Okay guys, so here's where I'm at. Some might know, I bought my 2007 911 Turbo from Texas back in January and shipped it overseas to Germany where I am stationed with the Air Force. I got it back home and literally within a week, I noticed a very small spot of coolant on the floor of my garage under the passenger side turbo. This was something that I only noticed twice, and when I put it on a lift and looked around, there was some old caked on coolant on the passenger turbo itself, but nothing that seemed to be dripping from above. I could also see some coolant dripping from the turbo when I noticed the spot on the floor.

Now the spot on the floor wasn't big. It was maybe a spot 4 inches by 4 inches, and wasn't wet, just damp. I never noticed it again, just that one or two days, and once I cleaned the coolant up off the turbo, it hasn't come back. This was 2 months ago and nothing since that I've noticed. So it's kind of been "out of sight, out of mind", but the thought of "I need to pin/weld my coolant pipes" has been looming in the back of my mind since then. This is something I want to do whether it needs it or not just for peace of mind so I don't ever have to worry about it. It's always in the back of my mind "what if a coolant line gives completely while I'm driving down the Autobahn at 100+mph?"

My issue is.. what's the best way to go about doing this?

Now let me say, I am a DIY'er, but in no way a mechanic, and in no way am I comfortable tackling any semi-major job (except for simple routine maintenance like oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc) by myself for the first time on any car I care about without some guidance from someone who has done it before. Not that I am a total idiot and can't figure things out for myself, but I tend to like to know what I'm doing before I dive in if it's something that can be screwed up if done wrong and I've never done it before. I do have access to a lift, but it will cost me ($6.00 per hour, plus storage fees if I leave it overnight). I also have a garage with tools at home, but in no way do I feel comfortable doing something like this in my garage without a lift.

So my options:

1. DIY at home. The good thing about this, is that I don't drive the car in the winter, so it will be in the garage for 4 months from December through March that I could potentially take my time doing this job and not have to worry about paying storage fees and $6 an hour if it gets stuck on a lift for 5 or 6 days (could get expensive, to the tune of hundreds of dollars after a while). The bad thing about this, is that like I said above, I only have jack stands and a basic floor jack, plus basic hand tools, a compressor, air tools, etc. This isn't ideal for pulling an engine at all, especially not a 997 Turbo engine.

2. DIY on base on a lift. The good thing about this, is that they have a lift, and every tool I could ever need. I have no doubt in my mind that they would be able to provide me with what I need to make this job as easy as possible, but the bad thing is, they charge. Like stated above, $6 an hour for the lift, plus storage fees if you leave the car overnight. If I took a week off work to knock this out, I'm looking at a few hundred dollars in lift fees. Granted, this is nothing compared to paying someone $4000 to do it for me, but the other issue I have with this, is what if I find that I can't get it back together because I'm in over my head? I'd be in a tough spot. Also, they do have a welder at the shop who could do the welding for me, but I don't know if I trust him with something like this, so I'd prefer to take the engine to someone who is more off a specialist in this type of thing. That will take time, which will incur more storage fees while my car sits there on a lift that the shop can't rent out because it has my car in pieces sitting on it.

3. Find someone to do it for me. Honestly, if it could be done for <$3000 including pulling the motor, welding all coolant pipes, and reinstalling the motor, I would almost rather go this route so I don't have to deal with it myself, but again, I'm a DIY'er and not afraid to get my hands dirty. I also like to save money, and would appreciate doing it myself more to further acquaint myself with the car, and take care of some other maintenance items while I'm in there. Plus, I'm in Germany where I don't speak the language, and have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER where I could take the car for something like this. There is one Porsche independent mechanic in my area who everyone recommends that MIGHT be able or willing to do this job, but he is booked for 5 or 6 months in advance at all times, and doesn't speak much English. Sort of hard to communicate what I want done and to ensure that he understands exactly what he is supposed to be doing so the job gets done right.

So in my situation, what would you recommend? These are my only three options as far as I can tell (aside from leaving the car as is and hope the pipes don't fail and dealing with it when they do). I honestly feel as though this fix is looming over me, and it needs to get done, but no matter what way I go to tackle this repair, it's not going to be an easy road and there is no "best option". I am honestly leaning toward option 2 just because I know that they have the tools, but I'm worried about getting to a position half way through where I have no clue what I'm doing, and not being able to finish the job. If I had someone local to me that has done this before and would be willing to lend a hand, I would much prefer this, but again, I'm in Germany where I don't speak German and most speak broken English at best.

 

You may have already seen it on Rennlist, but someone just posted a pretty good thread on this exact DIY topic a few days ago:

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-turb...fun-stuff.html

Still doesn't exactly strike me as an easy job for the casual DIYer, but it's probably not insurmountable for an amateur, either.

 

I did see that, though he doesn't really give a step by step (at least yet), it's probably the most thorough thread I've seen.

