounds like you have a couple different problems.

First, the coolant hose leak. If the hose fitting wasn't cleaned off good enough the coolant residue will leave a trail for coolant to come out. Also, often the flange gets scraped and causes the gasket to leak by the lower bolt.

Second, coolant comming from cap. This could be several things- stinking thermostat, bad coolant cap/cross threaded cap, and defective cooling fans /resistors. Any one of these could caust coolant to come out the cap.

Also, check the now hose for a kink.

Typically, a defective coolant tank has an external coolant leak that leaks onto the exhaust pipe on the drivers side.

I hope this helps

 

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
Just to clarify, my car doesn't seem excessively hot when it blows. According my gauge, the needle is on the "0" of the '180" degree mark of the dial.

Does this narrow down my problem?

Thanks.

 

With bad tank or rusty thermostate you won't get overheated. The fans will help with that. Go to a radiator shop and have them do a radiator pressure test. That will pinpoint the actual leaking area and if the thermostate is bad. Also, a good way to check your water pump, hoses too. GL!

 

I a similar problem with my car. It was a crack in the coolant tank. I got it replaced.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff

 

This is what I've always heard from the dealer, also. Replace the the most likely cause first.

 

Has anyone hear replaced the tank themselves? If so, how hard was it?


Dealer said it was $950 (4 hours labor @ $150, plus $350 in parts ($300 for tank, $25 cap, and coolant). 4 hours seems like a really long time, but I am guessing that is "book time" . I found the tank for $185 on-line.

 

WHAT! That's highway robbery. My indy charged $350 for part & labor.

There is a DIY on Renntech. GL!

 

I replaced the coolant tank on my '99 in about an hour (it took that long because I stopped for two beers).

 

I'm not a master mechanic by any means, but using the DIY explanation and pictures from RennTech, and there may be a similar posting on Pelican or Rennlist (do a search for coolant tank)....I did it in about 1.5 hours....hardest part was wiggling the tank out of a rather confined space, then wiggling the new one back in without breaking the sensor on the bottom. Not rocket science, but it did bring out some rather colorful adjectives from my vocabulary.