I recently saw a coolant drain and fill on a 996 Turbo. I was alarmed and puzzled by the amount that was drained from the drain plug (seems like a lot more than 10 litre) than the amount that was put back in (around 10 litre). It was refilled using a SnapOn version of the UView Airlift.

Since the 2005 and 2006 cars are hitting the 4-5 yrs mark, have anyone done a coolant flush on a 997 yet? If so, can you just drain from the drain plug or do you have to remove the underbody panels and disconnect some of the hoses as well to properly drain all the old coolant out? And if you just drain from the drain plug, did you get most of the 32 litre out according to the specs in the owner's manual? And more importantly, did you put close to what you drained out back into the system?

Anyone has a link to a DIY guide?

 

I too am interested in doing a flush. Any more info on a DIY somewhere for a 997.1?

 

I haven't done a coolant flush, but did install a third radiator and in doing so lost almost a 1/3 of my coolant accidentally. I don't see why you couldn't just disconnect the radiator coolant hoses and let the coolant drain by gravity since the radiators sit so low in the front (then you might not need that tool to pressurize the system?) Obviously this would require removing the front bumper, but the hose to the radiator is easy to unclip and removing the front bumper is not too difficult.

 

I'm sure my above post is not much help, but found this thread on Renntech.org:http://www.renntech.org/forums/index..._1#entry183916

 

My understanding is that the tool is necessary to insure all the air is removed from the system when refilling it. It doesn't matter how you drain the system. It's design is such that it is near impossible to remove all the air introduced to the system during the refilling process without first drawing all the air out.

 

Wow, very interesting read. Sounds like the vacuum tool is the way to go. Can anyone confirm that the best way to drain the old coolant is to raise the front end and drain from the main drain plug at the back/bottom of the engine? Has anyone been sucessful in draining nearly all of the 6 gallons this way? The Renntech thread is a little confusing in this regard. Thanks.