Got a sudden 'coolant level low' message and stopped the car immediately.

inspected the back of the car and saw pink coolant leaking directly below the engine slightly on the passenger side. Evaporated coolant was also on the rear bumper, spoiler and exhaust tips.

Recent mod was an X pipe, car got really loud and noticeably faster. Engine temp gauge now records higher temps never above 105C though.

Popped coolant hoses? Failed water pump?

Any inputs greatly appreciated.

 

If its the same problem i had then it will be one of the plastic coolant pipes below the intake manifolds has split.

http://sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=394

 

Just a thought, maybe check to see if the coolant bottle is cracked first but if its not be prepared to drop the engine out.

 

Thnx nick, I looked at these. Did you also have dripping coolant from under the engine? My rear sway bars were also wet with coolant.

 

I had one of the joints for the coolant pipes between the engine and radiators leaking.



Passenger side engine bay above the exhaust, I had fluid dripping on the catt...

 

Yes I had pink streaks of dried coolant under my engine and on the bottom of the exhaust system.

When I dropped my engine out I also found that the connections on some of the coolant housings were loose so I had all these welded up too.

 

If its the waterpump you'd start to hear it whine ... and it'll start to get louder ... regardless of your exhaust ... ask me how I know.

 

About $3400.00 to fix. Member on here paid that much for the three plastic elbows that need to be replaced. Engine needs to be dropped, I will be doing that soon myself. My cost will be no more than $500.00. I am lucky, I have a lift. I am also the CPO/third party/ insurance whatever you guys call it. I will be adding other parts also since the engine will be out. Probably start in about 2 weeks. Will post pictures along the process. Can't wait to start!!!

 

When I had my top coolant pipes replaced they did a pressure check, the water pump was seeping also. Definitely have them perform a pressure check if the engine is out. Pressure check the vacuum system also.
A previous forum entry was on the stock water pump, 2007 & 2008 apparently had plastic blades, now they are metal.
I also switched from coolant to Evans waterless coolant. Do a google search and watch Jay Leno's interview of the Evans rep.

 

My car is having its engine dropped at the moment so i will ask them to recheck water pump. On physical inspection, they said it wasn't the pump. I have asked them to replace all coolant hoses to avoid future issues for a long time. Since our temperatures are much hotter, the rubber becomes hard and brittle increasing possibilities for future failures in the system.

Since my slave cylinder is also leaking, i asked them to replace the master, slave and accumulator as the engine is being dropped. Might as well.

I checked on the evans coolant and noted they mentioned higher coolant operating temperatures. Is yours much higher than usual? What is your coolant operating temperature? Thanks Kenromero.

Thanks for everyone's inputs. i will take some pictures if possible and keep this thread updated.

 

Sorry to hear this. I don't have time to search for you at this moment, but in case you don't already know, search this forum for previous threads on this subject: there is a particular hose where the metal end piece of this rubber hose is glued ( Yeah Porsche what were you thinking - absolute bonehead design.) onto its receptacle. This is THE weakness of this design (responsible of majority of cases of spilling on the track - causing other cars to spin as well) and I would strongly suggest you have them redo this particular hose while engine is already down.

It's partly idiotic Porsche engineering (the one time that they drop the ball) and partly a consequence of the placement of this engine - anything that leaks on the other side means engine will be dropped.

My engine was dropped twice (long story...) and I HATED the whole experience. In my case though the leak came from the metal pipe that carries coolant front to back - a bracket that holds it in place had come loose, and therefore was covered by extended warranty. Extended warranty covers metal part only, not rubber part like rubber hose.

 

The pressure testing of both the coolant system and vacuum system is just a double check to confirm you won't have a problem soon ahead of you.
The Evans does not increase the operating temp, it allows the engine to operate at a higher temp without incurring problems. Such as Arizona or desert ambient temperatures. I like that the cooling system runs without pressure. You can take the cap off at normal temp with just a slight pop and not loose any coolant. The hoses are not subdued to the higher pressure of the system at normal operating temp and the Evans also has a higher boiling point. It also lasts much longer. Only drawback, it's not cheap!!

 

My water pump leaked without any whine Thought at first the reservior holding antifreeze, which on porsches crack easily. However turned out to be water pump at only 65000 miles. Tech says earlier at 50000 when a rubber hose blew, the water pump probably overheated and shorten its life span. Had to have engine drop to fix that hose, so replaced all hoses but was not told about plastic hose-connectors.
After 50000, seems like with these turbos, all hoses and plastic connectors come apart and often require costly engine pull. Smart thinking porsche. My M3s stayed together much longer than this turbo, and if something broke, didn't require a $1800 engine-drop cost to repair it. The new turbo-M4 is looking better and better each day as I watch this 997.1 disintegrate into a high-cost pain in the butt as well as wallet.

 

Thanks for the heads up john. I will ask the tech about plastic hoses as well.

 

Who's doing your car?