Its seems that when ever I run the car at higher rpm's(or maybe its just at full throttle) my coolant light will come on and flash. THe engine temp is fine and I have plenty of coolant, but have topped it off any way. When I turn the car off and restart it the flashing stops and won't come on again until I provoke it.
Has anyone here ever experienced this before or have an idea of what it might be?
-Pierce

 

Might be a bad sensor, but I don't know how high rpm's would set this off. Not too expensive to replace so you might wnat to try it.

 

I had a very same situation, turned out to be a cracked coolant reservoir. Seems to be a common problem, and or coolant cap needs to be changed as well. don't overfill your reservoir. I would have it checkd out.
hope that helps.

 

"Four functions of the coolant warning light:
1. Engine coolant level too low -- light flashes slowly (0.5 Hz)
2. Engine compartment temperature too high -- light flashes slowly (0.5 Hz) (engine compartment blower might be faulty)
3. Engine coolant temperature too high -- light is lit; pointer on the right
4. Temperature sensor at water outlet faulty -- light flashes rapidly (1 Hz) ; pointer on the right


Check that engine compartment sensor connection is solid and that the fan works. Also check to be sure the connection to the fluid level sensor on the bottom of the reservoir is connected tightly.

 

Very early 996's had coolant reservoirs that where too small, and would turn the low coolant warning on when the engine was revved high. If everything else checks out fine this may be your issue. I wasn't in the dealer when that model year was new, but I believe they updated the bottle. To be honest if this is the case, I'm surprised it lasted this long.

 

Huh?

 

What he said.....never heard of early tanks too small. Where did you read that?

 

Expansion tank probably has a small leak. It happened to mine, and two of my brother's Boxsters.

 

As I said when the 996's first turn up at dealers, they would turn the light on when the engine was revved up. At high rpms the coolant level drops in the expansion tank, since the tank was too small, and/or the level warning was too high (how ever you want to look at it) it would illuminate the warning. It's sounds odd, but it did happen. Obviously you need to thoroughly look for any leaks, and it could be a leaking tank (very common).

 

I asked my shop foreman about this issue, since he was the one dealing with it, and to assure myself I wasn't loosing my mind (okay I may still be loosing it). He said it wasn't so much the tank size as it was the sensor placement. He seemed to recall it being about a cup of water's difference between normal and illuminating the light. I know a few cars were bought back by Porsche with this issue.

Aside from that, any update with your issue?

 

Zeppelin is right (and not crazy). The early 996's had a different style reservoir (changed in 01?) but I'm not sure of the differences. If you had a leak from your reservoir you would be low on coolant, which you said you arnt. So you can rule that one out, but to be safe, You can look at your driver side tailpipe and muffler area and there would be signs of coolant dripping. Did you always have this blinking problem or is it a recent thing.