Noticed several ounces of fluid coming from the front of my left exhaust tip on Saturday & Sunday. It looks like pink coloured water. I have an '08 C4S. The first time I thought it was just water after washing the car, but I noticed it again yesterday afer a short drive. Any thoughts as to what it is and what may be causing it? Thanks.

 

Pink is coolant, it might be your tank or your cap. Are you low in fluid? What's your temp when you drive?

 

The engine temperature is reading as normal, i.e. reading in the middle of the gauge (celsius in Canada). No warning lights. The car was not driven for a week and used for short drives on the weekend - although I don't know if this is relevant to the issue or not.

 

I do believe there is an over-flow hose from the reservoir on the drivers side(or at least on my 05)....the coolant may have gotten hot on one of your drives,which will cause a bit of flow.Especially if the coolant system is over the full line!
I am just guessing though!

Stacy

 

Thanks for your help. I ended up taking it into the dealer today. Apparently the cap on the coolant reservoir had to be replaced. Nothing serious.

 

What's amazing is that PAG has been having the same problems with the overflow tank and its cap since 1999!! And apparently they haven't fixed it 10 years later.

 

Had the same issue with my 2001 Boxster, twice in the 7 years I owned it. Also had to have the tank replaced. I have the same issue now with my '07 C4S ,with 5,400 miles on the clock, as there are tell tale signs of cap failure around the cap and on the tank itself. I would love to hear the Porsche engineers explain why after 10 years they can't fix what appears to be simple problem. Gosh, and isn't ten years or so close to the total number of years they have been producing a water cooled boxer style engine ? I have never ever had to replace a resevior cap on any other car in my life. Three times, and counting, on two Porsches is rediculous and leaves one wondering about Porsches ability or willingness to redesign the faulty parts and correct the problem once and for all.

 

You have a bad water pump seal. Noticed the same thing on my 08 C2S the other day. Took it straight to the dealer. There is evidently a TSB on the water pump seal. Dealer replaced the seal and pump under warranty and I had my car back in about 3 hours. It did not get to be a problem because it was so minor. The tech indicated that it is not unusual and indicated that i would not have compromised my engine, but I want it right. Go to the dealer.

To double check look under the drivers side muffler under the water pump hose/assembly. You may see a slight dry pink crust around the seal area from the leak after it has dried. If you do i'ts the seal.

 

I will check with the Service Rep. tomorrow, as he had left when the car came out and I didn't see the work order. He had told me verbally that only the cap had to be replaced plus topping off the coolant.

 

I doubt if it is the cap. It would be a real hot car to boil the coolant over or through the cap. That is exactly what I thought before I climbed under the car except that I didn't see any drip or stain throughout the engine compartment and down to the ground. My temperatures were nominal and I did not get any engine service lights. It best to catch things early. Trust me, if you look at the water pump around the seal and you a pink film its the water pump seal.

 

The caps do fail occasionally. I've had one go on my car but it doesn't appear to be a common fault.

Other possibilites are 1) a split header tank (but this was largely cured with about the seventh or eighth revision of this part ) or 2) the coolant was simply over-filled and excess was pushed out the header tank