FYI, there are two plastic tee's behind the drivers side cylinder head that carry coolant. Yesterday I pulled in the driveway and 15 min. later my neighbor came and told me he heard a strange noise, and the ctt was leaking heavily.
Turns out is was this plastic tee that had broken in half, dumping all my coolant. Getting to this tee and getting the factory squeeze clamps off is an utter nightmare. I would guess Porsche would want to pull the tranny or drivers exhaust main cat to access it. I did not. Thru much finageling I got the tee with two hard pipes out the bottom of the car. The access is nonexsistent. I have small hands. The tee with three factory crimped and molded hoses is $29@ the dealer. My coolant pipes had been updated by the previous owner already. Just a fair warning that the plastic coolant pipes are the least of your probs. If yours rupture and destroy the Torque conv. seal. I highly recommend having these hoses and tees replaced while the trans. is out.

 

This T is mentioned as a 'replace it while you're in there' in most coolant tube replacement threads. My understanding is that they're pretty easily accessible during that process. The PO must not have known about it. Good work getting it replaced without tearing the whole top of the motor apart.

 

The access while doing the coolant pipe job is also non existent. It was a nightmare to get to them.

 

My coolant lines were upgraded b4 I purchased the vehicle @ around 55k. I don't know whether these plastic tee's were or not?
I did tear the top apart, as those lines are definitly NOT accessible without doing so On mine when I got to the parts, all the squeeze clamps were turned towards the firewall and I couldn't even get hose clamp pliers on them. I ended up removing the two metal hard lines that all those hoses connect to from the bottom of the vehicle. Which was extremely difficult. The two hard lines run down behind the drivers side cylinder head. I disconnected the hoses from the aluminum under-intake lines @ the rear of the engine first. Then I pulled the hard lines down and removed the tee with the 3 hoses from the hard line.( There are two hard lines connected together running in parallel.) Then I was able to get the hard lines out from underneath. Then I removed the tee w/3 hoses. Installation was the reverse. I did not have to remove the drivers side primary cat, but it would have made things much easier. It would be nice to know if my tees were replaced @ 55k with the plastic lines, because if so, they only lasted another 35k. I have small hands and cant imagine how one might remove all the hose clamps, stuck on hoses, and the tees from the top. Seems impossible.

 

I understand the plastic lines become brittle and welded making them hard to remove. It actually only took me 40 min to remove all the components that allow access to them.

 

With the intake manifold and its related components out of the way, I spend 8-10 hours removing the t-fittings. There just isn't a lot of room to work back there.

Cable operated spring clamp pliers were a must. Had I had them from the beginning the t-fittings would have taken a meer 4-5 hours.

 

Below are the PET part numbers for the failing plastic 'T' water hose fittings. There does not seem to be any difference between USA, CANADA or ROW vehicles regarding these fittings.

Turbo V8 has 2 water hose fittings installed.
Part numbers are:
955 106 323 50
948 106 035 51 (this one connects to the water return line for the cooling of the turbo chargers).

Normally aspirated V8 has only a 955 106 323 00 water hose fitting installed.

Hope this helps.

 

My misunderstanding, then. Good to know.

 

Tip is appreciated. I expect to get this job done towards the end of summer.

 

is it just as hard to get to the coolant temp sensor back there? I need to swap mine out i believe as fan WILL NOT stop running upon vehicle shut off. thoughts?

 

Just a thought (since the non-turbo doesn't have these) - someone might measure the old T's - see what the hose-barb sizes are on them, and then 2nd-source some metal ones... I'm sure someplace like Grainger Supply would have a suitable metal replacement.

 

Normally aspirated V8 does have the water hose fitting installed as well.
Refer post #7.

 

Indeed - found it in PET..

In some rather long discussions and photos on RENNLIST and RENNTECH about the T fitting failures - this doesn't seem to be a fitting that is prone to failure, but if someone is replacing it - might be useful to measure it for a replacement metal fitting also. Worst case given the size of the hoses going to these fittings, I imagine something could be manufacturered from some copper plumbing fittings and a bit of soldering. A copper T and 3 barbed nipples would seem to make a more then adequate replacement.