Has anyone here done this before and feel confident? If anyone here has done this before and feels confident in the process and is interested in coming to Germany to help out, Ill pay for your plane ticket You could check out the Nurburgring and the Hockenheimring while you are here (about an hour and 15 minutes, and 45 minutes from my house, respectively).

 

I think you spend too much time on the forums worrying about something that *might* happen.. If you don't plan to track the car I wouldnt worry about it right now.

If you *do* want to do it now, based on what I read here, I would have a shop do it.. Your luck with this car has, ahem, not been the best, and if you were to tackle it DIY I'm afraid you would be in over your head..

 

If you decide to pin, I did, the most detailed and thorough thread on this subject is here => https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...n-the-car.html

No need to drop the motor, just follow these well documented steps and you should be ok. There's one additional fitting to pin on the TT but the rest of the documented steps is the same.

 

Sounds like the coolant is leaking from turbo - which are water cooled in the 997. Pull your intercooler and replace the orings that go on the coolant lines to the turbo. Simple job.

 

if you decide you want to tackle this job when you get stateside i would suggest this.

trailer the car to the base lift. drop the motor and trans as a unit. set the driveline in the bed of the truck and push the car onto the trailer and take everything home. this gives you all the time you need to remove the top end of the motor and pin the lines. you can always rent a car haul trailer from uhaul and a truck from a friend. i helped a friend pin all the lines oin his 996 turbo. it took about 3 hrs all in plus the reinstall of the top of the motor. he took tons of fotos tagged and bagged all hardware and even replacing the clutch we had the car back running in less than a day. this isnt that hard of a job

 

I may be slightly downplaying my mechanical abilities, but it was intentional, because I don't want to give the wrong idea of what my capabilities are. No, I've never dropped or installed a motor. No, I've never done a clutch before. I've done valve adjustments on E46 M3's (a few of them), I've installed (and removed) a supercharger on an E90 M3, replaced throttle actuators on an E90 M3, secondary air valves (not an easy job whatsoever), and done more simple things like coilover installs (plus other suspension components), belts, oil changes, transmission/differential fluid changes, exhaust installs, control arms, tie rods, brake pads and rotors on multiple cars, including installing a Stoptech BBK on my E90 M3. I've been working on cars for about 15 years, and always done everything myself, with the exception of a motor swap, a clutch install (because at the time, early on in my years I didn't feel comfortable and had much less knowledge than now) and tire changes/alignments, only because I don't have the equipment. Again, I didn't want to overstate my abilities, because I know none of the above is dropping the motor on a 997 Turbo, but when I say I'm a DIY'er my experiences goes a bit beyond doing the oil changes on the family mini-van. I would say that with guided step by step instructions and a helping hand when needed, I could get this job done. It intimidates me a little, but it's not out of my scope of abilities, I don't think.

You also state that I worry too much about something that hasn't happened yet. As I stated, I had a leak pop up a week after I got the car home. Granted it's gone away somehow, but before that, I didn't have a worry in the world about this issue. Now it's not even necessarily something that I worry about, just something that is in the back of my mind as a necessary repair in the future that I am dreading and trying to wrap my brain around the best way to go about doing. Fact remains, I DO plan to track the car, albeit lightly and only once in awhile. The Nurburgring is an hour and 15 minutes away from me. There is no excuse NOT to track the car.


So aside from the one additional fitting you mention, the process is exactly the same? This seems much easier than dropping the motor. I was always under the impression doing this job without dropping the motor was impossible. If it is in fact possible, why don't more people do it with the motor in? Thanks for the link anyways. Ill definitely give it a more thorough read once I have time.

That was my initial thought, but I asked online and was told that's not a possibility (ill have to look for the thread). It's definitely worth a look though to see if you are right. Hopefully you are.

I won't be in the states for quite a while. I'm here for at least another 5 years, possibly longer, and if I leave, I could go anywhere. But what you propose isn't out of the realm of possibility here. My issue is I don't speak German and I don't know anyone that can help out, or of a shop that I could communicate what needs to be done effectively so they know what I am talking about. I am sure there are plenty of Porsche mechanics in Germany that could do this job successfully. They may even offer this service here already, but without speaking German, finding a good shop that can do it, or even explaining to a Porsche mechanic what I am going on about is a barrier.

 

FVD in Frieburg did my welds on the coolant connections for me re using the stock connections. I live in the UK. When they built my engine a few years a go I had them do it. I also recommend the sharkwerks replacement pipes that are notorious for splitting.

If you need help organising this let me know as I know the owner of FVD very well or if you decide to do it yourself then no problem.

 

did they pull the motor too or just do the welding? What did they charge? They aren't terribly far from me so it's a viable option

 

I do not remember the cost it was done around 4 years ago and they were re building my engine to 3.8ltr so the engine was out.

 

if your pinning i believe ot can be done with motor in. i know it can on the 996 turbo. welding is a different story. each has to be removed and fittings pulled out and cleaned then reinstalled and welded. so thats a motor out fix and much more involved