Well I guess I need some advice..
I lost my serpentine belt two weeks ago. The car heated up and built up back pressure in the coolant system. This generated a leak in the expansion tank. After reading several forums on this topic, it apparently would have happened to me around 65k miles anyway. Since I am adventurous and also cheep, I decided to tackle this problem by myself. I watched several utube videos and it seemed easy enough to fix. I think the video left our about 8 hours of pain! The replacement of the serpentine belt was easy but the removal of the expansion tank has stumped me. The video would lead you to believe that you can get this tank out without lowering the motor. I am not sure that is true. I have a 2002 911 996 with the 3.6 liter engine. I think that the video that I watched must have been a 3.4 liter engine with a little more space. I have managed to figure out the black plastic mounting bracket (Chinese finger toy mechanism) that holds the tank to the upper deck of the engine compartment. My expansion tank is detached from all mounts and hoses but I cannot get it past a little brass coated part that is attached to the engine block. It does not look like I should attempt to remove the brass part to get it out of my way as it is connected to wiring that looks important.
Does anyone have experience with this issue. If it becomes necessary, does anyone have experience in lowering the motor 2 inches suggested by other forums I have read. Help, this is my first post ever..

 

Check out Pelican Parts technical articles. It was my understanding you can replace the expansion tank without lowering the engine on the hard tops.


http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

Thanks for the post. I am sure I am going to try to lower my motor 2 inches this weekend. After reading I believe that the combination of the 3.6 motor and the fact that I have a cabriolet is my problem with space. The link that you gave me I think has given me the confidence to give it a go. I'll try to take some pics of my progress.

 

Yes, since you have a cab the space is just a little too tight. Glad to help.

 

I have now managed to lower the engine down about 1.75 to 2 inches. The engine is completely resting on the transmission bell housing and the cross bracing bracket at the front of the engine. It will not go down any further. I need it to come down another 3/4 of an inch to get the expansion take low enough to get it past the top of the engine compartment below the hinge to the hood latch. I was wondering if the engine might go a little lower if the car was supported by jack stands rather than the wheels that I drove up wheel ramps.

Again, I think my problem is that I have the 2002 996 carrera with the 3.6 liter engine.

There is a brass tube that is attached to the block that is in the way below my expansion tank. I'm not sure what it is, I cannot find any information on the part.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.